US' coercion threatens global governance: China Daily editorial

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That the leader of the United States criticized Norway on Sunday for not giving him the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and said he no longer felt obliged to think purely of peace, is indicative of the weird mentality dictating the US' approach to global governance.

The US president told NBC on Monday that he would follow through on his threats to impose further tariffs on imports from eight European Union countries because of their response to his repeated assertions that the US should control Greenland as part of its territory — by force if necessary.

Having been the world's sole superpower and largest economy for decades, the US has long enjoyed having the supreme status in global governance, which has given it an imperious sense of superiority. As a result, it has increasingly behaved like a spoiled child in international relations, which finds expression in its bullying and coercion of other countries.

When explaining why the US needs to take control of Greenland, the US president suggested that Russia and China would do so otherwise. This is beyond absurd. It amounts to judging other countries by the yardstick of what the US itself is willing to do. And as the trail of destruction left by its interventionist policies has shown, it is the US that acts like what it calls a rogue nation.

Instead of setting a positive example for the rest of the world by abiding by the norms of international relations, the US believes that the rules only apply to other countries, not to itself. In the eyes of some politicians in Washington, the United Nations Charter is not applicable to the US.

That explains why Washington has suspended US support for scores of international organizations, agencies and commissions and announced its withdrawal from them. It also explains why the US is attempting to set up the so-called "Peace Board" — a by-invitation only alternative to the UN — despite showing that it considers no country a genuine friend, only an exploitable and expendable piece in its self-serving game.

One only has to look at the US' European allies —which are now stewing in their own juice having long relinquished their autonomy to the US in return for a so-called "security guarantee" — to see what this entails.

The more chaotic the global order becomes, the more urgent the need to reform global governance and the more necessary it is to consolidate the world order under the UN framework.

The US has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot be relied upon for peace and stability. Establishing a world order where justice and fairness are upheld, the norms of international relations are observed by all countries and international laws and the UN Charter are respected requires a compact to build a community with a shared future for humanity.

The more capricious and wilful the policies of the world's sole superpower become, the more pertinent are the coherent set of principles and practical approaches that China has put forward for international behavioral guidelines in the form of its four global initiatives.

China proposed the Global Development Initiative in 2021. Emphasizing common development for all, it focuses on poverty reduction, food security, health, climate action and industrialization.

The country put forward the Global Security Initiative in 2022. It upholds the principle of indivisible security, opposes national security at the expense of other countries and calls for building a balanced, effective and sustainable global security architecture.

The Global Civilization Initiative that China put forward in 2023 advocates respect for the diversity of civilizations, the common values of humanity, the importance of the inheritance and innovation of civilizations and robust international people-to-people exchanges to foster mutual understanding.

Presented last year, the Global Governance Initiative aims to enhance global governance through adherence to multilateralism, sovereign equality and the international rule of law.

All these initiatives pose a stark contrast with the hegemonic and unilateral approach the US administration adopts to international relations and world affairs. Following the US path of every country for itself and the devil take the hindmost is the road to chaos and misfortune.