Biden virtual summit for democracy launched amid rising US tension with China and Russia

Biden virtual summit for democracy launched amid rising US tension with China and Russia

• 2021-12-09 23:27:07
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US President Joe Biden will organize on Thursday and Friday a “Democracy Summit” on democracy in which 100 countries will participate at the invitation of those with the aim of creating a global alliance to defend and renew democracy, considering that democracy is now under threat. By authoritarian countries, specifically China and Russia, according to President Biden, this angered both China and Russia.

The event, organized by Washington hypothetically due to the Covid-19 epidemic, aims, according to the White House, to reveal the conflict between democracies, dictatorial regimes and authoritarian regimes, which are at the heart of the US president's foreign policy.

“We are in a moment of truth for democracy, without a doubt,” said Ozra Zea, Assistant Secretary of State for Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.

She added that the world's democracies "face increasing challenges, stemming from new threats." "Almost all over the world, these countries have experienced varying degrees of democratic backsliding," she said.

The summit brings together representatives of 100 governments, non-governmental organizations, companies and charitable organizations. The Arab countries include Iraq only, and also includes Israel.

The list of invitees raised great tension, as China and Russia, which Biden considers the most prominent authoritarian countries, denounced their exclusion from the summit. Any country that is a democracy and any country that is not qualified for this situation reveals the mentality of the Cold War.” They also rejected the idea of ​​a single model of democracy, and praised their two systems, which are based on “Chinese facts” or Russian “traditions.”

Taiwan's call has also angered Beijing, which considers it a Chinese province even if it is not under its control.

Washington preempted the summit by declaring last Monday that it would not send any diplomatic or official representatives to attend the "Winter Olympics" in China next February, and Australia, Britain and Canada joined the boycott.

With regard to human rights or electoral fraud, the selection of invited countries also raises questions. Pakistan, the Philippines and Brazil, headed by the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, were invited, while Hungary, a member of the European Union, where a nationalist government is in power, or even Turkey, headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which is Washington's ally in NATO, were not invited.

Experts believe that a quick review of the invited countries participating in the summit concludes that there are a large number of these countries that are not classified as democratic countries according to Freedom House classification, and others in the same classification were not invited, as it is remarkable that the Middle East region is represented by two countries, namely Iraq, which is classified A non-democratic state according to Freedom House's classification, and Israel, which still occupies the Palestinian lands and practices all forms of oppression, discrimination and mass persecution of the Palestinians, and poses the greatest threat to the countries of the region.

This summit divides the world into democratic and undemocratic, and ignores the fact that democracy is a process and not a state in the sense that democracy in a country can advance and develop, and vice versa, it can regress. What happened in America after the presidential elections last year and the reaction of Trump and his supporters is the best proof of that .

Summit organizers are trying to convince the world that the real threat to democracy today comes from China and Russia, which the United States classifies as authoritarian states.