Schiller Institute Delegation Visits China
A five-member delegation of the Schiller Institute, led by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, paid an exciting and instructive one-week visit to China at the end of May. Through their numerous discussions and tours, the participants, from Germany, France and Sweden, were able to get a good sense of developments in the country and open new circles of friends. As for their interlocutors, they were most interested in the political-strategic views of Europeans in general, in terms of the Ukraine conflict, the instability of the global economy and other pressing strategic problems. One question was of particular importance for them: what position will the Europeans take on the demand that they “decouple from China”, and whether the term “de-risking” (chosen by the EU) is any different from “decoupling”, and if so, in what way.
In the numerous discussions they had, the question was often raised as to why, given the painful economic consequences of the U.S./NATO sanctions policy against Russia, the Europeans fail to adopt a more independent development strategy, that could somehow cushion or even compensate for the negative effects of the confrontations within Europe. From the Chinese perspective, it is very difficult to understand why Germany, in particular, continues on such a course (almost slavishly so), without searching for a reasonable alternative.
In response, Helga Zepp-LaRouche repeatedly emphasized that the policy of NATO, the U.S., the U.K., and the EU will likely lead to the de-industrialization of Germany and of the other industrialized countries of continental Europe, and that the German government, under the leadership of the Green Foreign and Economy Ministries, is explicitly complicit in this destructive approach. European policy today, she said, goes all the more against the interests of the respective countries, as the economic momentum clearly lies in Asia and with those that cooperate in the Belt and Road Initiative.
Mrs. LaRouche always stressed that her late husband Lyndon LaRouche had already pointed to the systemic flaws of the neoliberal system more than 50 years ago, and accurately forecast the current crisis, while tirelessly proposing vast infrastructure and development projects. But it was only with the emergence of China as an economic powerhouse that this perspective could be concretized for many countries, especially in the southern hemisphere.
This economic, technological, but also cultural strengthening of China was visible to the members of the Schiller Institute delegation everywhere they went, during all their discussions and interviews. One unifying element of the Chinese approach they noticed, was the determination to make everything work and to constantly think about improvements. For example, already during the construction of a new industrial plant, a new cultural center or even an entire new city district, the focus is on what can be optimized in the next similar project. And whatever the project, the link to thousands of years of history and the inclusion of even the most remote areas of the hinterlands and the smallest minority within the giant empire always shines through.
