- 23 Feb 2023 01:06
#15265983
China has quietly released a manifesto stating its position on US Hegemony and the current world order, as well as its objectives going forward. This post should not be read as an uncritical defense of the claims made by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Some selections, full source at the bottom:
Summary of critiques:
A lot of these criticisms are mirrors of the ones the US itself uses for China. These critiques are 'true to life' in my personal experience - they are widely held beliefs even among Chinese population, both within and outside of China. They are a decent summary of what the 'average' Chinese and the CPC thinks of the US and US hegemony.
Some selections, full source at the bottom:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China wrote:Since becoming the world's most powerful country after the two world wars and the Cold War, the United States has acted more boldly to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, pursue, maintain and abuse hegemony, advance subversion and infiltration, and willfully wage wars, bringing harm to the international community.
[...]
While a just cause wins its champion wide support, an unjust one condemns its pursuer to be an outcast. The hegemonic, domineering, and bullying practices of using strength to intimidate the weak, taking from others by force and subterfuge, and playing zero-sum games are exerting grave harm. The historical trends of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit are unstoppable. The United States has been overriding truth with its power and trampling justice to serve self-interest. These unilateral, egoistic and regressive hegemonic practices have drawn growing, intense criticism and opposition from the international community.
Countries need to respect each other and treat each other as equals. Big countries should behave in a manner befitting their status and take the lead in pursuing a new model of state-to-state relations featuring dialogue and partnership, not confrontation or alliance. China opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics, and rejects interference in other countries' internal affairs. The United States must conduct serious soul-searching. It must critically examine what it has done, let go of its arrogance and prejudice, and quit its hegemonic, domineering and bullying practices.
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjbxw/ ... 27664.html
Summary of critiques:
- The US uses human rights languages to justify its intervention in the internal affairs of other countries, but does not apply these critiques equally or abides by them themselves.
- The US has created many small blocs of 'supporters' and 'enemies' and its interference in these countries is more predictable by their alignment than their actual human rights situation.
- The US relies on its military and goes to war too easily. These wars often produce worse humanitarian outcomes than the 'problem' they were ostensibly attempting to solve.
- The Breton Woods system is fundamentally unjust and establishes a US economic hegemony that US regulators use to cudgel independent states into following US policy.
- The US frequently uses the US dollar as a means of implementing its foreign policy agenda abroad, undercutting national sovereignty.
- The US uses patent law and intellectual property to ensure technological hegemony for itself and its allies. It uses human rights language as a justification for this, but again, this isn't born out in the evidence.
- The US often violates its own objectives, policies, and agreements to do so.
- The US carries out cyber attacks frequently and surveils indiscriminately its own citizens, citizens of allied countries, and citizens of non-allied countries.
- The US uses its soft power to promote its world view, especially the soft power of Hollywood.
- The US is one of the leading social media manipulators and misinformation agents in the world.
- The US has a policy of informal and formal suppression of media narratives counter to its foreign policy goods, even internally.
A lot of these criticisms are mirrors of the ones the US itself uses for China. These critiques are 'true to life' in my personal experience - they are widely held beliefs even among Chinese population, both within and outside of China. They are a decent summary of what the 'average' Chinese and the CPC thinks of the US and US hegemony.