EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2021

Defining Moment: Paradigm of Collaboration, or Pandemic, Famine and War

March 4 , 2021 (EIRNS)—Two contrasting strategic initiatives came from the United States this week. On March 3 Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a formal presentation, “A Foreign Policy for the American People,” in which he singled out China for being the “biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century” for the U.S., as a threat to democracy. In contrast, on March 2, legislators from seven U.S. states and seven Chinese provinces met online, for discussions of mutual economic benefit, which Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai addressed, saying, “A China-U.S. relationship based on coordination, cooperation and stability is both in the fundamental interests of the two peoples, and meets the shared aspiration of the international community.”

The latter gathering, officially titled, “5th China-U.S. Sub-national Legislatures Cooperation Forum,” shows the capacity for deliberating on reality, fortunately still alive in the United States; favoring economic progress, cultural optimism, and respect; and discussion and collaboration on potential concrete projects for infrastructure, power, health care, transportation, agriculture, and food. The extremist, pre-war style demonization of China is not all-pervasive. The U.S. states represented were Alabama, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, and Tennessee. The Chinese provinces and municipalities were Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Hubei, Guangdong, and Yunnan.

In opposition to such a spirit of collaboration, Secretary Blinken asserted yesterday that China is a menace to the stability of the world order, which order, he said, is based on American values, so China must be contained. He spoke of “standing up for our values when human rights are abused in Xinjiang or when democracy is trampled in Hong Kong, because if we don’t, China will act with even greater impunity.” Elaborating more on this, the White House the same day released its 20-page “Interim National Security Strategic Guidance.”

What this geopolitics means in action was seen yesterday in the threat for another U.S. bombing strike on a target in Syria or elsewhere in the region, which was made not only by Secretary Blinken, but by President Biden, as well as John Kirby, Pentagon Press Secretary. Their prospective strike is discussed as retaliation for another terrorist hit on a U.S. base inside Iraq this week, as was the U.S. retaliatory strike Feb. 25. This chain of events has nowhere to go but toward all-out war, if it is not stopped. The only “solution” is to not only end the strife, but to combat the pandemic and famine in the region with emergency measures, and to initiate the essential regional development programs, along with the international collaboration that goes with them. The famine situation in Yemen is acute, and urgent in Syria.

Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche today in her weekly strategic webcast, “As War Danger Grows, There is No Alternative to U.S.-China Cooperation,” denounced the hypocritical talk of “democracy” while nations are being destroyed. She said,

“I don’t want to hear the words democracy and human rights from anybody who is not mobilizing to change the fate of the Yemen people. It would be so easy to bring in ships to the ports for Sana’a and basically say, this food will be delivered, and there is no resistance permitted by Saudi Arabia. There would be means to pressure Saudi Arabia to allow this food to go through. The fact that this is not being done cries to Heaven. I think that this is a complete bankruptcy declaration for Europe—they’re not doing anything about it—and for the whole so-called West.”

Zepp-LaRouche described more of the situation in the region, for example, that in Syria, one-third of the population is suffering from hunger as well as the pandemic. She stressed her call for action. She spoke of the China-USA legislators meeting in this context, describing it as one of a very few “tiny signs of hope.” She said,

“There was the Fifth China-USA Sub-national Cooperation Forum, and that included legislators from many Chinese provinces and state legislative leaders... [from seven states] and the Ambassador of China to the United States, Cui Tiankai. He pointed to the fact that, all of humanity is, really, sitting in one boat. The two most important economies in the world have everything to gain from cooperating with each other, and absolutely nothing to gain from having a policy of confrontation. So one would hope that on that level there is a return to a different approach of cooperation.

“We have so many problems in the world right now. If you think of the unbelievable misery in many countries. If people don’t change, and have an agapic approach, that we are one human species; it would be so easy to get rid of famine. Most diseases are absolutely containable. If there would be common research, we could make crash programs, as it was done for the vaccine for COVID-19, where some researchers developed a new technology in less than a year.... And this you could do, and find a cure for all the many diseases which cause incredible suffering for millions of people.

“So, why not shift? Can we not shift the orientation? Stop geopolitical confrontation, which is really the method which led to two world wars in the 20th century and will lead to annihilation in the 21st century because of thermonuclear weapons, if it is not stopped. So I think this effort to contain China with the Indo-Pacific policy is definitely the biggest danger right now. And I think that the idea to really make a step in a different direction and define the common aims of mankind ... we have to absolutely make this jump.”

Zepp-LaRouche, after then discussing this further, including with reference to the great potential shown in the successes of three Mars missions right now, asked, “Why not really go and make a huge leap, go to a new paradigm in thinking? And rather than destroying each other on Earth, that we find a new paradigm of tackling the challenges which confront all of civilization? I think that here is hope, absolutely, but I think it requires a major shift in policy.”