"Summit for democracy" only serves U.S. own interests: FM spokesperson

BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has slammed the U.S.-proposed "summit for democracy," saying that it has nothing to do with international justice or democracy, but rather about serving the U.S. own selfish gains and maintaining its hegemony.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily news briefing on Thursday when asked about reports that the United States is seeking consensus among participating countries of the "summit" on the "Alliance for the Future of the Internet".

"This is another example of how the United States is politicizing, instrumentalizing and weaponizing democracy," said the spokesperson.

He said that the proposed "Alliance" shows once again that the United States is dividing the internet, seeking technological monopoly and cyber hegemony, and suppressing the scientific and technological development of other countries.

"The United States tries to impose its standards on others and restrict or take away the right to independently choose cooperative partners and develop the internet by countries, especially developing countries, thus stopping them from enjoying the dividend of digital economy and technological progress," Wang said.

He pointed out that the United States talks continually about building an "open" internet, but all it does in reality is to create confrontation and divide the internet.

The pushing for the so-called "Alliance" is in an attempt to plant ideological bias and zero-sum mentality in the supply, industrial and information chains of the internet, Wang said, adding that it will seriously distort the market.

"The United States is doing so in a hope to get an upper hand in the competition in an unfair and unjust manner. This runs counter to the internet spirit of peace, security, openness and cooperation," Wang said.

He stressed that the future of the internet should not and cannot be manipulated by a few countries.

"China opposes politicizing science and technology cooperation based on ideology and through exclusive arrangements as they hinder efforts to address shared challenge and seek common development. Such moves will only undermine scientific and technological innovation," said the spokesperson.

"The political manipulation of the United States in the name of democracy will only be met with wide opposition in the international community," he added.