Schiller Institute Delegation Visits China

by Christoph Mohs

[Print version of this article]

June 9—A five-member European delegation of the Schiller Institute, led by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, its founder and leader, paid a fascinating 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. Their interlocutors were most interested in the political-strategic views of Europeans in general, regarding the Ukraine conflict, the instability of the global economy, and other pressing strategic problems. One question of particular importance was: What position will the Europeans take on the demand that they “decouple from China”; and whether the term “de-risking” (the preferred EU term) is any different from “decoupling,” and if so, in what way?

A related issue raised in the numerous discussions the delegation had, was 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, one which 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, Zepp-LaRouche repeatedly emphasized that the policy of NATO, the U.S., the UK, and the European Union 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 Economics 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 countries that cooperate in the Belt and Road Initiative. The nations of the Global South are in an unprecedented mood of awakening and are determined to overcome, with the help of China, the colonialism that persists. If Europe decouples from this dynamic, it will destroy its own future.

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, and its offer of economic aid to other states within the framework of the Silk Road Initiative (Belt and Road Initiative), that this perspective could be concretized for many countries, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.

This strengthening of China—in economic and technological, but also in cultural ways—was visible to the members of the Schiller Institute delegation everywhere they went, in the sights they saw and during 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, during the construction of a new industrial plant, a new cultural center, or even an entire new city district, already the focus is on what can be optimized in the next similar project. And, whatever the project, what shines through are the links 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.

Modernization, Economic Momentum

At present, the Chinese leadership, the delegation found, seems to have introduced a phase of its “modernization and opening strategy” aimed primarily at consolidating and expanding the fundamental achievements of the past 40 years. For example, a growing focus is on using digitization and infrastructure improvements to bring economic momentum to rural areas as well as urban. That will help to both reduce the pressure of migrant workers on metropolitan centers and narrow the technological, financial, and cultural gap between urban and rural areas. In addition, greater efforts are being made to integrate the most modern achievements of recent years into the daily lives of the 1.4-billion-strong population.

For the average person living in Beijing, it looks something like this: He uses his smartphone to plan his business meetings, lets his work colleagues know what he’s doing per WeChat, and can, in just one operation, order his lunch at the bistro/restaurant of his choice, pay for it, and have it delivered to a specific point, at a specific time. Everything is networked via the cloud, including the user’s own account and passport.

For Europeans, this seemed very close to the horror of Big Brother, or the “transparent citizen.” For the Chinese, however, it is so self-evident that they don’t think about it; it’s part of their digitized, networked world. They hardly worry about whether such surveillance could have negative or even harmful effects on them. That is certainly rooted in the history of China over the past decades and even centuries. Moreover, there is a very strong trust in the leadership to subordinate everything else to working for the common good. This, for the Europeans, is difficult to understand, given their political leadership.

The fruitful talks and contacts the delegation had with people in political, economic, scientific, and cultural fields will now continue and be intensified. A first opportunity for this was provided June 7 in a German-Chinese internet dialogue [reported elsewhere in this issue].