CCTV: Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary for the President of Russia, said on November 24 that Washington is “trying to privatize the term ‘democracy’ ”, and only the democracy which the US believes in is true democracy. He added that Washington “prefers to create new dividing lines, to divide countries into those that — in their opinion — are good, and those that are bad”, which runs counter to the trend of today’s world. Do you have any comment?
Zhao Lijian: Mr. Peskov is right. Creating a dividing line of “democracy versus authoritarianism” will only instigate ideological confrontation, which is completely distortion of and affront to democracy. I would like to stress the following points:
First, the US democracy is not an exemplary model but a broken one. The Capitol riots early this year laid bare the myth of the US democracy. President of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haass said “So much for ... American exceptionalism, for our being a shining city on a hill.” Americans are seeing growing political polarization and division in their society. A latest report by the Pew Research Center showed that the vast majority of American people expressed deep disappointment about their country’s political system. The US so-called “beacon of democracy” has long collapsed.
Second, the export of the US democracy is a fiasco. The US democracy failed to fit in Afghanistan, leading to the debacle of US forces’ withdrawal and the loss of more than 100,000 Afghan lives. The so-called “Arab Spring” generated millions of refugees who have been displaced and homeless. The “Color Revolution” brought Eastern European countries political turmoil and their people destitution, which has continued to this day.
Last but not least, all roads lead to Rome. There is no single and only way to democracy. Forcing others to follow the US democracy will only make them take detour or lead them astray. What makes the US, a country with huge “democracy deficits”, believe that it has the right to be a model and judge for democracy and to host a so-called “Summit for Democracy”? (cctv)