China echoed the troubled hours of American democracy in the wake of the invasion of the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump on the internet. Russia pointed to the “obsolete” electoral system and the deep divisions that left democracy “limping on both feet”. If it is true that Joe Biden, who takes office as president on the 20th, may, in contrast, benefit from a state of grace in some constituency that until now has not been seen in the former vice president, the consequences of what some describe as ” failed hit “and that left five dead and more than a dozen wounded policemen can be lasting out of doors.
The big US rival, Xi Jinping’s China, wasted no time criticizing the “stark contrast” between Washington’s response to chaos and Hong Kong’s protests in 2019. O Global Times, the English-language newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, used Twitter to criticize the president of the House of Representatives. “Pelosi once referred to the Hong Kong riots as” a beautiful sight to behold “. It is unknown whether the same will be said about events at the Capitol”, forgetting to say that Nancy Pelosi’s statement referred to demonstrations then peaceful. Furthermore, it is a false equivalence: Hong Kong activists demand more democratic freedoms and Beijing’s non-intervention in that partly autonomous territory; Trump’s faithful tried to subvert the outcome of elections considered fair, with the exception of the defeated candidate and his neighbors.
Even so, regime propaganda flooded the internet, with more than 570 million people following hashtag “Trump supporters assault the Capitol” on the Weibo social network. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the “sharp contrast [nas reações] it gives you thinking and deserves serious and profound reflection “.
Russia of Vladimir Putin, who had Trump as a confessed but lonely admirer in Washington, also took the opportunity to express his point of view. “The United States certainly cannot now impose electoral rules on other countries and claim to be the “beacon of democracy” in the world “, said the head of Foreign Affairs in the lower house, Leonid Slutsky. “It is evident that American democracy is limping on both feet,” said the Duma upper house counterpart Konstantin Kosachyov. “The celebration of democracy is over. Unfortunately, it hit rock bottom, and I say this without a hint of rejoicing,” he said.
Recalling that the Chinese Communist Party has characterized the United States as an “unstable, disorderly and unjust democracy” since the days of Mao Zedong, Chinese affairs experts Jude Blanchette and Michael J. Green say Xi Jinping will “exploit domestic dysfunction” of China’s biggest geopolitical rival as a central component of its political platform “. Like? “Now, Chinese negotiators will sit across the table with American interlocutors imbued with a sense of moral rectitude, in addition to their warrior-wolf diplomacy,” they write in Foreign Policy.
“We hope to take a stronger position on China than has happened in previous Democratic administrations,” said a Biden adviser. to The Washington Post.
This position will take shape in the National Security Council, created more than 70 years ago and which will be reformed. In the restructuring of this body, which aims to coordinate the diplomatic and military fronts in the White House, there will be experts at the table in the areas of health, democracy and human rights, technologies and climate – in the latter case, it will be John Kerry, the former secretary of State, who will be the envoy for climate issues.
Other changes to the body headed by Jake Sullivan, which recovers a number of elements from the Obama administration, include having a director dedicated to Russia, as it did until Trump arrived at the White House. The Kremlin does not expect “anything good” from the Biden government, as Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov said. And you will have your reason. With Putin’s Russia gone, the time has come to try a fresh start, as Hillary Clinton rehearsed. The future Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to put more pressure and even sanctions on Moscow, related to the poisoning of opponent Alexei Navalny.
On two other countries that once were part of the “axis of evil” designated by George W. Bush, Iran and North Korea, Biden and his team are facing a minefield. In the first case, they want Tehran to return to the nuclear agreement, so they will also have to undo the departure of the US ordered by Trump, but also to reinforce the pact beyond the purely nuclear issue.
With Pyongyang, Biden’s advisers want to leave behind the policy followed during the Obama years, and to resume talks initiated by the outgoing president. The priority will not be to get a big deal, as Trump has attempted, but a phased denuclearization, in which the priority will be to contain the nuclear threat that hovers under American territory today.
Regarding Venezuela and Cuba, policy changes are expected, with a return to an opening towards Havana and a new approach towards the Nicolás Maduro regime. After supporting the attempt to overthrow the regime, Democrats will want negotiations in exchange for lifting sanctions.
Trump faces second dismissal
In a dramatic change of tone, Donald Trump has declared that he will secure a “smooth and orderly” power transition, but he has not convinced critics. Once the hypothesis was dismissed, by Mike Pence, of the removal of Trump by the vice president and part of the government or part of the Congress, invoking the 25th amendment, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she would start the procedures for the removal of the president who will step down on the 20th. A Republican senator, Ben Sasse, was in agreement with the initiative.
A speaker he also said he spoke to the military chiefs, asking them to do everything they could to protect Americans from an “unbalanced” president.
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