KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — At the recently-concluded Eurasian Media Forum 2019, which was held in the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan, China was the main focus of some discussions.
In a session titled “Crisis of Trust. Global Power Balance”, panelists from the East and West debated the issue of trust in international relations and national policies.
Among the panelists were American political strategist and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign head Steve Bannon who took a strong anti-China stance.
He called China the greatest existential threat ever faced by the US, and cautioned other nations about the country’s One Belt One Road Initiative (BRI).
He said China was merely taking the predatory capitalism model of the British East India company and running it in reverse.
“Don’t think any of these projects are for your betterment, they are not. This is not about the Chinese people… [they] are under the worst suppression in the world of any nation on earth by the CCP,” he told the audience, referring to the Communist Party of China.
Bannon said the business model of state capitalism by China was financed by the West and used technology provided by the West, for profit, which had allowed the current state of affairs to take place.
“This is not a trade war, this is an economic war. They have been running this economic war for 20 years,” he said.
On the issue of Israel and Palestine, British politician and broadcaster George Galloway said the recognition of the injustice faced by the people of Palestine is the only way to build the trust between the two conflicted nations.
He said the rights of Palestinian refugees, which are growing in number, should be served in order to resolve the conflict.
“Only a recognition of the historic injustice in the lifetime of many people still alive that has been visited on the Palestinian people, a recognition of their nationhood, of their right to exist as a people, of their legal and moral right to return to their homeland, until then, there will be no peace.
“We have a slogan ‘no justice, no peace’,” he said.
Another panelist argued that the whole world is talking about the occupation of the West Bank, but no one is talking about the 12 million Muslims in Kashmir being occupied by India.
“No one is talking about the three million Muslims in concentration camps in China. This is selected occupation of international standards of human rights and it is absurd,” he said.
