On Sunday, Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez and China’s Office of Political Research Director Tian Peiyan criticized the selectivity of the U.S.-convened "Democracy Summit," which will be held virtually from Thursday to Friday.
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“Washington does not want to face its prestige loss and isolation at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Therefore, it convened this forum, which only demonstrates its weakness in democracy and human rights issues,” Rodriguez stressed.
"The Western democratic model that the United States intends to endorse with this meeting does not bring happiness but disasters because it responds to the Cold War's anachronistic divisive mentality. Any effort to force other nations to copy this model is doomed to failure, " Peiyan stated.
He also questioned whether the U.S. could advise on democratic issues. "The American political system boosted polarization, social inequity, and strengthened unilateral coercive measures against other countries amid the economic recession prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic," Peiyan recalled.
Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia were not invited to the summit. Neither were the Central American Northern Triangle countries, from which most Latin migrants that arrive in the U.S. come.
From the Middle East, only Israel and Iraq were convened to this meeting, which will neither include China, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
“Although this meeting's geopolitical intentions are clear, its practical effects will be limited. Therefore, I call it a performance act instead of Democracy Summit," China's Advanced Institute of Global and Contemporary Studies Founder Zheng Yongnian stated.