China says democracy used as ‘weapon of mass destruction’

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has accused the US of using the idea of “democracy” as a “weapon of mass destruction” to impose its will upon the world, after Beijing was left uninvited from Washington’s ‘Summit for Democracy’.

Leaders and dignitaries from 100 countries and international organizations took part in the Biden administration’s Summit for Democracy on Thursday and Friday. Held virtually, the event saw US allies proclaim their support for civic society and equality, and commit to funding ‘pro-democracy’ NGOs at home and abroad.

China – the US’ principal geopolitical rival – was not invited, while other countries in Washington’s bad books, namely Russia and Hungary, were also snubbed. 

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The Chinese Foreign Ministry took the opportunity on Saturday to trash the summit and accuse the US of hiding its efforts to maintain “global hegemony” behind the term “democracy.”

“Whether a country is democratic or not should be decided by its own people, not by a handful of finger-pointing outsiders,” a statement from the ministry read. “A country’s democratic system and its path to democracy should be chosen independently by its own people in light of their national reality.”

It went on to hammer the US for attempting to bring democracy at gunpoint to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, and for using sanctions and the threat of “color revolutions” to coerce other states into accepting its version of democracy.

A “color revolution” is a term used to describe an attempt, led by well-funded civil society groups and NGOs, to overthrow a government. The US has, either covertly or overtly, supported numerous foreign color revolutions, including the 2000 protest movement that toppled Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic from power, the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003, and the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. 

While China has criticized the US for engaging in such underhand tactics, Western media has celebrated Washington’s “template for winning other people's elections.”

Beijing’s statement accused the US of using democracy as a “weapon of mass destruction.”

“We should firmly reject and oppose all forms of pseudo-democratic and anti-democratic practices and political manipulations under the cover of democracy,” the statement concluded.