LaRouche Keynotes ISSS
Conference on World and China
by Harley Schlanger
U.S. Presidential pre-candidate Lyndon LaRouche was the keynote speaker at a conference on China on Aug. 17, sponsored by the Institute of Sino Strategic Studies (ISSS) in Whittier, California, and extensively covered in the Chinese press. The "Seventh Annual Conference on the Re-emergence of China" was attended by scholars, intellectuals, and political activists from the United States, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China, many of whom were happy for the opportunity to hear directly from LaRouche, whose ideas are widely known in these circles.
LaRouche's speech was titled "China in a Changing World," and addressed the effects of the current global financial and strategic crisis on China, and the implications of this crisis on relations between the U.S. and China. His keynote was backed up by additional presentations, by Schiller Institute scientific adviser Dr. Jonathan Tennenbaum on U.S.-China economic relations, and by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, on the Eurasian Land-Bridge as the means of recovery from the economic depression.We publish here all three of these addresses to this landmark conference.
Wide Coverage in Chinese Press
The Institute held a well-attended special press conference prior to the opening of the conference, to introduce LaRouche and the other speakers to the Chinese-language press. More than ten news services with correspondents in California attended. The introduction of LaRouche, and statements from the other participants, showed the high esteem in which he is held among the conference organizers and other scholars and political activists present. Dr. Tie Lin Yin, for example, a leading advocate of peaceful Chinese reunification, referred to LaRouche as "the distinguished thinker," adding that, to him, there is no higher designation than that.
Zhong Jian Hua, the Consul General of the People's Republic of China, was the sponsor of the pre-conference reception, at which he and Lyndon LaRouche gave remarks.
The Chinese journalists' questions to LaRouche focussed first upon his Presidential campaign, and second on his views on relations between China and Taiwan. His own remarks stressed that the ISSS conference was occurring at a moment of economic collapse; thus the most important questions are what caused this situation, what are the solutions, and what can the role of China be, in solving this crisis? All these subjects, including LaRouche's campaign, were prominent in the coverage, in the Taiwan-linked Chinese Daily News, China Today, Sing Tao of Hong Kong, the China Press, and China Daily. The Chinese Daily News and World Journal headline was typical: "LaRouche: Reunification Across the Taiwan Strait is in America's Best Interest." The City Magazine headlined its coverage, "The Economic Crisis Leads to War: Frightening Words of Lyndon LaRouche."
When a number of Chinese journalists asked LaRouche about the situation today in the Taiwan Straits, and what he considered were the prospects for reunification of China, or for Taiwan independence, the Presidential candidate replied that answering these questions requires going back in U.S. history to President John Quincy Adams and his crucial American view of national sovereignty. Adams proposed that U.S. policy must be to establish a community of principle among perfectly sovereign nation-states. His view was that the nation-state is not a source of conflict, but the basis for the establishment of a community for achievement of common purposes.
Modern China emerged as the result of the fight by overseas Chinese, led by Sun Yat-sen, for just such a sovereign nation-state. There are two aspects of the development of China as a modern nation-state, LaRouche said, which are important to the interest of the United States today. First, there is the idea of the unity of the Chinese people, as exemplified by Sun Yat-sen's plans for railroad construction throughout the vast extent of the country. The development of the interior of China still needs that rail program today. Second is the development of Eurasia, which requires the cooperation of three nations: China, India, and Russia. We must build a community of principle built around these three nations, he concluded, for peace, security, and development.
LaRouche said that while it is not for the Americans to tell China how to come together, there should be a reunification of China, as well as Korea, as part of a new, just order among nations. "Our hearts, of those in the U.S. who know history, are with the unification of China," he concluded.
The journalists peppered LaRouche with more questions on the U.S. Presidential campaign, his own electability in particular. The candidate emphasized that there are major political changes occurring in the United States because of the accelerating economic collapse. Asked for more detail, LaRouche referred to growing ferment among youth in support of his candidacy. This was shown dramatically later in the day, when LaRouche spoke to a meeting of nearly 100 young campaign supporters and prospective supporters in Los Angeles. The press conference closed with several journalists asking to have their pictures taken with "the future President."
'We Must Make a Revolution in Thinking'
Among the participants in this major conference were officials from the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots; the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits; the China Association for the Promotion of Culture; the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; and the Alliance for the Reunification of China.
LaRouche's keynote address was delivered before approximately 70 members and guests of the Institute of Sino Strategic Studies. He was introduced by the conference co-chairman, Dr. Wenji Victor Chang, who said he has been reading the Executive Intelligence Review for six years, and had been impressed by LaRouche's foresight in forecasting the 1997 collapse of the Asian economies. Dr. Chang reported being warned of a more recent forecast by LaRouche last March, of a blow-out of the stock markets in the next three to four months. By August, LaRouche's forecast had been proven to be accurate, as the market lost 25% of its value. "But I was not a good student," Dr. Chang said, "because, if I had listened to Mr. LaRouche, I would not have lost so much money in the stock market. Now, he warns us that the next bubble to explode is the U.S. real estate bubble. So, I just sold my condo."
LaRouche was asked several questions by the enthusiastic audience. "In addition to finance," one asked, "you mentioned the spiritual." LaRouche had concluded his speech by addressing the uniquely human desire and understanding that each human being has the potential to live on powerfully after death, in the contribution that person has made to a change for the better. "Will your philosophy," the questioner asked, "materialize in this country?"
The U.S. population is terrified, LaRouche answered, not by the events of Sept. 11, but by the failure of the economic system, which they were told repeatedly would not fail. This has led to openness to his ideas among youth, ages 18-25, in particular. "Every great revolution in history comes about by the youth, who inspire their parents and grandparents. They have a sense that they have no future. If you look at what they've been taught in the schools, they've been cheated."
But the crisis, he continued, is forcing changes to occur. "The obligation of a leader is to point to the problem, and also the solution. There is no guarantee of success, but I am confident that we can succeed."
LaRouche and the Presidency
LaRouche also was asked, by the owner of a local radio station, if he had presented this speech to Bush, and if he can win the nomination for President. He answered by saying that there is no one, other than himself, who is presently qualified to be President in the economic and strategic crisis which this President must face. Since there are some talented people in the United States, he can move things so that the United States can solve these problems. To do this, however, "We've got to make a revolution in thinking." LaRouche's campaign has been engaged for a month in an intense, 5 million-leaflet campaign precisely to enable the President to act seriously in this crisis, in the one way possible: by making LaRouche himself the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for 2004.
After the formal session of the ISSS conference, the candidate had a series of private meetings with leading activists and scholars in the Chinese community.
Earlier in the day, the conference heard a presentation prepared by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, "The Eurasian Land-Bridge as an Alternative." Mrs. LaRouche was unable to attend, due to her own ongoing political campaign as head of the Civil Rights Solidarity Movement's slate of parliamentary candidates in Germany's national elections; her speech was read by Leni Rubinstein, who is well-known to the conference sponsors for her long-time work in this area. A speech was also read which had been submitted by Dr. Jonathan Tennenbaum, "Reflections on a New Basis for Economic Relations between the United States and China."
