US unqualified to be ‘model of democracy’
Officials call out virtual summit as means of furthering Washington’s hegemonic agenda
China said on Nov 30 that the United States is not eligible to label itself as a “model of democracy”, as it opposed attempts by the US to stoke division and confrontation to serve its hegemonic agenda.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the remark at a daily news briefing while referring to sound criticism and suggestions regarding US-style democracy from the global academic circle.
Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, said, “The ‘Summit for Democracy’ attempts to turn the multicolor modern world into black and white divisions.”
The “summit” is scheduled to open on Dec 9, with Washington bringing together leaders from a group of countries that it deems to be consistent with its standard for democracy.
Zhao quoted Atlantic Council researchers Daniel Fried and Rose Jackson as saying that the US should ask itself what is causing the democratic decline and make those issues its focus.
He also quoted the remarks of Elliot Abrams, who is a senior fellow at the US-based Council on Foreign Relations.
Abrams said that the US has spent billions of dollars every year to advance democracy globally, yet the relevant projects for the past two decades have been seriously disoriented in the pursuit of profits. A comprehensive review of its efforts to promote democracy was needed, he said.
Ben Scott, a researcher at the Lowy Institute in Australia, said, “The US authority has been weakened by its own democratic shortcomings.”
As all countries have shared the pursuit of democracy, discussions about realizing democracy should be rich, diverse and inclusive, Zhao said.
Countries with various social systems should learn from and exchange ideas with each other, he said.
Zhao added that the US was obsessed with a sense of superiority, has compulsorily exported so-called “democracy”, meddled in other countries’ internal affairs and waged war or invaded countries, which only resulted in disorder and caused refugee situations.
He said Washington was serving as the so-called “judge of democracy” in a self-choreographed performance.
Calling the move an irony of democracy, Zhao said the US was portraying the colorful and diverse world with the dichotomy of black and white, and monopolizing the definition of democracy with its own standard, in disregard of the huge differences of countries in culture, history and civilization.
“The US patches up the so-called ‘Summit for Democracy’ and peddles the narrative of ‘democracy versus authoritarianism’, in essence to revive the Cold War mentality and stoke division and confrontation so as to serve its hegemonic agenda,” he said.
Top Chinese and Russian envoys in Washington earlier said the upcoming virtual summit will stoke ideological confrontation and create “division lines” at a time when the world urgently needs to ramp up cooperation to address global challenges.
In a joint opinion piece, the Chinese and Russian ambassadors to the US, Qin Gang and Anatoly
Antonov, said the online meeting empowers itself to define who is to participate in the event and who is not, and which is a “democratic country” and which is not eligible for such status.
Calling the US move “an evident product of its Cold War mentality”, the two ambassadors said the event will stoke ideological confrontation and a rift in the world, creating new “dividing lines”.
“This trend contradicts the development of the modern world. It is impossible to prevent the shaping of a global polycentric architecture, but could strain the objective process. China and Russia firmly reject this move,” they wrote in The National Interest journal on Nov 26, three days after the US published a list of 110 countries and regions invited to participate in the summit.
The ambassadors said that democracy is a universal right of all peoples, not a prerogative of a certain country or a group of countries, and that democracy can be realized in multiple ways and no model can fit all countries.
The article stressed that a basic criterion of democracy should be about the people: whether they have the right to govern their country, whether their needs are met, and whether they have a sense of fulfillment and happiness.
“If the people are only awakened when casting their votes and sent back to hibernation when the voting is over, if they are served with sweetsounding
slogans in campaigns but have no say after the election, if they are wooed during canvassing but left out in the cold after that, this is not a genuine democracy,” the ambassadors wrote.
In the article, they briefed readers on the status quo of democracy in their respective countries.
What China has is an extensive, whole-process socialist democracy that reflects the people’s will, suits the country’s realities and enjoys strong support from the people.
In China, policies and measures can only be introduced when there is a consensus that they are what the people want and will serve the people’s needs.
In Russia, democracy is the fundamental principle of its political system, and the democratic institutions were further strengthened by the amendments to the Constitution adopted through a referendum in 2020.
The article said that Russia’s political system is evolving steadily and needs a stable and calm environment that guarantees the rights and interests of its people.
“No country has the right to judge the world’s vast and varied political landscape by a single yardstick, and having other countries copy one’s political system through color revolution, regime change and even use of force goes against international law, and is obviously anti-democratic,” the ambassadors wrote.
The envoys said that there has
been no shortage of wars and turmoil worldwide to prove that efforts in spreading “democracy”, its political system and values to other countries will severely undermine regional and international peace, security and stability.
“Bombings of Yugoslavia, military intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, and ‘democratic transformation’ do nothing but harm,” they wrote, adding that countries should focus on running their own affairs well, not “condescendingly” criticizing others.
They said there is no need to worry about democracy in Russia and China.
“Certain foreign governments better think about themselves and what is going on in their homes. Is it freedom when various rallies in their countries are dispersed with rubber bullets and tear gas? It does not look very much like freedom,” they noted.
The ambassadors called attention to the array of global challenges confronting the world, which urgently requires countries to strengthen coordination and cooperation for common progress, especially to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, foster economic development and neutralize cross-border threats.
“China and Russia call on countries to stop using ‘value-based diplomacy’ to provoke division and confrontation; to practice mutual respect and win-win cooperation in international relations; and to work for harmonious coexistence between countries with different social systems, ideologies, histories, cultures and development levels,” they wrote.
Meanwhile, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said democracy should not be privatized, labeled or politicized, expressing strong opposition to Washington engaging in undemocratic activities under the banner of “democracy”.
Noting that democracy is the right of all peoples, rather than an exclusive privilege of the few, Wang said whether a country is democratic or not should be left to its own people to decide, rather than arbitrarily judged by a certain foreign country.
The standard of democracy should be based on whether it meets people’s needs, and whether it enables people to have enough sense of participation, satisfaction and gain, he said.
If the US labels countries as democratic or undemocratic in line with its preferences, this move itself is undemocratic, Wang said, adding that it creates divisions and seeks supremacy for the US.
“If a country can only measure the quality of its own democracy based on the sole yardstick of the US, it is actually a betrayal of the democratic spirit, let alone being true democracy,” he added.
Wang criticized Washington’s use of democracy as a political tool, adding that some US practices have aroused the suspicion and dissatisfaction of many countries.
“The US claims that it does not support ‘Taiwan independence’, yet it flagrantly offers an international platform for ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, which only proves that it fails to honor its commitments,” Wang said.
Calling the move meddling in China’s internal affairs and pointing out that infringing on the sovereignty of other countries in the name of democracy to serve a political agenda is despicable, Wang said such practices must be rejected.
Wang emphasized that the world needs unity, not division, and it needs cooperation rather than confrontation. He called for countries, and particularly major countries, to play a leading role in this regard, rather than setting an opposite example.
Axel Jesson Ayenoue, deputy general secretary of the Gabonese Democratic Party, echoed China’s viewpoints on democracy, which he said had a global vision.
He said people of all countries were entitled to choose their own development paths and institutional models that suited their own national conditions, which was the key for them to advance democracy.
“People can enjoy tangible benefits brought about by the development and progress of their own country, which is of paramount importance for democracy,” he said.
The so-called “Summit for Democracy” is seen by many countries as an attempt by the US to make democracy a tool that serves its own interests, which damages democratic values and creates divisions.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Nov 24 that the US preferred to divide countries into those that — in its opinion — were good, and those that were bad, adding that Washington was trying to privatize the term “democracy”.