Commentary by Xinhua writer Guo Yage
BEIJING – America is getting lonelier on the wrong side of history, whether it would like to admit it or not.
The indication has become stronger since a busy May of global diplomacy: Asia and the Middle East wrapped up separate summits both with firmer commitments to peaceful development and win-win cooperation; at their heels did a hysterical America play devil’s advocate in another gathering, as it tried hard tugging its rich vassals to stoke division and confrontation.
A multipolar world where countries of different sizes, cultures and languages sit at the same table and work together towards peace and development is the lay of the land. The Cold War has already awakened many to the growing importance of live and let live, and the COVID-19 pandemic has brought more to realize that a safer and better future for all needs an open, inclusive and cooperative mindset from each and every one of us.
But America failed to get its finger on the pulse. It dwells on the Cold War era and clings on to its worm-eaten diplomatic playbook that reads: “Nobody can challenge me. No one is allowed to stand in my way.”
To make sure it remains the big boss of the world, America has been feeding face-offs by squeezing and even removing space for dialogue and cooperation on peaceful coexistence and common development.
The tangled web it has been weaving recently to cut a promising China involves carrots and sticks on both its odd-couple allies and those estranged counterparts from the Global South: It attempted, for several times, to entice Africa from engaging with China; It also threatened to defund 21 countries, mostly in Latin America, because they have backed China on the Taiwan question.
The latest episode of such evildoings took place in Hiroshima. Egged on by America, the Group of Seven (G7) concluded its summit there with a rush-out communique professing to “de-risk” from China.
The new term, however ambiguous its meaning appears in America’s public comments, won’t hush up the hostility it hangs on towards an ever-developing China it believes has put America’s hegemony, rather than the so-called “larger world” it claimed, at risk. It is just another maneuver of America’s China policy that seeks to squish the room for China’s development, sow discord between China and its friends, and tie America’s allies to its own chariot.
To secure its role as global commander-in-chief, America has also tried to bring the developing world on board through empty promises. The recent history has seen America paying lip service to its vast bulk of commitments to making the world a better place for all.
From the Build Back Better World initiative put forward at the 2021 G7 summit to “help narrow the US$40+ trillion infrastructure need in the developing world,” to its rebranding in June 2022 – the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment initiative – to mobilize US$600 billion in public and private funding for developing countries by 2027, few America-driven aid programs have proven trustworthy.
And before any of its pledges taking shape, America has rushed to write another bad check in the past Hiroshima summit, claiming to “engage,” “support” and “finance” developing countries and emerging economies.
What America has been doing for years is actually pushing the world further away. Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said “there may be an obsession in America about Chinese activity on the continent, but there is no such obsession here;” French President Emmanuel Macron said his country won’t be America’s “vassal;” and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urged stronger regional integration against America’s hegemony in world trade.
Not to mention an Arab reconciliation wave over the past few months that America has been frowned on, which featured both a peace deal arranged with China’s help between former regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia and Syria’s landmark return to the Arab League.
As to “de-risking,” the Financial Times made it clear in an opinion on Monday that “the practice is much murkier,” with “big difficulties” “already emerging.”
Clearly, this is a world that is no place for a nostalgic America basking in its memory of being the overlord of all. An ever-progressing and ever-maturing multipolar world has found common development and prosperity the right way towards a better tomorrow.
America needs to acknowledge that it doesn’t have what it takes to call the shots, nor can it cheat the death of unipolarity. Embracing multipolarity is how it can prevent itself from being alienated by the world. – Xinhua
