The "leadership" the US plans to renew hurts the world

Tourists are seen near the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, July 26, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Different from its predecessor that frequently withdrew the US from international organizations and treaties, the new administration in the White House has been declaring "America is back" since it was established, vowing to "renew American leadership."

However, Washington's hegemonic and arbitrary attitude on the origin tracing of COVID-19, which is still rampant around the world, is disappointing more and more countries, and presenting a clearer image of the so-called "leadership" that the US is trying to renew.

To duck responsibilities for the failure of pandemic control, and divert people's dissatisfaction with the government's poor performance on solving inter-party conflicts, narrowing social divide and driving economic recovery, the current administration in the White House just returned to the old path of hegemony pursued by its predecessor.

To discredit and oppress China, the US is forming cliques and playing the blame game. It shows no respect to science and runs counter to justice. Facts prove that the so-called "leadership" Washington aims to renew is just huge damage to the global anti-pandemic efforts.

The US is the biggest force driving politicization of origin tracing. It has done everything in an attempt to achieve its secret political goals. Over the past year, the coronavirus mutated frequently as it swept around the world, which has triggered an increasingly stronger demand for joint efforts to cope with the pandemic. However, considering itself as the world's strongest science power and often stressing the importance of investigation, the US has always ignored science and facts. It called its allies to pressure the WHO on origin tracing of COVID-19, made its intelligent departments to find the origins of the virus, and repeatedly speculated the so-called "lab leak theory," blatantly spreading political virus on WHO and other international platforms.

The above dangerous practices of the US have triggered doubts and criticism. Nature magazine said that hostile demands for an investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) will backfire, because they often sound like allegations. Mexican epidemiologist Gerardo Perez also noted that the US now again raises the issue of origin tracing mainly out of self-interests. However, generating a search for guilty right now is truly idle, he added.

The wrongful remarks and practices of Washington on origin tracing reveal its zero-sum and confrontation mentality in dealing with international affairs. As it is known to all, the last US administration advocated "America first" and withdrew the country from multiple international organizations and treaties, and constantly bullied other countries with its hegemony, which triggered wide opposition from the international society. To rebuild its image, the current administration is acting like it's sorry for the past and spouting multilateralism and international responsibility. However, everyone can still see that the foreign policy of the current US administration is just old wine in a new bottle, no matter how hard American politicians are trying to sell it. To protect American hegemony, the current administration in the White House is also trampling on international rules and destroying international cooperation.

The French newspaper Les Echos said the priorities of Washington are not very different from what they were when Donald Trump was in office. Melvyn Krauss, emeritus professor of economics at New York University pointed out that the foreign policy outlined by the incumbent US President was not all that different from his rococo predecessor’s “America First” credo, and the current administration has been following a form of “America first” policy even in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Compared with the last US administration, the current one obviously has spent more energy on forming cliques. It is more "skilled" and adept at practicing unilateralism under the banner of multilateralism, following the principle of "America first" in a more deceptive disguise.

Many US politicians believe that such fake multilateralism could deceive the world and renew the "leadership" of the US. How ridiculous they are!

Amid the global challenge of COVID-19, the real leadership is embodied only by the concrete efforts to promote solidarity and cooperation, rather than blame game. It lies in the respect to science and facts, not political manipulation.

In the race between mankind and COVID-19, Washington has ignored people's lives and health, prioritized its international influence, and oppressed other countries. Such wrongful practices would only fail the US on its way to renew the so-called "leadership" and trigger more opposition.

Joseph Sullivan, senior advisor at the Lindsey Group said in an article he published on Foreign Policy that the White House is still continuing to pursue US interests in a way that hurts the rest of the world.

Major countries must take their responsibilities when the world is in urgent need of solidarity and cooperation to tide over difficulties. The US, addicted to confrontation games, has become the largest stumbling block for global solidarity and cooperation. In the 21st century, any country that holds onto Cold War mentality, employs outdated Cold War approaches, or forms cliques to oppress other countries would only be abandoned by the times, and there is no chance for it to renew the so-called "leadership."

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People's Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)