Crumbling democracy Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

 

Lifting the curtain of the long-prepared Summit for Democracy on December 8 amid its own issues, the US invited a batch of notorious buffoons, turning its summit scheduled from December 9 to 10 into a circus full of political clowns. Those invited include officials of the secessionist authority from China's Taiwan island, a fugitive separatist from Hong Kong, dissidents or representatives of opposition from US ideological rivals, and some unaccredited democracies pulled over against China. 

Observers have called the summit a "democracy show window" for awkward guests, some of whom insist on a hostile policy toward China and follow the US to make groundless accusations against China in the name of democracy and human rights protection. They cooperate with the US policy of containing China, through antics and posturing on and off the summit stage while turning a blind eye to the facts. Some attendees show up under US pressure while others feel reluctant to refuse the US' invitation to preserve their public status as US allies. 

A circus in town Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

 Democracy show window reveals anti-China intention

Among over 100 participating countries and regions, only 77 of them are ranked as "free" or fully democratic, while 31 are "partly free" and three are "not free," according to Freedom House's Democracy Index. 

US uses its own criteria to define some countries as "democratic" while others as "autocratic," Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for China-America Studies, told the Global Times in a recent interview. 

Dissidents or opposition members from countries the US considers ideological rivals, such as US-backed Venezuelan radical interim president Juan Guaido and Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, are also among the guests.

The Summit held by the democratically dysfunctional US is essentially an anti-China farce, which includes a losers' alliance and self-hypnotized cultists with "democracy" slogans, said observers. 

In introductory remarks of the "Day Zero" first panel on Media Freedom and Sustainability, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that "global freedom has declined." He added that it is "happening in authoritarian countries, where rulers have restricted people's freedoms" and "cracked down on political opponents with increasing brutality." The remarks are widely assumed to be a reference to China.

The stage of the democracy summit has given the separatist forces and overseas NGOs propitious timing to promulgate a bill and report against China.

The US House on December 9 passed the bill to ban imports made by the so-called Xinjiang "forced labor."

Also, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) gave a report on December 8, tagging China as "the world's biggest captor of journalists," ranking it 177th out of 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

"The summit is essentially just an American power-play with regard to its great power competition with China. And it really isn't even about democracy per se, given the lack of major opposition figures and broad-based civil society participation … One cannot directly say so at the inter-governmental level, hence the dressing up of the occasion as a democracy vs autocracy event and not purely as an anti-China event," said Gupta.

A circus-style flash mob on the stage



Taiwan's separatist leader Tsai Ing-wen has sent her representatives Audrey Tang Feng, a member of Taiwan's executive authority, and Hsiao Bi-khim, the island of Taiwan's representative to the US, to the summit.

Tang, who is in charge of digital issues, will participate in a group panel discussion on December 10 on the topic "against digital authoritarianism and affirming democratic values." But ironically, Tang has long been well-known as the leader of Taiwan's notorious "internet water army." The program is sponsored by the separatist political party which has been criticized for manipulating local online public opinion, promoting separatism, and is committed to cyber bullying against oppositions.

Tang is also reportedly to issue a so-called "national statement on behalf of Taiwan" at the summit, which experts say exposes the nature of its secession mindset.

Tang represents "detritus" in Chinese "feudal politics" - poor political ability but strong capability in stirring up trouble. Such a politician is actually contrary to mainstream democratic values, and serves only as a political pawn for the US, Shen Yi, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University, told the Global Times.

Two NGOs from the island of Taiwan including the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) which usually releases biased polls to support Tsai authority's separatist claim with funding from the authority, are also invited. The TFD is an official institute set up during the term of Chen Shui-bian, former regional leader from the island who sought secessionism. 

Another archetypal clown is the Hong Kong separatist Nathan Law, a fugitive suspected of participating in riots and later fleeing Hong Kong. He is scheduled to give remarks on December 10. 

In a Facebook post Law expressed his appreciation for the invitation, having his tail wagging like one who has just received alms from a patron, and begging for more funding from his Western sponsors to pay for his life while he is at large. 

Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang Ping-keung branded Law as a coward who is spreading political lies and not fit to represent Hong Kong, condemning Law's willingness to serve as the US vassal.

"Is inviting a wanted criminal like Nathan Law to the summit a sign that democracy is the bulletproof vest of criminality?" Shen asked. 

Typical US anti-China politicians are also featured in the summit schedule. Uzra Zeya, US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, has been, without evidence, accusing China of "repressing Tibetans, Christians, and other ethnic minorities."

Zeya concurrently served as the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues and used Congressional tools against China during her tenure. She even urged the Chinese government to engage in a substantive dialogue with the separatist Dalai Lama clique without preconditions in 2013.

In addition, various NGOs notorious for fabricating lies have been invited, including representatives of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which is on China's sanctions list, and Radio Free Asia (RFA).

Both institutions, backed by the US government and intelligence agencies, have long been fabricating stories on Xinjiang, Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong under the guise of protecting "human rights."

NED is the main source and insurance for World Uyghur Congress (WUC)'s funding, and provides the strategic guidance for WUC's activities, including mass riots such as "street revolutions."

The US independent news website The Grayzone released a report in March 2020, unveiling the truth about WUC's funding, showing that WUC was guided by the US and that the NED, the WUC, and RFA colluded in order to contain China. 

Bay Fang, president of RFA, a notorious anti-China propaganda outlet funded and controlled by the American government, is also a guest speaker at the summit. 

Agnes Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International (AI), is a panelist in media democracy. But AI is actually one of the puppets under the cover of human rights which is manipulated by the Soros network. 

AI is widely known for its infamous role in meddling in China's internal affairs and instigating a color revolution in Hong Kong. The organization withdrew from Hong Kong as it no longer has room to engage in subversion under the national security law for Hong Kong.

"The world was looking forward to the US to reflect on its problems of the Western-style democracy through the summit and find out reasonable solutions. But now it has turned to be a disappointment as it has nothing creative but drawing such alienated political crowns to contain China and Russia while taking 'democracy' as the fig leaf," said Shen. "The emergence of clowns exposes American democracy as a cloak for political expediency. The summit has gathered a league of losers."