BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The United States earlier this month gathered 49 African heads of state and the head of the African Union in Washington for its ambitious U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit after an eight-year hiatus, to demonstrate its "unchanging" commitment to the developing continent.
However, the White House has not been met with the expected response, but with growing skepticism and criticism, as with so much on the international stage so far this year.
U.S. website Politico commented on the summit that African leaders "feel like they've already been fooled once -- when former President Barack Obama used the first such summit in 2014 to signal growing commitment to the continent. Instead, Obama cut funding to combat AIDs in Africa and reduced foreign aid to the region."
Such reaction of African leaders is understandable. The overbearing role of the United States backfires -- it frequently and unscrupulously bullies other countries, and breaches trust on bilateral and multilateral diplomatic occasions.
The United States, for long, has blatantly invaded many countries under various pretexts, causing lasting disasters to the victims. The country has invaded 84 out of the 194 countries recognized by the United Nations and has been militarily involved with 191 of those, according to "America Invades: How We've Invaded or been Militarily Involved with almost Every Country on Earth," co-authored by Christopher Kelly and Stuart Laycock.
Besides the invasions, Washington, labeling itself a "beacon of democracy," has also intensified its bullying practices under the guise of "democracy" and "human rights," including coercing others to take sides, imposing unilateral sanctions on non-compliant countries, provoking conflicts in many regions and profiting from the chaos.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame refused U.S. attempt that would force his country to choose between strengthening economic ties either with the United States or others. "I don't think we need to be bullied into making choices" to taking sides, Kagame said on the sidelines of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.
The true colors of the United States that it will do anything to benefit itself at the expense of others have become increasingly clear, and its path to hegemony will eventually lead to a dead end. With a rising trend of negative coping and non-cooperation by the rest of the world in response to U.S. calls, the United States is hardly winning any real friends when courting others.
At the ninth Summit of the Americas in June, Latin American leaders resisted the U.S. ideological exclusion of the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, showing that U.S. hypocrisy has been punctured and less popular at the international stage.
When it comes to countries in Southeast Asia, the United States played the same tactics of forcing the countries to take sides in a patronizing manner, stirring up conflicts and making empty promises. However, the majority of regional countries have expressed their deep suspicion on the White House's "Indo-Pacific strategy" with ulterior motives.
"Americans are still seen as neocolonialist powers" and not all countries believe that the Americans should be the watchdog of democracy and human rights, Zeenat Adam, former director of the Horn of Africa section of South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, was quoted by Politico as saying.
The United States only applies international rules when it suits them and discards those when it does not.
Last week, 127 members of the World Trade Organization introduced for the 61st time the group's proposal to start the selection processes for filling vacancies on the Appellate Body, so as to make it function properly, but the United States once again blocked the proposed decision.
"There is only one country whose self-declared fantasy is to be the world's dominant power: the United States," said Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.
What the United States needs most are social cohesion at home and responsible cooperation with the rest of the world, rather than blind faith in seeking hegemony, because just as Sachs put it, the latter is nothing but "a dangerous, delusional, and outmoded idea." ■
