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Schiller Institute Head Helga Zepp-LaRouche Attends Belt and Road Forum
15 May 2017
Helga Zepp-LaRouche attended the Belt and Road Forum summit in Beijing Sunday and Monday, as the head of the Schiller Institute. The Schiller Institute, one of the key think-tanks involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, had been invited to participate in the conference discussions. The Chinese press agency Xinhua interviewed Zepp-LaRouche, well-known in China as the "Silk Road Lady" for her conceptual advocacy over 30 years of what is now the Belt and Road. The interview is datelined Berlin, May 14. A week earlier, China Daily interviewed Zepp-LaRouche May 6 on her organization’s mobilization for U.S. participation in the May 14-15 summit, and titled its interview "Trump Encouraged To Attend Belt-Road Forum." Now, Xinhua’s Belt and Road page, marked "Latest," featured an article on the Zepp-LaRouche interview as of mid-day EDT Sunday. "’China’s Belt and Road Initiative will continue to grow and become a true world land bridge,’ Helga Zepp-LaRouche, president of the Schiller Institute think tank, has told Xinhua. "’The Belt and Road Initiative is the most important strategic initiative on the planet,’ she said. `It not only brings economic prosperity to all participating countries, but also serves as a true basis for a peace order for the 21st century.’ "’At first some countries thought the initiative would bring advantages to China only; then they realized it was about win-win cooperation among all participating countries,’ she said. `For Africa and other developing countries, it is the first time they have been given access to advanced technologies in the framework of the initiative to fight poverty and boost development,’ said the expert. China Daily also featured Helga Zepp LaRouche in Belt and Road Coverage in "Initiative Is Gaining Incredible Momentum," China Daily’s English-language edition also featured the assessments of Schiller Institute founder and chair Helga Zepp-LaRouche at the Belt and Road Forum (BRF). Zepp-LaRouche called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) "a new dynamic that is gaining incredible momentum. The people who said the Belt and Road Initiative would collapse have been proven wrong, because the statistics now show it has become the new engine of growth for the world economy — in fact, the only one." In the boldest statement, Zepp-LaRouche characterized the shape of the initiative: "China has had an unbelievable economic development in the past 30 years, and in a certain sense, what the Belt and Road Initiative does, is allow China to export that miracle." And, she said, "the Initiative has changed the dynamic around many of the world’s crisis spots already." Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shared that insight in his keynote address, when he stated that "This [bri] is going to be the kind of initiative that will put an end to terrorism." Helga Zepp-LaRouche emphasized to China Daily the demonstrated Chinese world leadership in high-speed rail systems, of which it will have 40,000 km by 2025 from a standing start in 2006. She noted the poor condition of U.S. transport infrastructure, and that Chinese expertise could help the United States emulate such a high-speed rail network. She noted "positive signs" at the Trump-Xi summit in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, "and while Mr. Trump may not be at the Forum, an early trip is planned to China," she said. |