MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019

Volume 6, Number 168

EIR Daily Alert Service

P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390

• The U.S.-China Relationship
• British Empire Pushes ‘Synthetic Hegemonic Currency’ To Run Its Genocide
• Federal Reserve’s Powell Insists New ‘Toolkit’ Needed To Address Danger of Blowout
• China To Slap Tariffs on $75 Billion of U.S. Imports, as Trump Hikes Tariffs 5-10% More on All China Imports
• Beijing Responds to Trump That ‘U.S. Economy Will Not Be Stronger Without China’
• Putin Tells His Security Council To Prepare ‘Reciprocal Response’ to U.S. Threat To Deploy Missiles
• Pentagon’s Esper Claims U.S. INF Pullout Was Aimed at Building Up Forces Against China

• North Korea Carries Out Short-Range Missile Launch, Drawing Low-Key Response From Trump
• France’s Macron Wants G7 Summit To Proclaim Amazon Emergency Because of Forest Fires
• Brazil Mobilizes To Defend Its Sovereignty Over the Amazon
• Bolivia Argues for South America’s Amazon Pact To Take Charge of Amazon Protection
• Chinese Astronauts Inspire Namibian Youth To ‘Tangle With the Stars’

EDITORIAL

The U.S.-China Relationship

Aug. 25 (EIRNS)—In the latest round of escalation of trade warfare between the U.S. and China, President Donald Trump issued a series of tweets on Aug. 23, including one that stated: “We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them.”

The following day, that view received a prompt and explicit response from China, in an editorial of Xinhua, the official news agency of the People’s Republic of China: “The U.S. economy will not be stronger without China. Any discussion of severing ties between U.S. and Chinese companies is ridiculous at best…. Constructive engagement is still the right way forward.”

Helga Zepp-LaRouche went even further, stating that it is simply objectively wrong to think that the U.S. or the world can solve its economic problems without China, and its Belt and Road Initiative; just as it is objectively wrong to think it is possible to solve the planet’s strategic problems without Russia. The British Empire and those in Europe and inside the U.S. who share their policies, have orchestrated a dramatic worsening of the strategic situation over the last few weeks on all fronts, Zepp-LaRouche added. Official Washington is moving from characterizing China as a competitor, then a rival, and now there is explicit talk of China being an enemy.

The same is happening with the sharp escalation of ballistic missile testing which is targeting both Russia and China.

Whatever the points of pressure or manipulation around President Trump on these matters, Zepp-LaRouche stated, they must be broken to shake him and the U.S. government loose from the current trajectory, which is extremely dangerous and will be devastating for the U.S. generally and for Trump’s reelection specifically. It is a trajectory which is the exact opposite of what Lyndon LaRouche called for, with his Four Powers proposal, for the U.S., China, Russia and India to cooperate on stopping the British Empire’s wars and looting, and instead establish a new world order based on science and classical culture.

The driving force behind the strategic phase-change that the British have orchestrated over the last few weeks on multiple fronts, is the utter, imminent bankruptcy of their entire financial system. They are openly scheming about “a regime change in monetary policy” that will make the $17 trillion in total quantitative easing to date pale in comparison. They are intending to implement a “Synthetic Hegemonic Currency” to make all semblance of national sovereignty over monetary and credit policy disappear, and force all credit flows into keeping their $1.5 quadrillion speculative bubble afloat, including with “green” boondoggles whose only purpose is to wipe out what little remains of productive industrial economies.

And yet, as Lyndon LaRouche proved conclusively, there is noconceivable way they can salvage their system, regardless of the hyperinflationary firestorms they unleash. Only the bankruptcy reorganization of the entire system, with Glass-Steagall and related measures, can work, and get the planet off its current suicidal trajectory.

President Trump’s next tweet really ought to say: “We don’t need the City of London and Wall Street and, frankly, would be far better off without them.” That would be true; it would be in keeping with Trump’s own campaign promises; and most importantly, it would be the beginning of the kind of immediate policy shift the country requires.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

British Empire Pushes ‘Synthetic Hegemonic Currency’ To Run Its Genocide

Aug. 24 (EIRNS)—Bank of England Governor Marc Carney, speaking Aug. 23 at the Jackson Hole meeting of world central bankers sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, proposed a synthetic world currency to replace the dollar. Carney is also the leading organizer of global de-industrialization schemes, such as “Green finance” and decarbonization, and therefore his proposal must be seen as the tool to enforce a world Malthusian dictatorship to implement genocide on a large scale.

Carney addressed the rising role of China’s renminbi in international trade, but as “the most likely candidate for true reserve currency status, the renminbi has a long way to go before it is ready to assume the mantle.” The best would be “to build a multipolar system … such a platform would be based on the virtual rather than the physical,” Carney suggested.

Carney wants a new Synthetic Hegemonic Currency (SHC) based on the model of Google’s Libra, but issued by a central banks system: “A new payment infrastructure based on an international stable coin fully backed by reserve assets in a basket of currencies including the U.S. dollar, the euro, and sterling.” However, “it is an open question whether such a new SHC would be best provided by the public sector, perhaps through a network of central bank digital currencies….

“An SHC could dampen the domineering influence of the U.S. dollar on global trade. If the share of trade invoiced in SHC were to rise, shocks in the U.S. would have less potent spillovers through exchange rates and trade would become less synchronized across countries….

“The dollar’s influence on global financial conditions could similarly decline if a financial architecture developed around the new SHC and it displaced the dollar’s dominance in credit markets….”

Federal Reserve’s Powell Insists New ‘Toolkit’ Needed To Address Danger of Blowout

Aug. 23 (EIRNS)—Federal Reserve System Chairman Jerome H. Powell this morning delivered his Jackson Hole speech, “Challenges for Monetary Policy,” at the opening day of the central bankers’ annual Economic Policy Symposium, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, sponsored by the Kansas City Federal Reserve. Powell recognized that there are economic problems today, which he attributed to factors including the trade war with China, slow economies in Germany and China, and the looming Brexit.

Then comes the interesting part. He did not go further into a discussion of rate reduction, but proceeded to raise the prospect of going beyond even Quantitative Easing. He said, “We face heightened risks of lengthy, difficult-to-escape periods in which our policy interest rate is pinned near zero. To address this new normal [!], we are conducting a public review of our monetary policy strategy, tools, and communications—the first of its kind for the Federal Reserve. We are evaluating the pros and cons of strategies that aim to reverse past misses of our inflation objective. We are examining the monetary policy tools we have used both in calm times and in crisis, and we are asking whether we should expand our toolkit. In addition, we are looking at how we might improve the communication of our policy framework.”

Powell’s talk of a new “review” and new “policy” measures coheres with what was in line to be circulated in Jackson Hole, called the proposal for a “Standing Emergency Fiscal Facility.” This SEFF proposal is being promoted by speculators at BlackRock, the world’s largest private equity group; it calls for central banks to print large amounts of money, to be directly handed over to government treasuries, to, in turn, distribute it to favored, distressed financial entities in need, which process is politely called, “creating inflation,” but in fact, is terminal monetary madness. (See EIR Daily Alert, Friday, Aug. 23, 2019.)

President Donald Trump’s response to the Powell performance was furious and unfortunate. Trump tweeted after the speech’s availability: “As usual, the Fed did NOTHING! It is incredible that they can ‘speak’ without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly. We have a very strong dollar and a very weak Fed. I will work ‘brilliantly’ with both, and the U.S. will do great. My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?”

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

China To Slap Tariffs on $75 Billion of U.S. Imports, as Trump Hikes Tariffs 5-10% More on All China Imports

Aug. 23 (EIRNS)—Today China announced tariff hikes on $75 billion worth of imports from the U.S., to go into effect in two batches, Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, with varying rates of tariffs (5% to 25%) and types of goods involved. This fulfilled China’s prior indications that they would retaliate, after President Donald Trump announced Aug. 1 that the U.S. would apply a 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese imports, set to start going into effect Sept. 1.

Within seven hours of China’s announcement, President Trump made his response, which raised tariffs on two groups of imports from China. He upped the 10% to 15% tariffs on the $300 billion of Chinese imports already identified, and he said he was raising duties to 30%, from 25%, on an additional $250 billion worth of imports already identified. This latter levy is to go into effect Oct. 1. At this point, almost all trade between the two nations is under increased tariffs. Trump also ordered U.S. companies to leave China, for elsewhere, or to return Stateside.

Trump has issued his comments and orders in two blasts of tweets against China; he called a midday meeting at the White House with economic advisers. Attending were Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, economic adviser Larry Kudlow, and trade adviser Peter Navarro.

The Dow Jones Index had plunged 623 points at close of trading today; and other stock exchanges likewise dropped.

A string of appeals for calm response are now coming out from U.S. economic sector leaders, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Farmers Union, and U.S. Retail Association.

Trump tweeted this morning: “Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States. Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE, all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop—it didn’t. Our Economy, because of our gains in the last 2 1/2 years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!”

Beijing Responds to Trump That ‘U.S. Economy Will Not Be Stronger without China’

Aug. 25 (EIRNS)—China’s official news agency, Xinhua, yesterday published an editorial on the latest escalation of the trade war by the U.S. against China, which began with a direct response to President Donald Trump’s Aug. 23 string of tweets, including his comment that “We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them. “

“The U.S. economy will not be stronger without China,” the Xinhua editorial stated. “Any discussion of severing ties between U.S. and Chinese companies is ridiculous at best…. Constructive engagement is still the right way forward.” The editorial continued: “The U.S. is paying the price for launching a trade war, as China is forced to announce the levy of new additional tariffs on U.S. goods…. China strongly opposes U.S. trade hegemony and will never compromise on its fundamental principles. The further some people in the United States go on their dangerous road of hegemony and bullying, the stronger the pushback they will encounter.” The editorial concluded by saying that “Some people in the United States had imagined their trade war would be ‘easy to win.’ They have been proved wrong. The only way to end the trade war is for the United States to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, meet China halfway, and find a solution through consultations on the basis of equality and mutual respect.”

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman delivered the official government response on Aug. 25: “Such unilateral and bullying acts of trade protectionism and extreme pressure run counter to the consensus of the heads of state of China and the United States, and run counter to the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit…. China strongly urges the United States not to misjudge the situation, or underestimate the determination of the Chinese people. It must immediately stop its erroneous practices, or bear all the consequences.”

An angry editorial in Global Times, “China-U.S. Trade War a Test of Endurance,” also took aim at what it called Washington’s “bullying tactics.” After taking note of the fact that “the U.S. has clearly shown a drastic mood swing due to China’s counterattacks,” the editorial stated that since “countermeasure is a common practice in tariff wars, the U.S.’s bullying attitude seems particularly ridiculous. Such a move from the U.S. side demonstrates its arrogance and narcissism. The U.S. is launching a brutal trade war with caprice. After it takes action, it must be prepared for counterfire.” The Global Times concludes by warning that the U.S. is making “a serious strategic mistake…. The U.S. may be good at fighting a ‘trade blitzkrieg,’ but when it comes to a protracted trade war, Chinese society has an obvious advantage digesting problems caused by the trade war. The U.S. side is increasingly feeling the burden due to the political timetable of elections and the concerns over economic recession. Its ambitions come with worries.”

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Putin Tells His Security Council To Prepare ‘Reciprocal Response’ to U.S. Threat To Deploy Missiles

Aug. 23 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the Russian Security Council this morning on the full implications of the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty and the Aug. 18 U.S. cruise missile test. He said there needs to be a complete threat assessment, and preparation for a “reciprocal response.” But he left the door open for “an equal and constructive dialogue” with the United States.  His opening remarks were translated on the Kremlin website.

TASS reported that Putin pointed out that the United States’ use of the MK 41 launcher in the test confirmed what the Russians always said, but the U.S. side rejected, about the launchers installed in Romania and Poland. “The fact that stands out is that the testing of a missile with the characteristics prohibited under this Treaty took place only 16 days after the Washington’s denunciation of the Treaty,” he said. “Clearly, the test was not an improvisation but another link in the chain of long-planned measures that were taken in the past.”

Putin said that the United States, instead of addressing Russian concerns about U.S. violations of the treaty, “orchestrated a propaganda campaign claiming that Russia is in breach,” the only purpose of which was to cover U.S. actions. “All this leaves us in no doubt as to the true intentions of the United States, which is that, once the previous restrictions are removed, they will be free to deploy previously banned missiles in various regions of the world,” he said.

Putin in that context stated that Russia developed its “unique” weapons in response to the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty in 2002. “We were simply forced and even obligated to enhance the security of our nation. We are doing it now and will continue to do that in the future, there is no question about it.”

He continued: “At the same time, considering the new circumstances, I instruct the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and other competent agencies to analyze the level of threat posed to our country by the above actions of the United States, and take exhaustive measures for a reciprocal response. The Russian President concluded: “Meanwhile, Russia remains open to an equal and constructive dialogue with the United States aimed at restoring trust and strengthening international security.”

Pentagon’s Esper Claims U.S. INF Pullout Was Aimed at Building Up Forces against China

Aug. 23 (EIRNS)—U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, in an Aug. 21 interview with Fox News, made clear that the Aug. 18 cruise missile test was aimed at China as well as Russia, though China is his main concern. “We want to make sure that we, as we need to, have the capability to deter Chinese bad behavior by having our own capability to be able to strike at intermediate ranges,” he said. As for Russia, “Clearly they are trying to expand their strategic nuclear arsenal to deal with the United States,” he said, referring to Russia’s new classes of hypersonic and underwater nuclear delivery vehicles, and stating that all such new weapons would have to be included in any future strategic arms reduction treaty. “Right now Russia has possibly nuclear-tipped … INF-range cruise missiles facing toward Europe, and that’s not a good thing,” he said.

Esper’s main focus, however, is China, not Russia. “China is the number-one priority for this department. It’s outlined in the National Defense Strategy, why we think it’s a long-term strategic competitor and one that is pursuing a maximization campaign, if you will, throughout the Indo-Pacific Theater, whether it’s politically, economically, or militarily,” he said. “They are clearly professionalizing and expanding the capacity and capabilities of the military in order to push the United States out of that theater.”

“They’ve studied us, and they’ve learned about how we employ weapons; they’ve learned about our doctrine,” Esper said. “And so, that is something that we watch very carefully.”

Esper claimed that there is a “coming shift” from “low-intensity conflict that lasts 18 years,”referring to the war in Afghanistan, to “high-intensity conflicts against competitors such as Russia and China.”

“That means modernizing the force with advanced capabilities, AI-based, hypersonics, robotics, directed energy and updating our doctrine—doing all those things will be critical for us to deter a conflict in the future,” he said.

North Korea Carries Out Short-Range Missile Launch, Drawing Low-Key Response from Trump

Aug. 24 (EIRNS)—North Korea carried out another missile launch on Aug. 24. “The missiles failed to reach neither our territorial waters, nor our country’s exclusive economic zone,” Japan’s public television quoted a government spokesperson as saying. “This launch is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions,” Japanese Defense Minister Iwaya Takeshi told reporters in Tokyo.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing the joint chiefs of staff, that the Pyongyang launched two projectiles, presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles, into the Sea of Japan. South Korea’s National Security Council, which gathered for an emergency session in response to the launch and issued a statement expressing “their serious concern about new launches and call upon North Korea to refrain from measures that may cause the tensions to escalate.”

A spokesman for U.S. military forces in South Korea said Washington was aware of the launch and was consulting with Seoul and Tokyo on the issue.

President Donald Trump remarked, as he was leaving the White House to go to the G7 summit in France, that North Korea is not forbidden to launch short-range missiles. Asked if Chairman Kim Jong Un had broken his promise to the President by further missile testing, Trump replied: “No, I don’t think so.  I think that we have a very good relationship.  We’ll see what happens. That could always change, but we’ll see what happens.

“Kim Jong Un has been, you know, pretty straight with me, I think.  And we’re going to see what’s going on.  We’re going to see what’s happening.  He likes testing missiles.  But we never restricted short-range missiles.  We’ll see what happens.  Many nations test those missiles.  We tested a very big one the other day, as you probably noticed.”

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

France’s Macron Wants G7 Summit To Proclaim Amazon Emergency Because of Forest Fires

Aug. 23 (EIRNS)—French President Emmanuel Macron, host of this year’s Aug. 24-26 G7 Summit in Biarritz, moved, today, to shift the agenda to green eco-emergency action, instead of any pretense at serious consideration of the actual economic crisis. Macron issued a hyped alarm in a tweet regarding the ongoing rain forest fires along the Amazon River, saying, “Our house is burning. In every meaning of the word.” He called on the six guest governments at the Biarritz event to put this “emergency case” on top of their summit agenda.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rejected the Macron initiative, responding in a tweet of his own that “the Brazilian government continues to be open for a dialogue that is based on objective facts and on respect”; however, Macron’s “proposal to discuss the problems of the Amazon at the G7 summit, without the countries of the region taking part, rather reflects a colonialist way of thinking.”

This is no “Brazilian” matter. The establishment media are off-and-running with the line that fires in the Brazilian Amazon constitute “an international crisis.” The Amazon is once again being used to establish the precedent that any country whose policy is what the British Monarchy dubs “an act of shocking environmental vandalism with global consequences”—as London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan called the burning of the Amazon forest, which act he claimed is “aided and abetted by the Brazilian government—will be sanctioned.

CNN’s coverage gives this game away, with its headline story: “The Amazon Is Burning Because the World Eats So Much Meat.” CNN reports that Finland’s Finance Minister demanded, today, for the European Union to “urgently review the possibility of banning Brazilian beef imports” in light of the Amazon fires. The Irish Prime Minister, too, announced today that Ireland will now monitor Brazil’s environmental policies, and will block the EU’s just-negotiated free-trade accord with Mercosur (of which Brazil is a member) if they don’t like it.

What’s the relationship between the fires and Brazilian beef? The alleged jump in fires is blamed on the practice of clearing areas for cattle grazing by setting fires. Brazil is the largest exporter of beef in the world, providing close to 20% of the total global exports, according the U.S. Department of Agriculture, CNN claims. Nearly 44% of all Brazil’s beef exports in 2018 were shipped to China.

CNN’s solution to help save the rain forest? “Eat less meat.”

Brazil Mobilizes To Defend Its Sovereignty over the Amazon

Aug. 25 (EIRNS)—The Amazon region covers 61% of Brazil’s territory. When French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced they intended to have ongoing forest fires in the Amazon declared an “international eco-emergency” at this weekend’s G7 summit, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and the Armed Forces recognized the threat to the nation, and took action. Under a decree issued by Bolsonaro on Aug. 23, some 43,000 Brazilian soldiers are now being deployed across the Amazon region to fight the forest fires, prevent and shut down environmental crimes—and defend Brazil’s sovereignty.

Led by the British Monarchy, the City of London and their Wall Street appendages have elaborated numerous schemes, for decades, by which to establish supranational control over the Amazon under the pretexts of “saving the environment” and “saving indigenous peoples” from economic development. Blocking any such attempt has been an official tenet of Brazilian national military doctrine since 1990. That year, the Armed Forces’ Superior War College published a document titled “1990-2000: The Vital Decade,” which outlined a ten-year national development perspective, in which it warns that the Amazon “continues to be a target of international avarice.” International ecological movements are specified in some detail as one of the “several layers of sheepskin [worn] to hide its wolfish intentions.” The Brazilian military’s elaboration of that doctrine was influenced at the time by LaRouche’s EIR and its exposés of the British Crown’s World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and related environmentalist movements.

Bolsonaro announced the military deployment in a short address to the nation on Aug. 23. Fires occur every year during the hot, dry and high-wind season in the Amazon, and they are worse in warmer, drier years such as this one, he pointed out. “There are forest fires all over the world, and this cannot serve as a pretext for possible international sanctions” against countries. He further states that there are more than 20 million Brazilians who live in that area, who have been waiting for years to develop along with the rest of the country.

Brazil is open to dialogue, and will do more to combat fires, but “we are responsible for protecting the Amazon,” he emphasized.

Gen. Augusto Heleno, head of Bolsonaro’s Security Cabinet, stated that “the Brazilian Amazon is a patrimony of our people, who will know how to protect it from the threats of those who harm the forest with illegal actions and will react against those who intend to violate our sovereignty.” There is a chorus of similar statements from military leaders, ranging from Army Commander Gen. Edson Leal Pujol, to former Army Commander Gen. Eduardo Villa Boas, who is warning that the statements by Macron and Trudeau “are a direct attack on Brazilian sovereignty, which objectively include the threat of use of military force.”

Bolivia Argues for South America’s Amazon Pact To Take Charge of Amazon Protection

Aug. 25 (EIRNS)—“Not only Brazil is in the crosshairs” of the “international community” over the Amazon fires, BBC’s Spanish-language service announced two days ago; Bolivia and Paraguay are also “contributing to the destruction of ecosystems” by insisting on economic development, BBC wrote. The British wire focussed its fury on Bolivian President Evo Morales, in particular, for his government’s policy of expanding land under cultivation into what were forest areas.

Building the campaign for international intervention in the name of defending the climate, British intelligence’s Amnesty International and other unnamed groups claiming to represent “Amazonian indigenous peoples” issued an open letter on Aug. 22 calling for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to the United Nations to take action against Brazil’s Bolsonaro and Bolivia’s Morales governments for “genocide.” (The argument goes, that the forest fires are the result of allowing mining and agriculture in the Amazon, which threatens the “extinction” of indigenous people in the area, human beings whom these British bastards would condemn to remain dependent forever on their primitive hunting and gathering economy.)

Clearly recognizing where this campaign is heading, various South American Presidents have offered their solidarity and aid to both Brazilian President Bolsonaro and Bolivian President Morales—who are on opposing sides of the usually-unbridgeable “right/left” ideological divide in the region.

Morales announced on Aug. 23 that Bolivia is seeking an urgent meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, commonly dubbed the Amazon Pact. The pact was founded in 1978 by the eight countries in the Amazon area (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela), to develop and protect the Amazon together, and has been largely dormant over recent years.

Some countries opposed the proposal on the grounds that they can’t work with Venezuela, Morales reported, but he calls on the member states “urgently and as an emergency” to debate not only how to confront the immediate situation, but “to prepare ourselves for the future, how we are going to take care of our Amazon,” he said. He warned against allowing “ideological differences” to stymie this needed coordination.

Chinese Astronauts Inspire Namibian Youth To ‘Tangle with the Stars’

Aug. 23 (EIRNS)—China’s first female astronaut, Liu Yang, and its record-holder for longest stay in space, Chen Dong, spoke to Namibian middle school and university students during their five-day visit to Namibia this week, with the message that “they must dream big, to be Namibia’s first astronaut,” as Chen told Xinhua TV.

When the “Chinese Astronauts Landed at Namibia’s University of Science and Technology” (as the Namibia University of Science and Technology headlined its report), scores of students from both the NUST and the University of Namibia came to hear about Liu and Chen’s experiences, and to discuss the benefits of going into space and Namibia’s role in China’s space missions.

A computer science senior excitedly told Xinhua afterwards, “I believe Namibia should not be left behind, and hopefully one day we can ‘tangle with the stars,’ when we have our very own home-made astronaut.” A young woman said Liu “has inspired me. One never knows, maybe one day I will be in her shoes.” Another student said afterwards, “it might not be long before we have our very own Namibian astronauts explore space.”

Namibia has played an important role in China’s space program. After the two nations signed an agreement to collaborate in space technology in 2000, China built its first tracking station in the Southern Hemisphere. That China Telemetry, Tracking and Command Station at Swakopmund is used to monitor Chinese manned space vehicles. On this visit, the astronauts met with middle school students at the Space TT&C Station. “When I was staying in [China’s experimental space lab] Tiangong-1, I flew over Namibia many times. I know there is a Space TT&C Station based here, and I come here with gratitude,” Liu told her hosts.

President Hage Geingob had invited Chinese astronauts to visit when he went to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center during his state visit to China last year. Meeting the President at the end of their trip, the two astronauts invited Namibia to participate in joint space missions with China in the future.

“With the kind of support we received from Namibia, we have established an important space tracking station in Swakopmund,” which is a starting point for our aerospace cooperation, Liu told President Geingob. “In 2022 China will build our own space station, which will be a platform for all the nations to use. We look forward to Namibia’s participation and hope to fly together with Namibia to space.”

Geingob replied appreciatively—and asked if there were an age restriction on who could participate in those future space missions.

Reach us at eirdailyalert@larouchepub.com or call 1-571-293-0935