Helga Zepp-LaRouche Urges Conference for New Security Architecture on CGTN Dialogue Broadcast

March 7 (EIRNS)—Helga Zepp-LaRouche was one on a panel of three guests on CGTN’s Dialogue broadcast today, responding to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s annual press conference, which lasted at least 90 minutes. The other guests were Peter Kuznick of American University and Prof. Victor Gao Zhikai of Soochow University; the hostess was Li Quiyuan. The discussion focused on China’s role in bringing peace especially in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but most importantly to the world as a whole. The half-hour panel discussion is posted on the Dialogue program at 15:30 today.

Here are the exchanges between Ms. Li and Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche.

CGTN: And Mrs. LaRouche, let me get your take on this: What sort of key messages did you pick up from Foreign Minister Wang’s press conference?

HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: I was actually very happy with the tone, because it was like a return of sanity. This is in stark contrast to the atmosphere in the European and American media and politics in the recent days. And I think the focus on solving problems through diplomacy, on upholding the principles of the UN Charter and having a general attitude toward problem solving through cooperation, I think this was really a breath of fresh air.

And I’m very, very encouraged because China is really taking a leadership role in the world right now, which is badly needed.

CGTN: The Foreign Minister did say, and I’m quoting his words, “China would like to work alongside with international community to facilitate talks when needed,” although he did not specifically say in what ways. But China did stress the importance of keeping dialogue open all the way.

Another question being raised by reporters at the press conference is whether this conflict or this crisis in Ukraine would impact China-EU relations. So Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche, let me get your take on this? There’s some concern that this conflict will affect this relationship between China and the bloc. The foreign minister said dialogue and cooperation between China and Europe are on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit and that will provide more stability to the turbulent world situation. And he’s also urging the European Union to form an independent China policy. What do you make of this comment?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: I think the situation is very severe, because, for example, the trade between the EU and China, which was a pillar of the world economy so far, is threatened by what is happening between Ukraine and Russia. So I think the sentiment in Europe right now is really terrible, and I can only say that what the foreign minister is giving some hope that new ways can be found.

And I really think that the model of Chinese policy, the shared future of a joint future of humanity, I think, is what is needed right now in my view, and I think Professor Kuznick is right in stressing the urgency of the question, you need something completely different. If we continue geopolitics as it has been done in the past, it is a question of time when humanity is crashing against the wall, and it could lead to a nuclear extinction.

So I think the model which would fit perfectly, the shared community of the one humanity, would be to convoke a conference, an international conference to take care of the security interests of every single country on the planet. Because you cannot have a peace order without taking care of the interests of every country, and there is a model in European history, that is the Peace of Westphalia. The Peace of Westphalia ended 150 years of religious war, culminating in the Thirty Years’ War, and it was based on the recognition of all war parties that if the war would continue there would be nobody left to enjoy the result. And this is in a certain sense a parallel situation to the one we are facing today, because if it comes to a nuclear war there will be no winner, there will be nobody left to even comment on the result.

So I think that should be a motivation to convoke a new Peace of Westphalia conference with the specific aim to conduct an international new security architecture, which would include Russia, include China, and I think this would be in perfect spirit with the policy of President Xi Jinping about the shared community of mankind and the one future we all have.

CGTN: China is hosting this year’s BRICS summit. The APEC and G20 would also be held in Asia this year. The Foreign Minister said, “Asia’s time has come in global governance,” and “it would transform from followers to front-runners and even pacesetters.” Mrs. LaRouche let me get your take on this: These are very strong words coming from the foreign minister. What do you make of his assessment here?

ZEPP-LAROUCHE: I think it’s absolutely to the point, because the Asian countries in general, not just China, but also some other Asian countries, are very conscious of their 5,000-year-old history, and from that standpoint of a positive tradition they define a future, and they want to develop. And this is the common idea of the BRICS, the SCO, and even other organizations, and that is in stark contrast to Europe and the United States. And I think the idea of a new model of international relations, if these organizations, even if it would be brought into the G20, the idea that you need a new model of international relations which has been stressed by Wang Yi today again, that should be filled with content.

Because I think we have either the choice of ending up in a geopolitical confrontation which would be to the detriment of everybody and possible nuclear war, or, we make a jump in the evolution of civilization by defining the international relations, in a certain sense in the tradition of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Bandung Conference, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence of the UN Charter; but also giving it the vision of solving together the main problems of humanity, such as, that we still have a pandemic, we need a modern health system in every single country to defeat this pandemic and the danger of new ones. We have a world famine of, as Beasley from the World Food Program always says, “of biblical dimensions”: This will get bigger because of the inflation of food prices, of fertilizer, of energy prices.

So there is an urgent agenda. And I think if this year could be used to say, we need a new model of international relations which overcomes geopolitics: Foreign Minister Wang Yi and also President Xi Jinping have made references by saying, why not have the Belt and Road Initiative cooperate with the Build Back Better initiative of the United States and the Global Gateway of the European Union. So if these initiatives, rather than being in a competition, be streamlined and say, let’s address together that which is stressing all of mankind, world hunger, epidemics, the poverty—with the present financial system of the trans-Atlantic sector going completely out of whack, we are facing a new collapse much worse than 2008. The Federal Reserve was not able to “taper” the interest rate, because they’re afraid if they increase the interest rate they will have a mass collapse of bankruptcies. So there is an urgent need to have a new financial system, a New Bretton Woods system, a new credit system which provides credit for development of all developing countries—these are some of the points which really will be the test of humanity. Can we, when we face fundamental challenges, give ourselves an order which allows the survival, and happiness, of all people on this planet? I think that will be the agenda.