China’s Optimistic Perspectives for 2023
As the year 2022 drew to a close, some Chinese media turned to the Schiller Institute’s Helga Zepp-LaRouche for her assessment of what China has accomplished so far and what needs to be done in the coming year. On New Year’s Eve, CGTN YouTube posted an 8.5 minute video by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, titled, “China and the EU — What To Expect in 2023”, which is beautifully illustrated throughout, and has subtitles in both English and Chinese.
On Dec. 27, she was part of a panel discussion on CGTN’s “Dialogue” broadcast, which reviewed China’s diplomatic advances in 2022. She stressed, on that occasion, that China and the Global South should keep offering the New Paradigm to the West, despite the current hostility.
A lengthy editorial commentary in Xinhua on the same day on China’s role in driving world economic recovery and growth in 2023, concluded with an evaluation of Helga Zepp-LaRouche.
For a program devoted to the EU’s “Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism” on Dec. 23, she joined a panel of speakers on ChinaPlus World Today (China Radio International), where she warned against the EU swindle. One day before, CGTN posted a video she had made on poverty and underdevelopment as “the biggest threat to human rights”.
As for the Chinese leaders themselves, President Xi Jinping sounded an upbeat note in his New Year’s Address on Dec, 31. He referenced the ambitious plans that had been laid out at the CPC 20th Party Congress this year for reaching the goal of becoming a fully modern economy by its centennial in 2049 – despite the attempts by the United States and Europe to curtail the country’s development and influence.
Among the many national accomplishments Xi Jinping cited were: the consolidation of gains made in poverty elimination; a bumper harvest for the 19th year in a row, (which is always a major issue in China); delivery of the C919, China’s first large passenger aircraft; the completion of China’s space station; and the space missions Shenzhou-13. Shenzhou-14, and Shenzhou-15 that “soared into the heavens.”
Xi also referenced the fact that the response to Covid “has entered a new phase” with the downgrading of the Omicron variant.(We note the irony that virutally all western mainstream media attacked Beijing for months on end, for its “zero Covid” policy, which was allegedly responsible for bringing down the whole world economy, but once the restrictions were lifted, the attacks were just as harsh, but blaming China, this time, for spreading the virus worldwide!)
The past year also confirmed the growing importance of Chinese diplomacy. In the face of NATO’s expansionism, relations between China and Russia have become closer on all fronts. As for the U.S., Xi’s first face-to-face visit with President Joe Biden helped to slow the deterioration in bilateral relations. He also conducted numerous meetings with other heads of state, at the G20 meeting in Bali, the SCO Summit in Samarkand, and the APEC Leaders’ Summit in Bangkok. Then he made a ground-breaking trip to Saudi Arabia to attend the China-GCC Summit and the China-Arab States’ Summit, at which time he met dozens of leaders of countries in the Middle East and Africa, initiating a new path for Chinese diplomacy in the region (cf. SAS 50/22).
