Referring to the failure of the American democracy project in Afghanistan, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson stressed that democracy imposed from abroad could not last.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news conference on Friday that recent developments in Afghanistan have once again proved the ineffectiveness of American democracy for other countries.
“Democracy imposed by the United States does not benefit other countries because each region has its own conditions, and the use of dictatorial democracy with specific [American] definitions in other regions can have detrimental effects,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
“The dramatic changes in the situation in Afghanistan have once again proved that the democracy imposed by foreign countries cannot be sustainable,” she said. The fact of the matter is that democracy cannot be dictatorial; “Democracy with fixed and pre-determined principles makes no sense.”
“Just as drinking cold water is not compatible with the Chinese stomach, or Americans cannot eat Chinese-style food, so democracy has its own conditions and it is not possible to prescribe the same for all countries,” he said. “Democracy is not like a special drink [with a specific formula] that can be prepared in a single way and distributed around the world.”
“The right to define democracy and determine the degree to which countries are democratic cannot be the prerogative of the United States and its allies,” she said.