EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR SATURIDAY, MAY 22, 2021
Model Actions for Humanity from China and Russia
May 21, 2021 (EIRNS)—Very early this morning, the ceasefire went into uncertain effect between Israel and Palestine, after 11 days of strife, with terrible destruction in Gaza. As of last night, 232 Palestinians were dead, with 1,700 wounded; 12 Israelis were dead, with 335 wounded. The bloodshed is the legacy of the long-standing British policy impact in the extended region, which has reached the point of economic and social breakdown, and murderous figures like Benjamin Netanyahu.
Within hours of the ceasefire, China announced an aid package for Gaza of $1 million and 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Today, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that China, which holds the chairmanship of the UN Security Council this month, will make it a priority to intervene through the UN Security Council and as a supporting nation, to get action underway on the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
On what to do for survival and economic development in the extended region, in addition to emergency aid urgently required in Gaza, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi toured six states in the greater Persian Gulf in March, addressing economic programs in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. In line with this perspective, Russia is already active in Egypt with the nuclear power plant construction in El Dabaa and other projects. China and Iraq have infrastructure plans pending.
Russia, in a completely different setting this week, also took a distinctive initiative for general benefit. In Reykjavik yesterday was the concluding meeting of this year’s Arctic Council Ministerial—made up of those eight nations whose far north territory lies within the Arctic. U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken at different points chose to make accusations against Russia. But Russia, which as of yesterday, adopted the two-year rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council, announced its support for furthering collaboration in the Arctic. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that, as soon as conditions permit, there should be the convening of an Arctic Summit, in which all questions—including how to restrain militarization of the Arctic, are on the agenda for review and cooperation, not conflict.
Today Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche, in her weekly webcast, spoke of Russia and China as a “very attractive model” in terms of their initiatives. Yesterday, President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin spoke together at an online event marking the start-up of two-nation construction in China of four reactors, two each at two nuclear power plants.
“It’s very refreshing,” Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche described it,
“because President Putin and President Xi Jinping decided to celebrate the collaboration of China and Russia in the construction of these four new nuclear reactors, with the help of Russian technology—not only the construction as such, but to make it a point that this is the beginning of a much larger contribution of the two countries to work to improve the innovation for all of humanity. And Xi Jinping, in particular, said they want to make a decisive contribution to such a transformation. I think this is extremely important: Because if these two countries, one being one of the two largest atomic powers, Russia; and China being the second largest economy, and also becoming a sizable military force—if these two countries decide they will go on a course of advanced technology, higher energy flux densities; and given the fact that their attitude is sharing a lot of projects, a lot of technology with developing countries, this is becoming a very attractive model. And it really breaks this Green New Deal, and I think it is a good example of how you can go about things in a completely different way.”
At the Global Health Summit today hosted in Rome, with online international participation, President Xi made a statement, expressing universal values. The event, sponsored by the European Commission and the Italian Presidency of the Group of 20, had dozens of speakers from governments, international institutions, multinationals, and health experts. The Schiller Institute on May 14, issued a statement for international circulation before this event, to further the understanding that the required world agenda in the pandemic, and related crises, is to mobilize for full health security in every nation, not just medical supplies and temporary gestures.
President Xi, along with pledging $3 billion over the next three years, for both medical and socioeconomic aid, outlined five points of principle: One, “we must put people and their lives first.” Two, we must act on science, and take all needed epidemiological and economic measures. Three, we must stick together; we have a shared future. Four, uphold fairness; reject vaccine nationalism, and stigmatism, vaccines must be made a global good. Five, proper governance means to establish contingency measures and logistical capacity to respond to crises.
In conclusion, President Xi called for us to “build a global community of health for all—a brighter future for humanity.”
