Legal media reflection: Have they "disliked" us and turned to China? Article | Country | French Media
On June 8th, the website of the French newspaper Echo published an article titled "Why BRICS Countries Don't Like Us anymore", written by Eric Le Bucher. The article excerpt is as follows:
"Did they become disgusted with us?" In March 2022, when the United Nations voted to condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine, the vast majority of southern countries abstained, which was completely unexpected. Has the southern world become "against us"? Since 1945, southern countries have generally admired the West - for its art, wealth, celebrities, and good life - even if there were criticisms.
Suddenly, this admiration seemed to turn into rejection, even hatred. Last week's BRICS foreign ministers meeting held in South Africa stated that these countries are turning their attention to Beijing and Moscow, hoping to "de dollarize" and consider strengthening their teams by including Saudi Arabia and other countries.
The first reaction of the helpless West is indifference or helplessness. Either out of arrogance: "They like China? It won't be long before they realize their mistakes." Or out of pride: "Globalization has given them too many benefits, they must return to our national interests. They will be unlucky." Or out of guilt: "We have been backfired by our colonial mistakes. This is normal, and we deserve it."
In summary, the reality is that a new world political map is forming, and the West is losing its economic lead, diplomatic advantage, and ideological hegemony, gradually turning the page of the past. This is the process of historical development.
Rebuilding global cooperation in the 21st century is not easy. Firstly, because the rule of placing one's own interests behind larger global interests that was accepted in the past has become invalid. In Europe, the problem we encounter is that the "European spirit" has disappeared, giving way to fighting for our own interests. The United States was the first to evade compliance with the rules of the World Trade Organization it had created. Under the banner of "sovereignty", nationalism has made a comeback in both the north and south. Joe Biden did this to "save" the middle class in America.
The new world order must be incorporated into this new creed, which is already on par with trade. But the definition of "sovereignty" is vague and only depends on the judgment of northern countries. For example, Joe Biden's hope for the reconstruction of the production chain by so-called "friendly" countries is based on intuition; Its purpose is to avoid China, but this is equivalent to the northern countries once again giving orders to the southern countries.
Another example involves climate: the EU will implement protectionism on products produced by countries that are still "carbon intensive". From the perspective of developing countries, these barriers are unreasonable: if climate change is attributed to the carbon dioxide stocks accumulated by rich countries, why punish the South? The poor countries in the north have promised to provide technical and financial assistance, but these promises have never been fulfilled.
In summary, the South wants to promote democracy in its own way, while the North wants to manage the economy in its own way: the discussion will inevitably be a fierce confrontation. The United States and Europe should accept that they no longer hold leadership positions and should prove that they can bring good solutions to the world in terms of economy, finance, climate, and politics.