Agencies

China yesterday branded US democracy a “weapon of mass destruction”, following the US-organised Summit for Democracy which aimed to shore up like-minded allies in the face of autocratic regimes.

China was left out of the two-day virtual summit -- along with countries including Russia and Hungary -- and responded by angrily accusing US President Joe Biden of stoking Cold War-era ideological divides.

“’Democracy’ has long become a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ used by the US to interfere in other countries,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said in an online statement, which also accused the US of having “instigated ‘colour revolutions’” overseas.

The ministry also claimed the summit was organised by the US to “draw lines of ideological prejudice, instrumentalise and weaponise democracy... (and) incite division and confrontation.”

Instead, Beijing vowed to “resolutely resist and oppose all kinds of pseudo-democracies”.

In closing comments to leaders from scores of countries, as well as representatives of NGOs and philanthropical bodies, Biden on Friday said democracy “knows no borders. It speaks every language. It lives in anti-corruption activists, human rights defenders, journalists.”

“We’re committed to working with all those who share those values to shape the rules of the road,” Biden vowed, saying the United States will stand by those “who give their people the ability to breathe free and not seek to suffocate their people with an iron hand.”

On the first day of the virtual summit, he pledged $424 million to support media freedom, fair elections and anti-corruption campaigns.

While the US has repeatedly denied there will be another Cold War with China, tensions between the world’s two largest economies have spiralled in recent years over issues including trade and technological competition, human rights, Xinjiang and Taiwan.

The US Treasury on Friday sanctioned two high-level Chinese officials for human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region and placed Chinese AI surveillance firm SenseTime on a blacklist for its facial recognition technology targeting the Uyghur minority.