Chinese communist leaders criticize American democracy ahead of Biden-summit

Communist leaders in China criticized the US and its approach to the Covid-19 virus less than a week before President Joe Biden’s democracy summit is set to begin.

Chinese leaders condemned not only the democracy summit, but also US democracy as a whole, saying those imitating it are “doomed to fail”. The Chinese Communist Party has governed China since 1949, where leaders claim a strong central government is the only way the country can function.

“In such a large country with 56 ethnic groups and more than 1.4 billion people, if there is no party leadership, … and we uphold the so-called democracy of the West, it will be easy to mess things up and democracy will work the opposite way,” one leader said.

The deputy director of the Communist Party’s Policy Research Office, Tian Peiyan, spoke during a news conference, in which he released a government report on the Chinese Communist Party’s form of democracy. He said the US response to Covid-19 revealed flaws in the American system. The high death toll from the virus, he said, was a result of political disputes and division throughout the government. “Such democracy brings not happiness but disaster to voters,” he said of US democracy.

This clash of ideas comes at a time when the US and China have become increasingly at-odds due to their ideological differences, as the US and other world leaders are democracies and China has an authoritarian government.

Biden’s democracy summit had around 110 government invitees, of which China and Russia were excluded. The “Summit for Democracy” begins Thursday and will explore “strengthening democracy, defending against authoritarianism, corruption and human rights”. Taiwan, a democratic country who China claims to govern, will be in attendance, which is believed to have upset Chinese leaders.