Unknown
to most people, the United States has embarked on an exercise to divide
the world into two blocks – “democracies” and “authoritarian” states.
What’s
more, the US defines “authoritarian” as any country that refuses to
follow the prescriptions of the West with regard to the political system
it adopts.
Yet the United Nations Charter, signed in 1945, did
not mention the word democracy – because it is each nation’s sovereign
right to pursue its own political system. And a nation’s choice is
legitimised solely by its people.
America’s divisive exercise –
the Summit for Democracy, to be held on December 9, 2021, in Washington –
goes against the principles of the United Nations Charter.
Of
the 101 countries invited, 28 per cent are categorised as “partly free”,
while 3 per cent are considered “not free”. There is no “alternative
political system” category. Thirty-nine European countries were invited,
but only 17 African countries, four from South and Central Asia, and
two from the Middle East. Notably, China is absent, and as a main theme
of the summit is “Defending against authoritarianism” – this is thinly
veiled belligerence on an international scale.
This means that of
the 193 countries in the world, the US believes 92 are undeserving of
its definition of international recognition and are essentially pariah
states. That is almost half the world. But the world possesses a
diversity of political systems that we must all learn to accept and work
with to make multilateral cooperation more effective. Dividing the
world into two camps is limiting, regressive, and a reflection of a Cold
War mentality that is counter-productive.
Ultimately, this
summit is yet another American attempt to curtail the rise of China and
demonise it: post-summit, it is likely that countries will be expected
to take action “in support of democracy”. Given the proximity of the
Beijing Winter Olympics to the summit, we can expect to hear threats of
boycotts and read scathing statements from Western politicians and
commentators on China – some are already calling it the “Genocide
Olympics”. This is part of a wider strategy to impose a pax Americana
world order by weaponising the noble notion of democracy, bolstering
Washington’s declining stature and hegemonic global influence.
This
approach is not new. It is the age-old “with us or against us”
strategy, and delivers all the consequences that a hegemon can inflict
upon non-compliant states, including sanctions on the weak and the poor.
Yet the more the West attempts to convince the world that China is the
threat, the more it isolates itself in its own echo-chamber of Cold
War-esque narratives.
The strategy is guaranteed to fail as most of the world does not see China as the over-arching global threat.
Anonymous
