Xi and Trump Confer; Global Collaboration Grows Against Pandemic; New Economic System Is the Key

March 27 (EIRNS)—The phone call last night between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, and other developments in and around yesterday’s G20 virtual summit on fighting COVID-19, show growing international collaboration that is indispensable for humanity to win our historic fight. President Xi pledged to continue China’s aid to other nations, including the United States in his offer of help. Xi called for an end to confrontationist relations of any kind. President Trump expressed appreciation for China’s provision of medical supplies, cooperation in R&D for effective medicines, and other work against the epidemic. Trump spoke of how he has publicly made clear that the American people love and respect the Chinese people, and made a point of adding that he will protect Chinese nationals in the U.S., including students. The two heads of state said they are committed to remain in close communication.

President Putin stressed yesterday that there must be “green corridors” of humanitarian aid—matériel, medical, and other services—set up worldwide, with no tariffs, sanctions, or other impediments to delivering life-saving support.

These initiatives constitute headway towards a full-scale summit of these three Great Power leaders—plus India’s Narendra Modi, and more—to confer on moving decisively on both of the “two viruses”—the COVID-19 pandemic, and the London/Wall Street monetarist system, now crashing. Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s repeated call for this summit is getting ever wider attention, including this week in Ukraine, Iran, and elsewhere. On March 18, Zepp-LaRouche called for a temporary shutdown of the dysfunctional stock markets, as part of needed emergency measures to establish circumstances favorable to replacing the failed system. End the trillion-dollar bailouts to financial black holes, and reorganize banking on the Glass-Steagall principle. This is vital for the masses of credit required to fight the pandemic, and to establish a productive economy again. International collaboration, along with U.S. activation, are critical to forcing this into being.

The joint statement of the G20 meeting itself, listed points of collaborative action, e.g.: providing aid to impoverished areas, collaborating on R&D and production of treatments, vaccines, surveillance, and so on.

The same day as the G20 Summit was ongoing, a major briefing was being held in Beijing by the National Health Commission (NHC) of China, summarizing the extent to date of Chinese anti-virus aid around the world, and pledging to continue it. For example, this week, the NHC held a joint meeting with the World Health Organization, to share China’s epidemic and control experience, with representatives of 77 nations; 100,000 people watched online. There are other significant instances of international collaboration, such as Russia’s aid in Italy.

The critical element to this world picture was provided in a letter to the G20 meeting, calling for debt relief, drafted on behalf of the nations of the International Development Association, the world’s poorest countries, many of which are in Africa. There can be no defeat of COVID-19, morally or epidemiologically, on this planet, without an all-out drive in Africa and in all other places kept impoverished by the dead neo-British Empire system.

There are now dramatic instances of coronavirus spread across the Africa. South Africa starts nationwide lockdown tomorrow. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa starts full lockdown. A top advisor to President Félix Tshisekedi died there today. One African leader made the point, that “Our continent not only does not have the means to combat the virus, but we have nothing at all toward any economic ‘stimulus’ packages, as are being discussed in the Trans-Atlantic.”

We are at a moment when reality is sweeping away the lies and fake axioms of the old order. Hussein Askary, Schiller Institute Coordinator for Southwest Asia, said today, on TV in Iran: “One important positive outcome of this corona pandemic is that it showed that we are all human. The coronavirus does not care if you are Asian, European, African, or American. It will attack because you are human. Therefore, governments should react to this virus in a similar manner, as humans. If we don’t have a coordinated effort where all nations push in the same direction, we will not be able to defeat the coronavirus.

“The other positive effect is that it exposed the massive shortcomings in the trans-Atlantic system. This will open people’s eyes hopefully to what is essential and precious. Therefore, we are campaigning around the world for a new just world economic system, where all nations work for the benefit of the other in a win-win fashion. We need to change our outlook, or we will perish.”