China Convenes UNSC Meeting on “Peace Through Development”

The United Nations Security Council held a three-hour special session on Nov. 20 on the theme “Promote Sustaining Peace through Common Development”. It was convened by China, as the most important event of the rotating presidency it holds in November. The discussion there reflects the growing acceptance of the basic principle at the center of Lyndon LaRouche’s science of physical economy.

The session opened with three guest “briefers” scheduled by China, speaking for 15 minutes each: UN Secretary-General António Guterres; Dilma Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank; and Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. They, as well as many of the diplomats who intervened, referenced the self-evident, sociological association between poverty, instability and potential conflict. But several additional points were brought out during the special session.

Dilma Rousseff, whose full text is not available, clearly called for reforming the Bretton Woods institutions (IMF, World Bank, WTO) that have “increased social fragility”, while international financial regulations have failed to prevent speculative bubbles or excessive liquidity problems. She also denounced the double standards now applied during crises.

Professor Sachs pointed out that “all four wars [Ukraine, Palestine, Syria, Sahel region] could be ended quickly by agreement in the UN Security Council … by addressing the underlying economic and political factors.” He said “The Security Council should establish a Peace and Development Fund,” and specifically for the long-running Sahel conflict, he called for “external funding” of electrification, road and rail infrastructure, and education.

China’s ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun noted, in his remarks, that “Peace, development, and human rights are the three pillars of the United Nations. Among them, development holds the master key to solving all problems and constitutes the basis for promoting peace and protecting human rights.”

The EU’s representative Olof Skoog did pay lip service to the link between development and security, but quickly added that “we shouldn’t forget human rights”. As developing nations know, that is the usual catch phrase used by Brussels to justify denying funds for infrastructure and development projets…

A different standpoint was expressed by the Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzya, who said that his country’s development assistance prioritizes “the transfer of technology and expertise to the poorest and most vulnerable countries without preconditions, and the development of industry and critical infrastructure. Russia is involved in projects in the areas of industrialization, digitalization and agriculture… and the production of electricity.”