Beijing blasts 'messy, chaotic' US democracy

Beijing blasted democracy in the United States as "messy and chaotic"in a hard-hitting report released on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website yesterday.

The report, containing 15,000 Chinese characters, highlighted the deficiencies of the US democratic system, saying it has led to riots, entrenched racism, a tragic mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic, a widening wealth gap and freedom of speech is in name only.

Beijing in previous years had only issued reports on US human rights violations but yesterday's report was the first aimed at the US democratic system.

It also came on the heels of Beijing's China: Democracy That Works White Paper released on Saturday.

Notably, the report was issued before the US Summit for Democracy to be held on Thursday and Friday to which the Biden administration has invited Taiwan, while leaving China and Russia off the list.

Saturday's White Paper, released by the State Council Information Office, said China's democracy was more extensive, more genuine and more effective than US democracy.

And the hard-hitting Foreign Ministry report, titled The State of Democracy in the United States, said democracy in the US has "alienated and degenerated" over the years and has continued to deviate from the essence of democracy and its original design.

It said the functioning of democracy in the US has been weakened by problems like money politics, identity politics, wrangling between political parties, political polarization, social division, racial tension and the wealth gap.

"The US is not a straight - student when it comes to democracy, still less a role model for democracy," the report said.

It said the Capitol riot last January had "revealed what is underneath the gorgeous appearance" of US democracy, while the death of black American George Floyd disclosed the systemic racism which has existed in American society for a long time.

The report also said the US has been in "a total mess" when handling the Covid-19 pandemic, its society has been further divided on the issues of wearing masks and getting Covid-19 jabs.

Also, the fruits of economic growth were distributed unfairly and the income of many people had been stalled for a long time.

The report said democracy was a common value shared by all humanity and was "a right for all nations."

However, it took different forms and there was "no one-size-fits-all model" and it would be undemocratic to measure globally diverse political systems from a single perspective.

"The political system of a country should be independently decided by its own people," the report said.

But over the years, the US - despite the "structural flaws and problematic practice" of its democratic system - had claimed itself to be the "model of democracy" while incessantly interfering in other countries' internal affairs and waging wars under the disguise of "democracy," creating regional turbulence and humanitarian disasters.

The report said the US ignored the huge differences of economic development and the historical and cultural backgrounds among countries as it tried to impose its own political system and values on other countries.

"It pushes for what it calls 'democratic transition' and instigates 'color revolution.'"