China Tells US to Stop Imposing Its Norms on World after Afghanistan Debacle

By Staff, Agencies

China called on the United States to ponder on the recent advice of Russian President Vladimir Putin to quit imposing American norms on other nations after the Afghanistan fiasco.

"President Putin's view should provoke some reflection in the US," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a regular press briefing. "There isn't one fixed form of democracy in the world."

"Every country is entitled to independently explore paths of development that suit their national conditions and realities," he said.

The example of Afghanistan, he said, demonstrates that attempts to "transplant" and force a democratic model on others will only "create chaos and instability, ultimately resulting in failure."

His remarks came a day after Putin described the outcome of the US-led 20-year invasion of Afghanistan as nothing but “tragedies and losses,” saying, "The result was zero, if not to say that everything turned negative."

"For 20 years, American troops had been on this territory and for 20 years they tried — one can say this without offending anyone — to civilize the people who live there, to introduce their norms and standards of life in the broadest sense of the word, including the political organization of society," he said.

The Chinese spokesman also stressed that democracy "is not a patent held by select countries.”

"There is no 'leader of democracy' in the world, nor does any country have the right to lecture others on democracy."