Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

The US-initiated "Summit for Democracy" began Thursday night Beijing time. Several hours before its opening, Pakistan, which was among the participants the US had invited, announced that it would not attend. Pakistan's announcement triggered much discussion. In addition to the heated discussion of why the US invited certain countries and regions but did not invite some others, the latest topic has taken the real theme of "democracy" away.

The US has used much of its strength to snub China and Russia and controversially defined which country or region is democratic and which is not. The forces it tries to curry favor from are definitely not as many as it has offended. It must be said that the US has become so fragile that it has to go around in such a big circle to beg for a little support. The result is destined.  

Democracy is not achieved by talking big, but by a country's arduous work. Democracy is not the franchise model of chain stores where the US formulates rules and rations ingredients, with the same cartoon character of an old guy standing in front of each entrance. The team of US President Joe Biden must have eaten too much KFC and McDonald's when they were young.

Biden convened this "summit for democracy" at a time when US national governance, including its democratic system, was criticized the most. From the West's point of view, the summit should be held as a "criticism summit" against the US. The US has been a drag on Western democracy, and this is the major reason why Western democracy has felt a sense of crisis. Discussions about the US' "decline" have flooded the world's public opinion field. From the COVID-19 fight to anti-racial discrimination, the US has not done anything worthy of being put on a window display in the West. Western democracy has lost its face by following the US.

The very purpose of this "summit for democracy" is to use a big pomp to remind the world: The "declining" US you talk about is still the boss and other countries should choose the right "big brother" to follow. Washington wants to form a "democratic gang," but the world has turned that old page long ago. Even street singers use QR codes to get paid nowadays.

Some say that the "summit for democracy" may become one of Biden's few political legacies. But is it pitiful for Biden? No wonder some Chinese people said ironically that even the head of a county in China is more practical and capable than the US president. 

This so-called summit for democracy is bound to be a hypocritical exposition of all kinds of international political machinations within the US-led gang. This conference in the name of "democracy" will definitely be nailed to the pillar of shame in history, just because it deepens the divisions of the world and intensifies confrontation between major powers. In this sense, it may be regarded as the "political legacy" of the Biden administration, but definitely a negative asset.

It's a joke that the US, trapped in the COVID-19 epidemic, even dares to summon a "summit for democracy" and attempt to give a voice to democracy when it has just run away from Afghanistan, the "laboratory for democracy." A swarm of innocent bees is being hijacked by a toxic hornet who teaches them to sting, not to produce honey. 

A farce is being staged. The world did not host an infrastructure summit, an education summit or a poverty alleviation summit, but the US created a "summit for democracy." So far, what has caused the most global deaths are the COVID-19 pandemic that ravages across the world, as well as the Western-style "democracy" imposed by the US and West on developing countries. The US didn't have to hold a "summit for democracy." It would be best for it to open its border and let refugees from Third World countries who suffered immensely from Western-style democracy enter its territory and enjoy "authentic democracy."