Whether President Biden’s foreign policy speech at the State Department recently or the intensive actions of the U.S. diplomatic team after taking office, it sends an important message: repairing relations with allies is a priority on the agenda of the current U.S. government, which points to a more urgent goal – reconstruction with “democracy” as the main goal. Alliance of values.
In fact, the so-called “democratic alliance” is not a new concept. As early as 2008, then-U.S. State Department official David Gordon first put forward the idea of establishing a “group of democratic countries” to further coordinate their respective strategies.
At this time, the United States repeated its old tone, and the intention is not difficult to understand: both to repair the scarred transatlantic partnership, but also to gather allies to join forces to contain China. This is not something Biden has to shy away from in his foreign policy speech.
But how attractive is such an alliance?
EU countries quickly took a stand. On the 5th, German Chancellor Merkel said that although Europe and the United States have a lot of consensus, Europe still needs an independent “China policy”.
On the 4th, French President Macron expressed the same attitude, saying that even if the European Union and the United States share common values, they should not unite with the United States to fight against China.
This also confirms the view of Newsweek that the idea of establishing an “allied of values” in the United States will not be very attractive to contemporary Europe, especially exaggerating the weight of democratic ideas in European foreign policy.
Indeed, in the era of globalization, all countries have interrelated interests, and the COVID-19 epidemic has made the world deeply feel the importance of solidarity and cooperation. In fact, even Biden himself stressed the need to cooperate with China.
Why do other countries choose sidelines to fight against China for the benefit of the United States and harm themselves? Guajaldo, former Mexican ambassador to China, said bluntly, “What do you want countries to give up the opportunity of the world’s only major growing economy? Allied with the United States? The United States has proved to be an unreliable partner.
What’s more, no matter how much the current U.S. government describes “democracy”, it can’t cover up the chaos of American society. Political polarization, continuous party struggles, social tearing, racial diseases, Capitol riots…
The falling “American democracy” can never be whitewashed by a new government. Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate in economics, pointed out that Lincoln’s democracy called “the people, the people, the people” has evolved into “1%, 1% and 1%”.
Even domestic public opinion in the United States is lamenting that the United States today has lost its ability to call for wind and rain in the Western world.
The Washington Post recently asked: Why should allies trust a U.S. government that cannot handle the epidemic and Congress has just experienced riots?
The outbreak of COVID-19 has exposed the essence of the “plastic allies” between the United States and Europe. From intercepting masks and other anti-epidemic materials to quarreling for a vaccine, the so-called “values alliance” reveals a selfish and narrow true face in the face of interests.
This confirms to some extent that the so-called “values alliance” aimed at geopolitics is probably just a loud slogan, after all, the thunder is loud and the raindrops are small.
In this world, there are no two identical leaves, no identical historical, cultural and social systems. Diversity is an objective fact. Making a “values circle” will only push mankind to confrontation and hatred.
As former U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger said, it is unwise to form an alliance to target a specific country. It is the aspiration and general trend of people to abandon ideological prejudices and focus on cooperation.
