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When a European Leader Embraces Mencius as a Lifelong Guide

Writing in China Daily on Jan. 10, Mr. Borhut Pahor, former Prime Minister and former President of Slovenia, describes his 32-year political career as steered by a principle—learned from Mencius and Mandela—that man is good. Many have been shocked by Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s Tenth Principle in her November 2022 document “Ten Principles for a New International Security and Development Architecture.” She writes “The basic assumption for the new paradigm is that man is fundamentally good and capable to infinitely perfect the creativity of his mind and the beauty of his soul....”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, describes the directionality of the difficult changes at hand among nations, not as “multipolarity” but as creating “a polyphony,” each nation playing a part in a great harmony. China’s President Xi Jinping repeatedly calls for a community of nations creating a shared future for humanity, which principle drives China’s many actions for peace and development.

Former Prime Minister Pahor writes: “At the university I returned time and time again to the question of the nature of human character. Is it good or evil at its core? At that time, Confucian philosophy entered my studies and my intellectual and later political mentality and, in a way, took me over. I simply wanted to believe that a person is fundamentally good, and Mencius justified this convincingly enough for me. I was convinced by his thought about the original goodness of the human spirit or heart. I was taken by his advice that we should think with our hearts.

“This very much shaped my personal and political beliefs. In fact, I decided to believe it because I thought it was good and right. I followed this principle for the entirety of my 32-year political career, and this thought guided me in all political positions I held in Slovenia and Europe.”