•Under the guise of democracy and human rights, the US has hyped up questions concerning Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang.
•The United States has long promoted "American values" worldwide, played up "democracy versus authoritarianism," wantonly interfered in the internal affairs of other countries
Image: thepoliticon.net
Today, coercive diplomacy is a standard instrument in the United States (US) foreign policy toolbox, and containment and suppression in political, economic, military, cultural and other fields have been used to conduct coercive diplomacy around the world for pure US self-interest.
Countries around the world have suffered, with developing countries bearing the brunt of it, and even US' allies and partners have not been spared.
A new report titled, “America's Coercive Diplomacy and Its Harm”, aims to expose the evil deeds of US coercive diplomacy in the world and make the international community better understand the hegemonic and bullying nature of US diplomacy, and the serious damages caused by US actions to the development of all countries, regional stability and world peace.
Coercive diplomacy concerns the use of threat or limited force to coerce an adversary to stop or reverse its action. In the past half century, the US has never stopped engaging in coercive diplomacy in spite of great changes in the international structure.
From economic sanctions to technical blockade, and from political isolation to threat of force, the US has demonstrated what coercive diplomacy is to the world with its own actions.
Violating the principle of fair trade and imposing tariffs on China. In July 2018, the US launched a trade war with China, announcing a 25 per cent tariff on approximately $34 billion of goods imported from China; in August, an additional 25 per cent tariff on $16 billion worth of Chinese goods was announced; and in September, the US announced yet again a 10 per cent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese imports.
Under the guise of democracy and human rights, the US has hyped up questions concerning Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang. The "TAIPEI Act," the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act," the "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" and other bills related to China have been produced, and they are firmly linked to issues of trade and technological exchanges with China.
It unjustifiably interferes in China's internal affairs and coerces Western countries into keeping with the US.
US hyped up the so-called "lab leak theory" of the coronavirus and spared no efforts to smear and stigmatize China. In disregard of the "Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019," the US used its intelligence services to issue the so-called assessment on COVID-19 origins.
The US insists on politicizing and taking advantage of the issue of tracing the origin of the virus, casting a shadow over global cooperation to combat the pandemic.
According to the American scholar Lindsey A. O'Rourke's "Covert Regime Change: America's Secret Cold War," the United States carried out 64 covert regime change operations and six overt operations from 1947 to 1989. During the 1994 Haitian crisis, the US forced Haiti's military government to abandon power through a small-scale invasion.
Image: FILE
The administration at the time hailed the action as a model of coercive diplomacy. In 2003, the Bush administration listed 30.3 billion US dollars in additional military spending for coercive diplomacy. The US, despite being so angry about outside interference, is the expert in it, The Guardian said.
The hegemony of US dollar is an important foundation for US economic coercion. The "petrodollar," the "one-vote veto power" in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the bilateral currency swap led by the Federal Reserve are all concrete manifestations of the hegemony of the US dollar.
As a currency of international sanctions, the US dollar occupies a central position in the global financial system, enabling the US to cut off other countries' dollar supply and trading channels and impose pressure and sanction on other countries by restricting the channels of financing and transaction remittance.
The promotion of the so-called democracy and human rights is a common trick of the US to carry out political coercion and interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. The United States has long promoted "American values" worldwide, played up "democracy versus authoritarianism," wantonly interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, and attempted to shape other countries and world order with its own values and political system.
They even interfere with and subvert the legitimate government of other countries in order to weaken rivals, pass on crisis, create chaos, and undermine stability.
US political coercion measures form an endless stream. The US uses its military bases, diplomatic agencies, intelligence agencies, non-governmental organisations, media organisations and other channels and resources according to different targets and situations-collecting information, exerting influence, creating public opinions, manipulating elections, supporting opposition parties, etc. to publicly and secretly, directly and indirectly, interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.
The US abused its cultural hegemony, invested heavily in the media sector, supported its infiltration of ideas into other countries, and carried out inflammatory propaganda. Moreover, the US is used to fabricating false information to attack other countries, and peddling misleading public opinion globally using a purposefully built industrial chain.
The US uses its cultural products to promote American values. Hollywood films account for more than 70 percent of the world's market share. The values and lifestyle of the US are closely linked to its films and television programs, publications, media content, and programs of government-funded nonprofit cultural institutions, shaping a space for public opinion that sustains American cultural hegemony. It has seriously eroded the independence of other cultures and the diversity of world cultures.
US intelligence agencies have established a large number of "infiltration organisations" around the world. Various foundations and non-governmental organisations have become "middlemen" in exporting American values and "pioneers" in cultural infiltration.
The National Endowment for Democracy, the Congress for Cultural Freedom and other American "infiltration organisations" and institutions have promoted American cultural and political views to other countries through financial support, training, publication and conference, to export American values and ideology to the world, and to pursue cultural hegemony.
Stephen Ndegwa is the executive director of South-South Dialogues, a Nairobi-based communications development think tank.