1971-2021: 50 years of Belgium-China friendship
FONS MOERENHOUT
“In 1965, in China, I saw the most genuine solidarity between the peasants”
He has his anecdote with Mao; he received Queen Elisabeth on his return from China at Evere Airport; he opened the most cutting-edge bookshop on China in Brussels; he fought for workers’ rights, far from party intrigues: Alphons Moerenhout. This 92-year-old man, nicknamed “Fons” here or “Fengzi” in China, reminds us of the first builders of Europe and their idea of solidarity between countries for the well-being and security of all. But today, here, as in China, how can we stay true to our values, despite individualism and the greed?
LHCH: First happy Chinese New Year! How are you at the top of your 92 years?
FONS: Thank you! The doctor says I eat very well so that’s the main thing!
LHCH: We would like to talk here about your idealism. You started in the resistance during WWII, right?
FONS: I was a bit resistant, pushed by my father. Not like my older comrades around me. I was quickly sent to the Trappists to keep the secrets of the network. I was too young for this pressure!
LHCH: How did you get started in politics?
FONS: I originally studied the electrician trade at Arts et Métiers in Brussels. I worked hard and became a trade unionist to defend my rights and those of my colleagues. Then I joined the Belgian Communist Party or PCB.
LHCH: Why did you choose to follow Jacques Grippa during the 1963 cession of the PCB between pro-Beijing and pro-Moscow?
FONS: The pro-Soviets had betrayed the cause. There was too much money and power struggles. The Chinese revolution was not well known, but it was pure and new. In addition, I had sympathy for the peasant class, which is very poor in China. But, above all, I am a Marxist-Leninist. Even though I have never been to Russia!
LHCH: The founder of this alternative party, Grippa, who later turned out to be ambiguous, had been invited to China. His party was, in Europe, the only party very close to Red China. You left in 1965.
FONS: Before October 1971, the year in which official diplomatic relations between Belgium and China began, supporters of New Socialism traveled to Holland to communicate with the Chinese Embassy. There, one day, I was told that a letter addressed to me had gone unanswered! The Chinese were angry. I return to Brussels to demand accounts from the secretary of Jacques Grippa’s “International Bookstore”. In his office, I find my letter, torn. In the garbage ! The secretary general of the Belgian Communist Party, Mao orientation, urges me to respond to this official invitation from the People’s Republic, but to go with this strange secretary, too close for my taste to Henri Lederhandler, activist of Jewish youth and pro-Chinese Communist who had not followed Grippa’s path in 1963. So I went to China, in 1965, for the National Day, with a close friend of Grippa.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TRIP OF HIS LIFE
LHCH: A very rare experience at the time!
FONS: I had to go to Shanghai to “meet workers”. But with 8 days ahead of me, I would rather go to Yan’An, the famous base of communism, in Shaanxi. There, I saw the real China. I took the opportunity to talk with courageous peasants and visit cooperatives. It was moving and strong at the same time. I was picked up from the hotel to go watch the parade. First mingled with the usual guests downstairs, I was able to climb up to the upper stage next, not far from Mao, with a view of the huge Tian An Men Square. An honor ! I was placed between two very contrasting personalities, Kang Shen and Chen Boda. We were unable to discuss, for lack of a translator at this time of the festivities.
LHCH: Were you able to meet the President of China?
FONS: After the parade, Mao’s personal translator came to talk to me. She had excellent French. I didn’t know who she was yet. We were 10 meters from Mao who was opposite the wife of an important man. At this point, the tall helmsman takes out a handkerchief and wipes his chest through his shirt. A little surprised, I remarked to the translator: “In front, a distinguished woman like the wife of the Cambodian Head of State, Norodom Sihanouk, that is not done”. But the translator knew Mao and will tell him my point! Mao beckons me to come with his finger… “When you sweat you have to dry yourself off, otherwise you can catch colds,” he told me seriously. Then I took off!
LHCH: Fun! What struck you in China compared to Belgium?
FONS: A sense of organization! Punctuality. A vrhave military rigor, but for a good cause. Here, we were less professional in our actions.
LHCH: Did you return to China after your worries with the pro-China party slowly moving away from its cause?
FONS: Yes, then I went to China several times until 2018 because I was in charge of a bookstore “The Great Wall” for which I needed educational and cultural material and contacts with publishing houses. Chinese. I worked on it for a while with a rather unpleasant character, Henri Lederhandler. After working at the Belgian Communist Party Bookstore, he became, through his government contacts, an expert in international trade with China.
LHCH: You had more peace to work at this bookstore, far from internal party dissensions?
FONS: I could practice my two new passions there at the same time: reading and China. I devoured Beijing Information publications! But when some publishing houses were privatized in China, I again faced someone dishonest. I came across the corruption of some intermediaries. This character was far from the real idealists attached to peasant life, to the land …
CURRENT CHINA
LHCH: What do you think of China today?
FONS: On the one hand, yes, it changes very quickly; on the other hand, it basically does not change. Or rather, that shouldn’t change. I have followed a little the long road traveled to get out of poverty. What is happening today is mind blowing. China is already at the heart of our lives and will become even more so! At the same time, I think we still don’t know her. Even we reject it … Yet it is called to play a great role for humanity. His path will still be difficult. In our part of Europe and in the US there is jealousy and nastiness against China.
LHCH: And Belgium, at the heart of Europe?
FONS: China wants friendly relations with Europe, but Europe is not going for it. We can miss the chance. Especially with this malicious man at the head of the European Council: Charles Michel. Under these stupid looks, he can be very dangerous compared to China. Here, his family dynasty also reigns.
LHCH: China is scary … Because it seems to be on the run for wealth too?
FONS: That’s not the government’s goal, I think. China cannot allow itself to be overcome by individual greed. We have to get back to the basics, to solidarity because this greed leads to corruption. There are those who want to become capitalists without knowing the dangers! People then go to jail for fraud, and that’s okay! China does not want to know the fate of Russia. Open for business, yes, but without losing the soul of socialism.
LHCH: What makes China strong at this level?
FONS: The state controls the economy. Not the opposite.
STRUGGLE INDIVIDUALISM
LHCH: In Chinese films and in the Chinese press, there is a lot of talk about the rise of individualism
FONS: Despite a solid state, we must admit that divisions can exist because human nature is what it is… So I understand the government’s desire to return to their fundamentals in the face of the passion for money inherent in the capitalist process . Can we live in pure socialism? Develop and, at the same time, remain yourself?
LHCH: Do you miss the China before?
FONS: I don’t know. I have glimpsed a little of the life of the peasants in their houses still made of wood and straw and the first initiatives to provide decent housing, in beautiful materials, for their retirement! I entered poor homes timidly because the women did the laundry and their husbands slept after their night’s work. I took the bus to see the peasants who had helped Mao to make the revolution. In the villages I would meet people who would say: “I am a simple soldier in the Red Army; I made the revolution and my general asked me to stay in this village to manage it; So I hired fellow peasants to help me in this task “. It was strong and moving …
LHCH: And today China claims to have officially emerged from extreme poverty.
FONS: Yes since 2013, I believe, the Chinese government has relaunched these kinds of initiatives in the poorest countryside and regions. I have heard that 3 million civil servants have gone far from their homes to help minorities, in particular, to develop their villages. China is now doing what Europe did after my second world war. Two exemplary successes.
LHCH: Belgium has an amazing history with China. In the 19th and early 20th century with its engineers, adventurers and businessmen. But surprisingly, at the start of the People’s Republic too! You were one of the founders s of the famous Belgium China Association founded in 1957?
FONS: Oh that’s a long story! I can sketch, but… First there is an extraordinary and not very conformist Queen who left for China very early on. Queen Elisabeth nicknamed the Red Queen because she also went to the Soviet Union. I was one of the people who came to meet him at Évère military airport. We weren’t royalists but we respected her. She had visited the Great Wall of China and shook hands with Mao. Very open-minded. There was also the future Red Baron, the great Baron Allard, a nobleman who put up posters and who had big ideas. He had been invited to a PCB meeting. He and a German banker Dahlman, ex-communist student, but living in Brussels, were two sponsors and founders, therefore, of this Belgium China Association! In short, this association, the first of its kind, I believe, in Europe welcomed businessmen, intellectuals, former communist students. A great moment for Belgium and China!
LHCH: Thank you very much Fons, we are touched. You are the living memory of China with us. Good luck and good health.
