Democracy is not Coca-Cola

Beijing, April 24 (RHC)-- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged Washington to abandon its ideological approach to foreign policy, arguing that it is wrong of the US to try to model the rest of the world in its own image.

Speaking with the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations via video link on Friday, Wang offered a series of suggestions that he said would improve bilateral relations between the two nations.  He called on the U.S. to seek peaceful coexistence with Beijing and accept that China has chosen an independent path and system. 

“Democracy is not Coca-Cola, which, with the syrup produced by the United States, tastes the same across the world.  The world will be lifeless and dull if there is only one single model and one single civilization,” the senior Chinese diplomat noted. 

He said that it was wrong to describe China as “authoritarian” because the country’s democracy “takes a different form than that of the United States.”  At the same time, Washington should refrain from using democracy and human rights as a pretext to meddle in other countries’ internal affairs or provoke confrontation that can lead to “turmoil or disaster,” Wang said. 

The foreign minister accused the former U.S. administration under Donald Trump of “disrupting the international system” and walking away from Washington’s global obligations and responsibilities.  He said that Beijing welcomes the Joe Biden administration’s “return to multilateralism.”

The U.S. is whipping up fear of China because Washington simply cannot contemplate a world it does not dominate Beijing and Washington continue to lock horns over a range of economic, political and military issues, ranging from the trade war started by the Trump administration, to territorial disputes in the South China Sea. 

For China, US interference in its internal affairs has become a regular topic of protest.  Last month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry questioned the legitimacy of the U.S., Canada, the EU and the UK proclaiming themselves “human rights judges,” after the Western states sanctioned Beijing officials over alleged rights abuses against the country’s Uighur Muslim population.  

Earlier this month, the U.S. intelligence community identified China as a top “competitor” to Washington which aimed to promote the “authoritarian Chinese system” around the world.