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Zepp-LaRouche in China: There Are Some People Who Don’t Like the Coming End of 500 Years of Colonialism

April 27, 2025 (EIRNS)—“There is right now a huge struggle going on in the world, which I think China is one of the leaders of,” Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche stated in an April 25 panel discussion in China on “Innovation Pathways in the Global Green Transition,” organized by the China Media Group, with CGTN host Yang Zhao. Speaking along with ambassadors and media specialists, Zepp-LaRouche set the tone for the entire discussion:

“This is the effort by the countries of the Global Majority to overcome 500 years of colonialism for good, by no longer being exporters of raw materials, but to develop the production chain in their own countries. There are obviously some people who don’t like that; and they would like to maintain the neo-colonial forms.”

As Zepp-LaRouche was speaking, “the people who don’t like that”—the practitioners of British geopolitics centered in the City of London and Wall Street—were busy launching deadly provocations around the globe, to make sure that the BRICS nations are destabilized, and that the U.S. and NATO stay on course for an end-game confrontation with Russia and China.

In the India-Pakistan theater, an April 22 terrorist attack killing 26 tourists in the Indian-controlled area of Kashmir has led to rapid escalation on both sides. India has announced it is suspending the all-important 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan—which regulates the flow of water to the two countries, both of which need it desperately—and revoked nearly all visas of Pakistanis residing in India. High-level Pakistani authorities are talking openly about the option of launching a nuclear strike against India—which is also a nuclear weapons power! Fortunately, the Defense Minister of Pakistan has pointed the finger at outside forces deploying terrorism in the region—and named Great Britain and the United States as the guilty parties for the last 30 years.

In Russia, authorities have captured the man who assassinated Gen.-Lt. Yaroslav Moskalik of the Russian General Staff on April 25, and identified him as an agent deployed by Kiev. Leading Russian intelligence experts quickly explained on national television: “We should remember … that terrorist acts of this kind are done under the supervision and direct guidance of the British special services.”

And in Iran, a huge explosion rocked the port of Bandar Abbas on April 26, killing at least 25 and injuring nearly 1,400. Although it has not yet been determined if this was an accident or sabotage, it happened at the precise moment that the U.S. and Iranian governments are involved in delicate negotiations that are essential to bring peace to the war-torn region of Southwest Asia—which the Israeli and British governments are devoutly committed to preventing.

India, Russia, Iran—all are members of the BRICS, which is leading the struggle to create a new international development architecture to replace the current bankrupt system.

As Zepp-LaRouche stated in her remarks during the panel discussion in China:

“We have now the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference, and at that time in 1955, President Sukarno and Zhou Enlai and Nehru were warning that colonialism still exists in its modern form, through trade relations, access to credit, and so forth. So now we are in this historic epochal change where the countries of the Global Majority want to overcome that, in large part possibly through the rise of China and through the development of the BRICS countries.”

The upcoming May 24-25 conference of the Schiller Institute will bring together leading intellectuals and statesmen from nations of both the North and the South, to deliberate on how to best bring about precisely such an epochal change.


Zepp-LaRouche Keynoted ‘International Think Tank Forum for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road 2024’ in Guangzhou

On Nov. 22, Helga Zepp-LaRouche delivered a keynote address to the “International Think Tank Forum for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road 2024” in Guangzhou, China, organized among others by the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, which is based in Guangzhou. Her 10-minute speech described the leading role that China is playing in the world economy and as a leader in advanced technology, and how some in the West see this as a reason to have confrontation against China. Instead, she appealed to the G20 nations and others to work together to solve the migrant crisis, not by building walls, but by launching massive economic development in the Global South. She ended by saying that it was even more crucial now, given the recent escalation in the war in Ukraine, which threatens nuclear war.

The Institute is connected to the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), and is an advisor to the Guangdong Provincial Government.

On Nov. 23, Helga Zepp-LaRouche was appointed Special Advisor to the Guangdong Institute of International Strategies. In connection with her appointment, she spoke for one-hour about Lyndon LaRouche’s ideas at the Institute’s Yunshan Academic Salon, followed by a Q&A discussion. An audio file of her speech about Lyndon LaRouche at the Yunshan Academic Salon is available on the Schiller Institute in Denmark website, along with an audio file of the introduction to her address by Prof. Li Xing. He recently became the leading academic at the Guangdong Institute. He is also a professor at Denmark’s Aalborg University Department of Politics and Society. Prof. Li Xing addressed the Schiller Institute in Denmark’s May 25, 2022 online conference on the need for the new security and development architecture.

In September 2024, a delegation from the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies travelled to Denmark and participated in a seminar with the Schiller Institute in Denmark in order to learn more about each other and to discuss cooperation.

Here is an article in Executive Intelligence Review about the trip:

Maritime Silk Road Conference in Guangzhou: Advancing ‘New Quality Productive Forces’


China Welcomes Zepp-LaRouche’s China Petition

Beijing Welcomes Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s ‘Declaration of China Experts from All Over the World’

March 26 (EIRNS)—The Spokesperson’s Office of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released the statement following today:

The French Schiller Institute statement condemned the recent anti-China movement. Chinese Spokesperson Hua Chunying stated: “It reflects the rational and just voice of insightful people in the international community.”

At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 26, a CCTV reporter from the main station asked: “On March 24, the Schiller Institute released on its website a ‘Declaration of China Experts from all Over the World,’ which was jointly signed by 34 dignitaries from 18 countries, including former politicians, diplomats and scholars. The statement condemned the recent international anti-China movement, and called on the West to acknowledge China’s development achievements and splendid culture, have cooperation rather than confrontation with China. What is China’s comment?”

Hua Chunying: “We have taken note of the above-mentioned statement. It represents the rational and just voice of visionary people in the world, condemns and rejects the crazy words and deeds of the western anti-China forces that wantonly attack, smear and even crafted rumors against China in disregard of facts.

“The signatories of the statement have either lived and worked in China, or traveled to China on a regular basis for long stays. They all have first-hand experience and objective observation of China. Many of them have witnessed the remarkable achievement China has scored since reform and opening up. They witnessed the journey where the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese government, with a people-centered approach, led 850 million Chinese people out of extreme poverty. More recently, they have seen how 1.4 billion Chinese people, united as one, defeated the COVID-19 epidemic. Their statement once again proves that seeing is believing.

“As a matter of fact, many foreign friends who have been living in or dealing with China for many years find that the closer they get to China, the more they will see that China in reality is far from, or even completely opposite to the image some Western media and politicians try to portray. I saw a lot of video clips uploaded by foreigners saying that they realized they were fooled by foreign media reports only after arriving in China and seeing the country as it is. China has always been open to the world. We welcome people from across the world to get closer to us and understand China. We hope certain individuals in the west will discard bias, return to rationality, liberate their thinking, seek truth from facts and view China from an objective perspective.”

Spokesperson’s Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Official release of China’s foreign policy
Authoritative interpretation of China’s position and attitude


Schiller Institute Representative Addresses High Level Conference in Beijing

On Oct. 29, Hussein Askary, Southwest Asia Coordinator of the Schiller Institute, addressed the Belt and Road International Food Industry Conference, sponsored by China People’s Daily, Global Times and China Food News and supervised by the official state Belt and Road Portal. The conference addressed the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and China's development model on food security in China and globally. The main panel was opened by such senior officials as former Director of the State Council Office of Poverty Alleviation Liu Jian, who also earlier served as deputy Agriculture Minister. He was followed by the former spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and member of the Public Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sun Yuxi, who is currently Member of the Public Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Hussein Askary, in his speech, first outlined the past 24 year' efforts of the Schiller Institute to promote the global connectivity now associated with the New Silk Road and the Eurasian-African Land-Bridge. He expressed his and the Schiller Institute’s gratitude to President Xi Jinping for launching the BRI in 2013, which has “already changed the world, ushering in a new set of international relations based on economic cooperation and mutual development, which will have great implications for food security in the world.” That would not have been possible, Askary stressed, “without China’s amazing industrialization process of the past three decades.”

He went on to review the immense positive changes in the living conditions of the Chinese people, including the increase in food production and consumption, with a more diversified diet for the people. However, this new diet, with greater emphasis on proteins, is a more capital-intensive process. “You can expect that this process will be replicated in every country and part of the world that the BRI reaches, with the increase in living conditions and, consequently, in food consumption.” Askary reviewed the UN-produced “Hunger Map of the World” showing that 800 million people lack adequate food today. However, the most hungry nations, especially in Africa and West Asia, are now joining the BRI to alleviate this terrible situation, and "we have to imagine how much land and technology will be required to achieve this goal". With the world population poised to double by 2050, only such massive initiatives as the BRI can address this challenge, Askary concluded. The conference, including Askary’s speech received wide coverage in Chinese media, including postings of Askary’s speech in full on several websites. According to China Daily, the “Belt and Road” Food Industry International Summit is a world-class food industry conference with the participation of the food industry and the food industry related trade associations, industry associations, well-known enterprises and social organizations.” (The official website of the conference, that of The Belt and Road Global Chambers of Commerce and Associations, is http://www.msdnba.com/topics?id=15.html)


Participates in the Beijing Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation

Helga Zepp-Larouche Participates in the Beijing Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation

‘We are in a phase-change for humankind!’

May 15 — Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and president of the International Schiller Institute, is right in the middle of the action in Beijing during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. This comes after decades of leadership by Lyndon and Helga LaRouche for just this kind of mobilization for worldwide development. Since the 1990s, and Zepp-LaRouche’s first participation in an international conference in China, where she called for a “Eurasian Land-Bridge,” she has become widely known as the Silk Road Lady.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche on CGTN’s “Dialogue”

Representing the Schiller Institute, Helga Zepp-LaRouche spoke on May 14, on the first day of the B&R Forum, on the panel, “Belt and Road for Facilitating Strong, Balanced, Inclusive and Sustainable Global Economy.” She said, “The Belt and Road Initiative has the obvious potential of quickly becoming a World Land Bridge, connecting all continents through infrastructure, such as tunnels, bridges, reinforced by the Maritime Silk Road. As such, it represents a new form of globalization, but not determined by the criteria of profit maximization for the financial sector, but for the harmonious development of all participating countries on the basis of Win-Win cooperation.

(Xi Jinping opening speech: Video & Transcript)

“It is therefore important, that one does not look at the BRI from the standpoint of an accountant, who projects his statistical viewpoint of cost-benefit into the future, but that we think about it as a Vision for the Community of a Shared Future. Where do we want humanity as a whole to be in 10, 100, or even in a 1000 years?” Is it not the natural destiny of mankind, as the only creative species known in the universe so far, that we will be building villages on the moon, develop a deeper understanding of the trillions of galaxies in our universe, solve the problem of–’til now–incurable diseases, or solve the problem of energy and raw material security through the develipment of thermonuclear fusion power? By focusing on the common aims of humanity we will be able to overcome geopolitics and establish a higher level of reason for the benefit of all.”

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In particular, Zepp-LaRouche addressed the question of the role of the United States, whose delegation in Beijing was led by a special adviser to Pres. Trump. Presenting the most positive, ‘big picture,’ Zepp-LaRouche explained, “Looking at the world land map, the United States is not merely a country surrounded by two oceans and two neighbors, but can be a center part of an infrastructure corridor which connects the southern tip of Ibero-America, through Central and South America, with the Eurasian transport system via a tunnel under the Bering Strait…”

Predictably, the geopolitics crowd, centered in London, is having a fit. The Economist in London today ran a stream of bilge, headlined, “The Economist explains, “What Is China’s Belt and Road Initiative?” They write that businessmen in Central Asia call it the “One Road, One Trap,” because B&R projects are unreliable. And “the Belt and Road Forum has an unfortunate acronymn, BARF,” etc.

But back in reality, not only does the Belt and Road Forum mark the process of potential world economic and scientific lift-off, but there is a vital process underway of deliberation over points of immediate suffering and possible all-out war. President Trump’s envoy in Beijing, Matthew Pottinger, is now in South Korea for consultations over concerns in the region. On Syria, as peace talks start on May 16, called “Geneva 6,” numbers of meetings are set for this week, of Mediterranean leaders who met in Beijing with both Xi and Putin. In Washington, D.C., May 16, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with President Trump. On May 17, in Sochi, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni will meet with Putin. Likewise, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met in Beijing with Xi, Putin, and also with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Today Helga Zepp-LaRouche summed up the great potential–our great challenge–by describing the May 14 opening of the Belt and Road Forum: “Yesterday was a fantastic, historic moment!” She was speaking on China Global Television Network’s “Dialogue with Yang Rui” program, run live, prime time. She exclaimed, “We are in a “phase-change for humankind!”


Helga Zepp-LaRouche on CGTN ‘Dialogue’

May 15, 2017

Helga Zepp-LaRouche is a feature guest in a program “Dialogue” on CGTN, 24-hour English news channel of China Central Television (CCTV), based in Beijing, on the eve of “the Belt and Road Forum” held on May 14 – 15 in China.

Transcript of Q&A on ‘Dialogue’

Q. What do you make of China’s global ambition?

Helga Zepp-LaRouche: I think it’s very important strategic initiative because it’s the only way how you solve all problems–regional, cooperation, underdevelopment, poverty. It’s really a historic mission. I cannot see anything else, not from the United States, for sure, not from Europe and so I’m really optimistic. I think yesterday was a fantastic, historic moment.

Q: But, do you think China is ready?

Zepp-LaRouche: Oh, I think so. First of all, the Chinese economic miracle of the last 30 years has surprised the world. And now through the Belt and Road Initiative, China is offering to export that model of development to other countries. And if you look at the success of the Belt and Road Initiative in the last four years, it is absolutely breathtaking! And I am shocked — every day the Chinese government comes up with a new initiative, which offers a solution to a problem. And it’s just very attractive idea. This is why so many countries want to be part of it. It’s much more attractive to have win-win cooperation in the context of the New Silk Road than to be part of a military alliance, which just gets countries into trouble. So this is why the whole center of power has completely shifted to Asia. And I am convinced that yesterday we experienced the formation of a new world economic order. It was a truly historic moment, and I think most of the participants at the Belt and Road Forum had that profound sense of being in the middle of making history for a new era for civilization. And I am very excited because this is a phase-change of humankind. I think we are on the verge of…

Yang Rui: No wonder President Xi Jinping calls the Belt and Road Initiative the project of the century.

Q: [India says] Hey, the Sino-Pakistani economic corridor will somehow go through the contentious territorial area of India, Kashmir; therefore, they refuse to get involved with the Belt and Road Initiative. The spokesperson of the Indian Foreign Ministry even protested against the idea of the economic corridor between China and its geopolitical rival, Pakistan. What do you think of the rivalry, the geopolitical rivalry that China wants to really keep a distance from?

Zepp-LaRouche: Well, first of all, India has always been the subcontinent and therefore they have a long tradition of geopolitical thinking. But, I think this has been reinforced by the British colonialism, and the British, and formerly the U.S. administration before Trump played on that. They played Pakistan as the state terrorism state, and trying to hype up sentiments in India to further this conflict. And I think the opposite is true. Because of the British division of India into Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, the only way how this can be overcome is increasing the connectivity among all the countries–Nepal, Bangladesh–all these countries want to be integrated. And they call it “connectivity”; they don’t call it the “Silk Road” and they don’t call it “Belt and Road Initiative,” because that’s associated with China. But in substance, all of these countries are urging for more development like that.

Q: What’s interesting is that both sides [China and U.S.] announced their joint projects, the list of projects, simultaneously. Do you think something must have been discussed at the Mar-a-Lago summit in Florida, between Trump and President Xi Jinping? And actually the announcement of this list of mega-projects between the two sides is an indispensable part of what has been agreed upon by the two heads of state?

Zepp-LaRouche: I think so, because President Trump has announced that he wants to have investment in $1 trillion worth of infrastructure in the next ten years. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that $4.5 trillion actually is required, and Chinese experts have said that the United States needs $8 trillion worth of infrastructure. Now China in the past years has shown a tremendous expertise in building fast trains and other projects of infrastructure, and China has also $1.4 trillion in U.S. Treasuries, which we have proposed it invest in an infrastructure bank or national bank in the United States, and then invest in the building of infrastructure. Now that would be a total game change. And if China, in return, would invest in the Chinese market, which is growing because of the growing buying power, you could replace the competition between the United States and China through cooperation. And then they could join hands and have joint investments in third countries, like rebuilding the Middle East, developing of Africa. I think it’s important that you’re not just talking about infrastructure and economics. We are really talking about a new era of civilization, where you replace geopolitics with a completely new set of relations among countries. And if the United States and China could solve this–you know, I have said many times that if President Trump would go for this, he could become one of the greatest Presidents in the history of the United States. And many of his critics don’t think that is possible, but I am absolutely convinced that we are very close to it.

Q: In effect, overseas observers pointed out, it seemed as if [President Xi] was talking to two audiences at the opening ceremony. For the international audience, he promised to export our technology, our ideas about Belt and Road Initiative, to reestablish the world order and to reconsider the idea of globalization internally. He also promised to rejuvenate the nation, to tell a China story through the Belt and Road Initiative…. To the surprise of many who are very skeptical about the economic relationship between Japan and China, two arch-competitors, economically and geopolitically as well, the Japanese government decided to send a senior delegation, which was headed by the head of the ruling party, the LDP, Liberal Democratic Party. And this head of the delegation also handed over a letter from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the host of the Belt and Road Initiative summit. What do you think of the possibility that Japan will seize this opportunity to drastically improve, not only the balance of ties, but also to enjoy the dividends of the Belt and Road Initiative, so that it will not be excluded from rebuilding the world economic order?

Zepp-LaRouche: I think it is very clear that Prime Minister Abe has the intention to do that. I think he sent de facto the number two of the LDP to the summit. I think it has to do with the change in perception that the world is indeed changing. If you look at the rapprochement between Russia and Japan over the last period where Abe has the intention to have a peace treaty during his time in office. There were many visits of Abe to Russia, and vice versa, Putin was in Tokyo, so I think given the fact that China has a very close relationship with Russia, and the offensive policies of the United States, of intervention in foreign wars — with Trump, he has said he doesn’t want to do this anymore, the situation in the South China Sea has completely shifted, it’s no longer such an important hot spot — I think we are on the verge of fixing the world according to completely new rules. And I think it’s really a time for people to rethink and not stick to old geopolitical schemes, which have been in the Cold War, because we are on the verge of a completely new era of civilization, and I think what Abe did, reflects that.

Q: Ironically, the young leader of the D.P.R.K. test fired a missile to coincide with the policy speech by President Xi Jinping at the Opening Ceremony. Yet the elected leader of the R.O.K., Mr. Moon, promised to reconsider the deployment of the THAAD, a missile…. That may have paved the way for an apparent improvement in the relationship, which has been frayed seriously by the THAAD deployment. What do you think of the R.O.K. delegation and in fact, a rumor went around the internet that President Trump called for a boycott of the belt and road summit saying “Hey, why did you invite the D.P.R.K. to attend the summit when the international society, through the UN Security Council imposed yet another economic sanction — which I believe is well underway — what do you think of the concerns, allegedly, the major concerns by the international media?… But I am afraid that those who are very skeptical about China’s intent, may point out, citing President Bush, Jr., that bad behavior should not be rewarded. So this invitation for the D.P.R.K. delegation has been very controversial. I’d like to have your take?

Zepp-LaRouche: Well, I think there are some people who are thinking in terms of the old paradigm of geopolitics, and they can just not imagine that a country, especially a large country like China would be motivated by Confucian ideas. And I have studied China for the better part of my life, and I have come to the conclusion that the present government, in particular, is not based on anything other but the Confucian idea of harmony among nations. And some people realize that. For example the Italian Prime Minister Gentiloni who at the Belt and Road Forum, gave a fantastic speech, where he said…

Q: Excuse me, but harmony would become a lost sense, if we do not respect some of the principles, which have a lot to do with national security. The nuclear program of the D.P.R.K. has indeed endangered three northern provinces if any nuclear fallout were to occur! That would be a major threat [crosstalk] to national security.

Zepp-LaRouche: But the new President of South Korea has basically said that he wants to go back to the Sunshine Policy of economic cooperation with the North. North Korea only has nuclear missiles because they were afraid they would have the same fate as Saddam Hussein or Qaddafi. And once the threat is away and we return to the Six Party Talks and the Sunshine Policy, and especially if this is in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, I am absolutely confident that this problem will go away very shortly.

Q. The last question is whether there’s going to be a collision or a clash between Russia’s brainchild of having the Eurasian Economic Union and the Belt and Road Initiative? Because there have been speculations by the media who say, “Hey, Russia may show its great concern about China’s interference with the internal affairs of its traditional backyard, Central Asia through perhaps the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.” And therefore, they focus on whether there’s going to be inconsistency and discrepancy between Russia’s Economic Union and the Belt and Road Initiative: What’s your take?

Zepp-LaRouche: You will be happy to hear that President Putin, who was the guest of honor at the Belt and Road Forum, already gave a press conference where he said that not only does Russia support the Belt and Road Initiative, but he will take an active role in promoting it. And if you look at the number of leaders and countries that are now joining, you have a total change in the dynamic– Tsipras from Greece, the Serbian government, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belarus, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland–all of these countries have said they want to become hubs of the Belt and Road Initiative. So even if the German Economic Minister at the Forum was not so friendly, let’s say, I think Germany will be soon surrounded by countries that want to be part of it, and I think this will tilt the situation. The former Prime Minister of France Raffarin gave a passionate speech why France should be in it, and he was sent by the new President Macron. So I’m absolutely convinced in half a year, the majority of the nations that are still reluctant will recognize that it is in their best interest. Because, for example, Germany should have a fundamental interest in cooperating. I mean, German industry, the Mittlestand, the medium-sized industry, are exactly the complementary kind of economic force that would perfectly work with China. And I think it will come around., I promise.

Yang: Despite the success of Emmanuel Macron, the European Union is indeed in trouble. And President Trump’s idea of prioritizing American interests, putting America first, may also isolate this country from the rest of the world. During this absence, China is said to be ready to assume the leadership. Is China ready? We’ll keep this discussion open. Until next time, goodbye.


BRF Agenda (pdf) The Fifth Global Think Tank Summit (pdf)

 

‘The Belt and Road becomes the World Land Bridge’

by Helga Zepp-LaRouche

Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche addressed the conference on Sunday and Monday, both at the Thematic Session on Think Tank Exchanges and at the 5th Global Think Tank Summit.


There has been a breathtaking dynamic of the New Silk Road in the three and a half years since pronounced by President Xi Jinping in 2013. The Belt and Road Initiative has the obvious potential of quickly becoming a World Land Bridge, connecting all continents through infrastructure, such as tunnels, bridges, reinforced by the Maritime Silk Road. As such, it represents a new form of globalization, but not determined by the criteria of profit maximization for the financial sector, but for the harmonious development of all participating countries on the basis of Win-Win cooperation.

It is therefore important, that one does not look at the BRI from the standpoint of an accountant, who projects his statistical viewpoint of cost-benefit into the future, but that we think about it as a Vision for the Community of a Shared Future. Where do we want humanity as a whole to be in 10, 100, or even in a 1000 years? Is it not the natural destiny of mankind, as the only creative species known in the universe so far, that we will be building villages on the moon, develop a deeper understanding of the trillions of galaxies in our universe, solve the problem of till now incurable diseases, or solve the problem of energy and raw material security through the development of thermonuclear fusion power? By focusing on the common aims of humanity we will be able to overcome geopolitics and establish a higher level of reason for the benefit of all.

It is obvious, that the World Land Bridge is ideal for completing the development of the landlocked areas of our planet. The colonization of nearby space will be the obvious next phase of the infrastructural opening up of the natural habitat of man.

Looking at the world land map, the United States is not merely a country surrounded by two oceans and two neighbors, but can be a center part of an infrastructure corridor which connects the southern tip of Ibero America through Central and South America with the Eurasian transport system via a tunnel under the Bering Strait. Since President Xi Jinping made the offer to President Trump for the US to join the Belt and Road Initiative, there is now a practical proposal on the table, where the US can become an integral part of the World Land Bridge. The infrastructure requirements of the US, which are enormous, could be a perfect opportunity to convert all or part of the $1.4 trillion China is holding in US Treasuries into such investments via an infrastructure bank. For example, the US really needs approximately 40,000 miles of fast train lines, if they would want to match the Chinese plan to connect every domestic larger city by fast train by the year 2020.

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The US economy would experience a tremendous boost through such a grand scale infrastructure investment, and could in turn export into the fast growing Chinese market, and once competition is replaced by cooperation, the opportunities for joint ventures between the US and China in third countries are enormous.

Since President Trump has declared his intention to reintroduce the American System of Economy of Alexander Hamilton, Henry C. Clay and Abraham Lincoln, and also reintroduce the Glass Steagall legislation of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the possibility of an early establishment of a National Bank and a Credit System in order to channel Chinese holdings into infrastructure investments is near.

While more and more European nations, both outside and within the EU, are recognizing the tremendous potentials of the BRI and express the intention to become a hub for Eurasian cooperation, the EU itself has been reserved, to be diplomatic.

There is however one huge challenge, where the member states of the EU could be convinced to cooperate with the BRI: It is the refugee crisis. The only human way to heal this moral wound of Europe is the active integration of European nations in a Grand Design development plan for all of Africa with the BRI.

The positive new prospect of US-Russia de-escalation and military to military cooperation in Syria, along with the Astana process, now puts stabilization of the entire region in sight. Offers by China to extend the New Silk Road to Southwest Asia already exist.

The New Silk Road must–as the ancient one did–lead to an exchange of the most beautiful expressions of culture of all participating countries in order to succeed. The true meaning of Win-Win cooperation is not just the material benefit of infrastructure and industrial development, but of making the joyful discovery in other cultures of the beauty of their classical music, poetry and painting, and, by knowing them, strengthen our love for mankind as a whole.

In the building of the World Land Bridge all nations will cooperate on studying how to apply the laws of the Noosphere to the establishment of durable forms of self-government. The development of the creative mental powers of all people in all nations, will give all of mankind the sense of unity and purpose which will make our species truly human. When we organize our societies around scientific and artistic discovery, we will perfect our knowledge on how we can continuously advance the process of self-development of mankind, intellectually, morally and aesthetically, and we will find our freedom in necessity–doing our duty with passion!

 

 

Quotes of World Leaders from the Belt and Road Forum

 

 

Paolo Gentiloni
Italian Prime Minister

‘The Belt and Road Initiative is perhaps the most important infrastructure modernization project underway in the world today… Bringing the Chinese economy closer through this gigantic infrastructural operation is enormously interesting to Italy, not only for our government but also for our universities and public and private businesses.’

 

António Guterres
United Nations Secretary-General

‘The Belt and Road Initiative and the 2030 Agenda… aim to deepen ‘connectivity’ across countries and regions: connectivity in infrastructure, trade, finance, policies and, perhaps most important of all, among peoples.’

 

Alicia Barcena
Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

‘The Belt and Road Initiative represents a renewal and a profound commitment with the fundamental values of our global social and economic well-being: interconnection, deeper commercial and investment links, transparency and opening-up, and the need to ensure economic growth goes hand-in-hand with social progress. This is a speech concerning a change of era, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a very innovative proposal, with a panoramic perspective bringing together the objectives of all the countries.’

 

Hailemariam Desalegn
Ethiopian Prime Minister

‘The Belt and Road Initiative is the largest and non-conflicting economic cooperation of the 21st century.’

 

Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Special envoy of French President-elect Emmanuel Macron, Former French Prime Minister

‘This forum marks a new and decisive step in the progress of the initiative. To remedy the lack of infrastructure in Asia will require the efforts of all those good will ready to contribute to the region’s prosperity and that of the rest of the world.’

 

Michelle Bachelet
Chilean President

‘The breadth of the One Belt, One Road, the high level of participation and its strategic dimensions, highlight its capacity to become the biggest economic cooperation project in place today.’

 

Christine Lagarde
International Monetary Fund Managing Director

‘The Belt and Road Initiative aims to connect economies, communities, and people. It holds great potential to bring benefits in terms of high-quality infrastructure, inclusiveness, and economic cooperation.’

 

Matthew Pottinger
U.S. National Security Council East Asia Director

‘American companies have much to offer here. U.S. firms can offer the best-value goods and services required over the life of a project. U.S. firms have a long and successful track record in global infrastructure development, and are ready to participate in ‘Belt and Road’ projects.’

 

More Quotes

 

Jim Yong Kim
World Bank President

‘For those in the less developed community, our greatest task is to raise our aspirations to meet those of the people living in the countries that are still in need of many more investment for development. The Belt and Road Initiative is most remarkable for just the size of the aspiration.’

 

Milos Zeman
Czech President

‘The One Belt, One Road Initiative is the most significant project in all our modern history. I salute China for this courageous, long-term project.’

 

Philip Hammond
Special envoy of British Prime Minister Theresa May, Chancellor of the Exchequer

‘It is my belief that Britain, lying at the western end of the Belt and Road, is a natural partner in this endeavor.’

 

Najib Razak
Malaysian Prime Minister

‘With the vision of shared prosperity and win-win situation, I believe Malaysia and other countries will realize the potential of the Belt and Road Initiative. The initiative as one that can stimulate development among different sectors and industries via better infrastructure, in turn will facilitate world transportation and logistics, so all countries can access to larger markets.’

 

Roberto Azevedo
World Trade Organization Director-General

‘Infrastructure is essential. A lack of proper transport network was on top of the trade cost list and the One belt, One Road is hugely important in responding to this need.’

 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish President

‘This is going to be the kind of initiative that will put an end to terrorism.’

 

Peter Thomson
President of the UN General Assembly

‘The Belt and Road Initiative brings enormous benefits to all involved and serves as a main driver of the global transformation emerged by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.’

 

Nawaz Sharif
Pakistani Prime Minister

‘Let me make it very clear, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, an economic undertaking, is open to all countries in the region.’

 

Alexis Tsipras
Greek Prime Minister

‘We highly value the importance of this initiative for people-to-people contact, cultural exchanges and tourism, and we see the great opportunities in the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.’

 

Aleksandar Vucic
Serbian Prime Minister and President-elect

‘Serbia is China’s staunch friend and reliable partner. Serbia has benefited enormously from participating in the Belt and Road forum. Key projects of the Belt and Road Initiative have yielded positive results… Serbia expects to deepen cooperation with China in a host of areas, including the economy and trade, mining, infrastructure, finance, aviation and tourism.’

 

Brigitte Zypries
Special envoy of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Minister of Economic Affairs

‘The Belt and Road Initiative aims to improve infrastructure between Asia and Europe. This will bring the world’s two largest trading partners in Asia and Europe closer.’

 

 

Shanghai Daily Interviews Helga Zepp-LaRouche

June 1, 2017

“I think the Belt and Road initiative signifies a revolutionary move to a new epoch of civilization. The idea of having a win-win cooperation among nations is the first time that a concrete concept has been offered to overcome geopolitics…”

– Helga Zepp-LaRouche

Read more


 

NewsGhana

May 16, 2017

“Belt and Road Enterprise Offers Assistance to All”

The Silk Road spirit followed by the Belt and Road initiative offers pioneering ideas for contemporary international cooperation, the delegates told the People’s Daily upon the arrival of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, agreeing that the proposal will bring benefits to all.

Read more


 

Business Mirror (Philippines)

May 16, 2017

“Is China’s initiative an answer to financial bubble brewing?”

Perhaps, it is wise to learn from history that every time there are solid developmental projects for the good of humankind, the ruling financial oligarchs of this world bank bankroll conflicts and world wars (i.e  the British oligarchs and Wall Street like  the Rothschilds, Harriman, Prescott Bush, et al funded Hitler initially).

Read more


PPP Focus

May 15, 2017

Willing to Turn OBOR into Path for Peace: Xi Jinping

The event was attended by high-level leaders from 29 nations, the United Nations Secretary General, the President of the World Bank (WB), the Director General of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Read more


Belt and Road Summit: Xinhua Interview with Helga Zepp-LaRouche

May 14, 2017

Helga-Zepp-LaRouche-on-Xinhua-BRI

XinhuaNet Interview: Belt and Road Initiative to become “a true world land bridge

Read more


Belt and Road Summit: China Daily Interview with Helga Zepp-LaRouche

May 14, 2017

People’s Daily Online Interview: Belt and Road Initiative to become “a true world land bridge

Read more


Belt and Road Summit: China Daily (pressreader.com) Interview with Helga Zepp-LaRouche

May 15, 2017

China Daily (pressreader.com) Interview: Belt and Road Initiative to become “a true world land bridge

Read more

 

 

 


Chinese TV Carries Comments from Helga Zepp-LaRouche and Bill Jones in Their Coverage of China’s “Two Sessions”

March 6, 2017 –China United Television, a major TV station in south China’s Shenzhen province, like most of the Chinese channels, is having ongoing news coverage of the two, week-long National People’s Congress and the CPPCC meetings. Interspersed in their coverage of the Congress are comments by Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche and {EIR} Washington Bureau Chief Bill Jones, based on answers to questions that had been pre-recorded and sent to the station for this purpose. The topics included the importance of the U.S.-China relationship, the significance of the Belt and Road, and the possibility of cooperation with the United States in infrastructure investment. Three of the segments can be found at:

http://www.cutv.com/v2/2017-3-4/G16ghgggihkoomjnjlombn.shtml
http://www.cutv.com/v2/2017-3-5/G17hihhhjilppojqhhkwrs.shtml
http://www.cutv.com/v2/2017-3-5/G15fgfffhgjnnmhjoklspo.shtml

 


Xinhua interviews Helga Zepp-LaRouche on US-China relation

The recent interactions between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, particularly their latest phone conversation, are very positive signs of the potential to develop a new type of bilateral relations, a German expert said Friday.

“President Trump’s letter and subsequent phone call with President Xi Jinping are very positive signs that he indeed wants to develop a constructive relationship with China,” Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Germany-based think tank Schiller Institute, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.


Shanghai Daily Interviews Helga Zepp-LaRouche

EDITOR’S Note: Helga Zepp-LaRouche visited Shanghai for the first time in the summer of 1971. In 1977 she married American economist Lyndon LaRouche, and the couple have since worked together on development plans for a just new world economic order. Zepp-LaRouche founded the Schiller Institute in 1984, a think tank devoted to the realization of these plans and a renaissance and a dialogue of classical cultures. In 1991 she was a coauthor of a study The Eurasian Land-Bridge/ The New Silk Road and in 2014 of the study The New Silk Road Becomes the World Land-Bridge, which has been translated into Chinese, Arabic, German and Korean. She is an expert in European humanist philosophy and poetry, Confucius, and history. After attending the recent Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, she visited Shanghai, where Shanghai Daily reporter Wan Lixin interviewed her.


Q: In what way do you think the Belt and Road initiative is significant for the world and China?

A: I think the Belt and Road initiative signifies a revolutionary move to a new epoch of civilization. The idea of having a win-win cooperation among nations is the first time that a concrete concept has been offered to overcome geopolitics. Since geopolitics was the cause of the two world wars, I think it is a completely new paradigm of thinking where an idea proposed by one country has the national interest basically in coherence with the interests of humanity as a whole. This has never happened. This has instilled tremendous hope among developing nations that they have the chance to overcome poverty and underdevelopment. And I think this is an initiative that will grow until all the continents are connected through infrastructure and development.

Q: What do you think are challenges confronting the world today?

A: I think the biggest challenge is that the trans-Atlantic financial system is in jeopardy, because the G7 countries did nothing after the financial crisis of 2008 to remedy the root causes of this crisis. The danger today is that we are going to have another financial crisis much worse than that of 2008. In this light I think the financial system associated with the Belt and Road Initiative, like the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) and similar institutions, which are focused on investment in the real economy, are an anchor. Hopefully the Western nations will rethink their orientation of high risk speculation and eventually go back to the banking system represented by AIIB. U.S. President Trump announced that he will go back to the American economic system of Alexander Hamilton, and that’s potentially the kind of reform that makes the United States fit to cooperate in this new financial system. The second challenge is naturally terrorism. This requires international cooperation, and there I think the Belt and Road could offer a lasting solution by extending the initiative to Southwest Asia, and build up the economy in that part of the world that had been destroyed by wars which were based on lies. Why did you have to solve the problem of terrorism militarily first? You have to have an economic perspective so that people in the regions have hope for the future. So I think ending terrorism would require the Belt and Road Initiative and the reconstruction of the Southwest Asia and Africa.

Q: There has been evolving perception about globalization. How do you think the Belt and Road Initiative is reshaping this perception?

A: The old globalization really went entirely in one direction. First of all it made the deregulation of the markets and high risk speculation easy. And this increased the gap between the rich and the poor in an intolerable way in many countries. This mode of globalization is being rejected, as you can see by the Brexit and the rise of many right-wing movements in Europe. So this model has clearly failed. I think the new Silk Road, the win-win cooperation as proposed by China, has developed in incredible speed in the less than four years since President Xi proposed it. This new model of globalization is based on the common good of all participating countries. This is the more attractive form of globalization and this is why so many countries have joined it.

Q: What do you think are some of the factors that need to be considered when it comes to implementing the Belt and Road initiative across different cultures?

A: The Schiller Institute has organized hundreds of seminars and conferences on the New Silk Road for 26 years. We have always made the point that for this New Silk Road to succeed in the tradition of the old Silk Road, which was also an exchange of ideas and cultures, not just products and technology, you have to combine economic cooperation with dialogue between cultures. This dialogue must be on the highest level, so each culture has to present examples of the best of their culture, like Confucianism, Italian renaissance, the German classical period, and present the best works of arts in music and poetry, paintings and other forms of art. Our experience is that when people get into contact for the first time with expression of such high culture from another culture, they are surprised by its beauty. And this beauty then opens the heart and souls of the people. And this is the best medicine against chauvinism, xenophobia, and prejudice, and it opens the way for the love of other cultures. This is in conformity with Confucian teaching that all activity must be combined with strengthening of love for the mankind, because without that cultural component, that New Silk Road will not flourish.

Q: What do you think such high profile events like the recent summit suggest about China’s role in world affairs?

A: I think it a great honor for me to participate in this Belt and Road Forum, and I was deeply impressed by the speech of President Xi Jinping. Among all participants I spoke with there is consensus that we are actively participating in the shaping of history. All this means that China is right now leading the world in terms of providing the perspective for the future. I think this has been recognized by many countries in Latin America, in Africa, in Asia, and even some European countries start to recognize it is in their best interests to ally with that initiative. So I think it has made clear that China is the only country right now that offers a positive perspective to overcome the strategic bottleneck of our present times.

Q: In the past, the quest for prosperity invariably led to competition, strife, or wars. Is this avoidable?

A: Concerning the question of competition, strife and war, I think this must be replaced by joint development. Here I would like to quote from Pope Paul VI who said that “Development is the new name for peace.”

Q: How do you think the West responds to the Belt and Road Initiative?

A: The responses have been mixed, because you have those who want to stick to the old geopolitical thinking, to the status quo of their power, and to their understanding of their power position. I think this is an outdated way of thinking. Many think-tanks of the West are still publishing reports along these lines. But there is a wind of change. Many European countries have realized the potential of collaborating with the Belt and Road, which includes Greece, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland. So I think this tendency will increase. Those countries which are more reserved — like Germany — will have to change. But I think German industries, particularly those middle-sized industries, are absolutely in cooperation with China in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Q: Say something about your China experience.

A: I was first in Shanghai 46 years ago in 1971, after traveling on a cargo ship. Although it was not the best time to be in China, it had awakened my love for China. The city has changed completely. Except for some buildings on the Bund, I couldn’t find anything in my memory. I could not think of any other countries in the planet that have seen such gigantic changes. I think the Chinese people are much too modest. They should feel more confident about what they have accomplished. They have created the biggest miracle of the world, even bigger than the post-war German economic miracle. They should be very proud to be Chinese. The decision by Moody’s Investors Service to cut China’s sovereign ratings is insane. In German we have a saying: People should touch their own nose first before they made a stupid criticism.

(source: Shanghai Dailyhttp://www.shanghaidaily.com/opinion/chinese-perspectives/Belt-and-Road-initiative-instills-hope-for-peace-and-development-among-nations/shdaily.shtml

 


Zepp-LaRouche Addresses a Forum at Largest Publishing House in China

In a major address to an audience of between 100 and 200 people at the Phoenix Press Publishing Group at their headquarters in Nanjing, China, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the president of the Schiller Institute, gave a report-back from her attendance at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.

“The Belt and Road has injected optimism into many countries,” Zepp-LaRouche said, “and the momentum is unstoppable,” but bringing it fully to fruition “will not be easy.” Immediately after the summit, she continued, the attacks against the Belt and Road escalated, combined with attacks against President Trump, who had sent a high-level delegation to the BRI Summit. “The attacks were based on the absurd charges of collusion with Russia in the election,” she said.

“After the Cold War, the British and their American allies wanted to create a unipolar world,” she said. “And in doing so they have destroyed the Middle East and left it in a shambles.” And this precipitated the refugee crisis, the general reaction against “globalization,” and the rise of right-wing movements. “The Belt and Road,” she said, “will bring about the creation of the World Land-Bridge, which will connect all continents. And this is something we have been fighting for, for over 40 years,” she said.

She then described the fight of her and her husband, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., to build a new world economic order: LaRouche’s call for an International Development Bank, the fight for the African development plan, and the Ibero-American initiative in the same direction in collaboration with Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo, and the hundreds of seminars on five continents held by the Schiller Institute calling for a Belt and Road development.

“Transforming the Belt and Road to a World Land-Bridge will realize politically for the first time a real future for all the people living on this planet and will establish forms of governance for the world.” But to fully realize this, she said, “you must also study the ideas of my husband on the question of economics.”

Zepp-LaRouche then went through the all-important cultural aspects of the Belt and Road and the need for all of the different cultures involved to bring out their finest achievements, in order to use these to create a dialogue of cultures among the nations on the Belt and Road. She then went through the importance of Friedrich Schiller in German and Western culture and the importance of Confucius in Chinese culture, making a concrete comparison of the works of Schiller and Confucius and showing the close similarity in the ideas of these two great thinkers which were separated in time by almost 2000 years .

Zepp-LaRouche was followed by Bill Jones, the Washington Bureau Chief of EIR, who showed a power point presentation describing the struggle of the LaRouche organization from the time of Nixon’s abandonment of the Bretton Woods system. He described the 1970s attack of the Club of Rome and the publication of “Limits to Growth,” which was intended to transform the culture of progress into the culture of death with the international push for Zero Economic Growth and Zero Population Growth. He outlined the reaction of Lyndon LaRouche and the LaRouche organization to the Zero Growth movement, LaRouche’s call for the International Development Bank (IDB), and the subsequent call for the IDB and a New World Economic Order at the Colombo meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1976, and by Guyana’s Foreign Minister, Fred Wills, at the U.N. General Assembly.

Jones described the struggle waged by LaRouche to bring President Ronald Reagan, who had adopted LaRouche’s concept of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) as a peace proposal with the Soviet Union, into a working relationship with the progressive leaders in the developing sector, such as Mexican President Lopez Portillo and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. These efforts then led to a reaction by the people around Vice President George H.W. Bush, who connived to have LaRouche and several of his associates incarcerated on trumped-up charge. The election of President William Clinton brought LaRouche out of prison and back into an advisory role, with President Clinton’s attempts, albeit unsuccessful, to move in the direction of a new financial architecture. The creation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) represent, therefore, the type of structures that LaRouche and his movement have been trying to bring about for over four decades, Jones explained.

This was followed by Professor Bao Shixiu, a professor of military science, who outlined the strategic importance of the Belt and Road for China, showing how it will allow the country to overcome the traditional difficulties it has had with other countries, including India and Japan. Professor Bao underlined the seminal role of the LaRouches in bringing this initiative to the forefront, and the ongoing struggle of Lyndon and Helga LaRouche to overcome the opposition to it from the London-New York financial elites. Professor Bao also laid out both the economic and strategic implications of the Belt and Road for China, which would help ensure a harmonious climate in the region and in the world, which would allow it and all other countries to continue to develop.

There was a great deal of interest exhibited by the audience, particularly in Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s call for the dialogue of cultures and a heightened degree of interest in the work of Friedrich Schiller among the Phoenix staff, some of whom seemed to have had a rather extensive exposure to the works of German culture.


Belt and Road Forum

May 14 – 15, 2017, Beijing, China

Belt and Road Forum page >>

 

 


Helga Zepp-LaRouche Speaks in New Delhi

March 2, 2016 (Schiller Institute)–Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and Chairwoman of the Schiller Institute, spoke today in New Delhi at the Raisina Dialogue, co-sponsored by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation. The two-day conference is described by its organizers as being “designed to explore prospects and opportunities for Asian integration as well as Asia’s integration with the larger world.” The event hosted more than 100 speakers from over 100 countries.


Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s Presentation (Video)

 

Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s Presentation (Audio)

 

Transcript of presentation

MODERATOR: Now we have Mrs. Helga Zepp-LaRouche to speak on the Chinese Belt and Road initiative…. You have the floor.

HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Well, thank you very much. I want to thank the organizers of this very distinguished forum to give me the opportunity to speak. Because I think most people know that mankind is in one of its most severe crises, and maybe the most important crisis in all of our history. The strategic situation is described by many analysts as more dangerous than during the height of the Cold War, which was the Cuban Missile Crisis; the trans-Atlantic financial system is headed for a new crisis, worse than 2008; and the refugee crisis in Europe is really not only a tremendous humanitarian crisis, but it is about to explode the EU.

Now, the question is, are we as a human civilization capable of changing wrong policies which have led to this crisis, or are we doomed to repeat the mistakes which have led, due to geopolitics, to two world wars in the 20th Century? But fortunately, we are also witnessing the emergence of a completely new paradigm. Under the leadership of the BRICS countries, a completely new set of relations among states is developing, based on mutual interest, economic cooperation, and collaboration in future-oriented, high-technology areas, such as thermonuclear fusion, the research into space, and therefore a deeper understanding of the physical principles of our universe.

The Chinese New Silk Road program, One Belt, One Road, is offering the Chinese economic miracle to be repeated in every country which wants to cooperate in this win-win perspective. Already 65 states are participating in this new model of cooperation, and it is in the process of overcoming geopolitics, and with that, the source of war, potentially forever.

The new agreement between U.S. Secretary of State Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov concerning a ceasefire for Syria, is potentially a game-changer for the entire strategic situation, provided that especially Russia, China, and India immediately work with the countries of Southwest Asia to implement a comprehensive build-up program, not only for the war-torn countries of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, but for the entire region from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean, from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf. And with the trip of President Xi Jinping to the region, to Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, the extension of the Silk Road is now on the table.

The Schiller Institute published a 370-page study with the title, “The New Silk Road Becomes the World Land-Bridge,” which is already available in Chinese, in Arabic, and soon in Korean, which is a blueprint for a comprehensive build-up of the whole world economy. It contains a very concrete plan for Southwest Asia. So this region, between Asia, Europe, and Africa, has a huge development potential, with great human and natural resources, and it is uniquely located.

The Five Seas strategy announced in 2004 by President Assad can still be a reference point for an infrastructure net between the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Black Sea, making this region potentially a prosperious hub, for the vast increases of trade between Asia, Europe, and Africa. Two major development corridors, one east-west, and another one north-south, will not only include integrated fast train systems, highways, pipelines, water projects, industries, and agriculture. With modern technologies, such as nuclear energy for the desalination of vast amounts of ocean water and the ionization of moisture in the atmosphere, we can green the desert and reconquer large areas of the desert for agriculture and human habitation. The New Silk Road, which already extends from Chongqing and Yiwu to Tehran, where the first Silk Road train arrived three weeks ago, can be extended from there via Baghdad, Amman, Aqaba, and then continue through a tunnel to Sharm el-Sheikh in the Southern Sinai to Cairo. The route crosses the Euphrates River, where ancient travel routes can be transformed into modern corridors, from the Basra port in Iraq at the Perusian Gulf, northwest to Aleppo. Existing railroads along the Euphrates in Iraq and a railroad between Aleppo in Syria and Deir ez-Zor on the Euphrates, should be modernized, and a new line from there to Baghdad connecting the main arteries of the Silk Road should be built. Again, this corridor should not just be rail, but should integrate transport, energy production, distribution, communications, and create the conditions governing the location for the development of industry and new cities. A land route to India connecting the Iranian rail network up to Zahedan on the Iran-Pakistan border, is on schedule to be completed. Other lines, for time reasons very briefly: from Deir ez-Zor to Tadmor-Palmyra to Damascus and Beirut. A north-south link from Syria to the industrial zones of the Suez Canal; a north-south railway from Damascus to Mecca and Medina; a tunnel under the Bab el Mandeb Strait from Djibouti to the Arab Peninsula, and links to Europe, the Black Sea, and Russia. India has good relations with practically all the countries of the region and has been asked already by Russia and China, to play a mediating role in such a developing perspective. As Prime Minister Modi said, 65% of the Indian population is under 35 years of age, and that is the greatest asset of the country.

These youth must be not only given a vision, to help to increase the productivity of Indian agriculture through the use of power, water, fertilizer, high-variety seeds, and so forth, so that the number of working people as farmers can be halved and that land be used for a build-up of infrastructure. But the youth of India can also be inspired to take it as their own mission, to participate in the economic transformation of Southwest Asia and Africa, and in this way, be part of creating a future for all of mankind. The realization of such a development perspective, is the only way how to end the refugee crisis and revive the economies of Europe and the United States, and to develop all of Asia. [applause]

 

For the first time the Indian Ministry of external affairs hosted together with the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi from the 1st to 3rd of March 2016.

The conference, with over 600 guests from over 100 nations, focused on Asia’s physical, economic, human and digital connectivity as well as the needed international partnerships to address the challenges in this century effectively.

The participation of speakers involved policy and decision makers, including cabinet ministers from various governments, high-level government officials and policy practitioners, leading personalities from business and industry, members of the strategic community, media and academia. Among the inaugural speakers were the Ministers of Foreign Affairs from Bangladesh and India, Abdul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Sushma Swaraj, and several former presidents: Hamid Karzai (Afghanistan), Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (Sri Lanka), and Sir James Mancham (Seychelles). Furthermore the conference was addressed by the Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, several other ministers of India, as well as Li Zhaoxing, former foreign minister of China. Ding Guorong, Senior Vice President of the Silk Road Fund, as well as many other incumbent and former politicians and last but not least the founder and head of the Schiller-Institute, Helga Zepp- LaRouche.

The panels addressed different aspects:

Under the title of “Wither European Union” the panelists, among them two members of European parliament dealt with the challenges of the Euro-zone with the refugee crisis and terrorism. Most of them blamed the lack of solidarity among the member states as the core reason to the crisis. In the Q&A session Helga Zepp-LaRouche could intervene by bringing in the only way how to solve the refugee crisis, the kind of Marshall Plan to rebuilt the whole region which was destroyed by all these wars. Even though the panelists did not respond directly to it, it made a huge effect and was brought up by another speaker later in the afternoon and in different side discussions. In her speech in the panel “Connecting a Continent: An Asian Union” Helga Zepp- LaRouche elaborated that idea in a much bigger context of the New Silk Road Process as the only means to avoid thermonuclear war. In the Q&A session she was able to elaborate her on her remarks and uplift the discussion into the strategic outlook.

Throughout the proceedings of the event many thankful and concerned people asked Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche to elaborate more on the issues she raised, especially on the war danger and the New Silk Road initiative.

Other panels included topics as “Asias Strategic Order”, which addressed the role of nuclear weapons vis-a-vis stability in the region, or “Waters of Asia”, which dealt with the transnational development of river basins and implications of energy corridors and international waterways. There were also several panels on different security items, one focussing on asymmetrical and sub-conventional security threats from state and non-state actors and how to respond to these.

The program to the conference can be found at: http://raisinadialogue.org


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