The West is deeply obsessed with the feel-good syndrome. It acts as a staunch protector of the values and rule-based global system. Literature is created to craft an image of self-assumed guardianship, with campaigns run to spread the message of self-assumed greatness.
In reality, however, it is an absolute illusion. It is a rhetoric that is hardly supported by actions. The rhetoric is created and spread to disguise the real goals of self-centered geopolitical and geoeconomic interests. The Western elite used it to fool common people and mislead the domestic population.
History tells us that the Western elite used slogans of values and rule-based order to justify the grabbing of resources. The story started with colonization of poor countries. They plundered poor countries across the world and did not hesitate to commit crimes and genocides.
After World War II, the Western elite, washing off blood from its hands, created a new system of exploitation, resource grabbing and crimes. They erected institutions like the United Nations, the Bretton Woods system and many more. The appetite for resources grew enormously — the words may have changed, but not the philosophy of dominance and resource grabbing.
They invaded countries in the name of democracy, human rights and global order. They killed thousands in the name of human rights. They ruined countries such as Vietnam, Cuba, Iraq and Libya in the name of democracy. Now, Ukraine is the latest victim of the West’s geopolitical and geoeconomic interests and games.
Western powers are giving lengthy speeches on the importance of sovereignty. They believe they can manipulate the world and disguise themselves as guardians of the rule-based global order. And they think the Western media will help them achieve the goal.
The bad news, however, is that they will not get the desired results. The rise of social media has changed the whole dynamics and traditional media cannot get away with falsehoods. Truth cannot be manipulated for a long time. Rhetoric cannot be sustained for extended period of time. Slogans cannot be substituted for actions.
The Western elite, in reality, does not care for sovereignty, the rule-based global order or human rights. We find numerous examples where the West violated rules, undermined sovereignty and stood alongside violators of human rights. The Western elites continuously violate principles of sovereignty in relation to China’s Hong Kong and Taiwan. They do not respect the sovereignty of China over Taiwan and do not adhere to the one-China principle. They sell arms to separatists. In the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Western powers encouraged rioters to undermine the government.
The West does all this with the sole aim of containing China and curbing the nation’s economic rise. The West does not like the Chinese model of development, as the nation is developing through sheer hard work and sticking to global norms. It is completely opposite to the Western model, which was based on colonization, grabbing resources and committing genocides to secure resources.
On the human rights front, Kashmir can be considered among the worst cases globally. Indian occupation forces have converted Kashmir into an open-air prison. They have killed thousands of innocent people. Indians are violating UN resolutions and are denying basic human rights to the locals. But the Western powers are silent. They are looking at the market of India, not the lives of millions of Kashmiris. So they try to appease India. They want to exploit the Indian market and also use India as a force to contain China.
The rule-based global order is another slogan which has been in use for many years, but the West’s actions point to another direction. For example, Iraq was invaded in the name of eliminating weapons of mass destruction. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed. However, the Western powers could not find any WMD. Should the United States and its allies be punished for the destruction of a country? The answer is yes, but there is no rule-based system that can make it happen.
Libya is another example. A prosperous and beautiful country was attacked and destroyed. And then there is the case of Afghanistan. The US and its allies labeled the Taliban as terrorists and came to fight in Afghanistan. After two decades of war, the same powers effectively handed Afghanistan back to the Taliban. So, was the US wrong in 2001 or in 2021? Further, who will pay for the destruction of Afghanistan and the miseries of its people?
From the above discussion, it can be inferred that the slogans of sovereignty, human rights and rule-based system are only used to secure geopolitical and geoeconomic interests. The slogans are only crafted to create an illusion and feel-good sentiments, which the Western media try to amplify.
To come out of this situation, the world needs to look for options. The best option would be to build a rule-based system with strict adherence to equality and diversity, by keeping universalism at heart. Fortunately, China under the leadership of President Xi Jinping promotes this idea. Xi strives to make a new world order a reality by erecting new mechanisms. Let us hope the efforts are successful and there is sustainable peace in the world.
The author is CEO of the Asian Institute of Eco-civilization Research and Development in Pakistan.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.