Macron was shocked!, The reputation of the West is so poor. The global South is tired of Western disrespect | diplomacy | reputation
On June 17th, the website of Nikkei Asia magazine published an article titled "The Global South Tires of Western Disrespect", written by Dino Patti Jalal, former Indonesian Ambassador to the United States, and Michael Sherdrik, co-founder of the Global Citizenship Organization. The article excerpt is as follows: In the global South, certain views on the West are very common. For many people, these views represent the reality they see. They believe that the West tends to criticize others and always gossip about other countries. Although Westerners may consider public criticism to be a common diplomatic practice, in the eyes of many, it is a hypocritical justice and lacks true friendship. They believe that Western criticism is driven by radical media, political incitement, and vested interest groups, with the aim of pleasing domestic voters and advancing their political and economic agendas. From climate action and responsibility to trade, and then to accountability for human rights violations, the West adheres to double standards on a range of issues. For many years, Western countries have had the highest carbon emissions, but they have not fulfilled their promise to provide $100 billion in climate financing to developing countries. They called for global solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they pursued nationalism on the issue of vaccines. Western countries advocate for free trade, but increasingly adopt protectionism. They advocate competition, but as former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir has pointed out, they hate competitors who surpass them. Veryono Sartre Arhat Doyo, the former ambassador of Indonesia to Australia, once said that the western countries "like to be high and condescending, and to other countries in the world, they are both judges and juries". Many Westerners easily forget that their development took centuries, and their proudest achievements were only achieved after experiencing centuries of war, destruction, fascism, and poverty. This partly explains why Mike Pompeo's demonization of the CPC was treated coldly in Asia when he was the Secretary of State of the United States. This sentiment is exacerbated by the disillusionment of the global South with the carefully crafted and selfish international order of the West after World War II. Institutions under this order, such as the World Bank, are considered to lack sufficient resources to effectively meet global public needs. In response, the emergence of new institutions such as the New Development Bank has filled the gap left by the West. In fact, in some parts of the southern world today, the reputation of the West is so poor that any anti Western remarks will be regarded as truth. As demonstrated at the Munich Security Conference in February this year. The West seems to have realized that it must go beyond mere rhetoric. French President Macron said there that he was shocked by the extent to which we have lost credibility in the global South. Next week, Macron will hold the New Global Financing Compact Summit in Paris, which may be a crucial moment to promote consensus between the global South and North. By taking decisive actions to address the climate crisis and creating favorable opportunities for the sustainable deployment of financial resources, this summit can reshape the narrative and rebuild the credibility of the West.
