A few days ago, President Biden of the United States held a virtual meeting with the allied countries of his country. Among his guests were the heads of state of Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil.
Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were excluded for having authoritarian governments. Likewise, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela, considered full dictatorships, did not receive an invitation.
Juan Guaidó, who has been appointed President since 2019 by a decision of the Venezuelan Parliament without recognition of the Maduro regime, was also invited.
Other allies of the United States are the countries of Europe with the exception of Hungary vetoing Viktor Orban. Some important Asian heads of state were considered: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. From the Middle East were Israel and Iraq, leaving Egypt and Turkey outside. On the part of Africa were Angola, Nigeria, Malawi, Senegal and Zambia.
This unusual invitation comes when President Biden is reinforced by having achieved that 70% of the population of his country be vaccinated, despite the resistance
There is also its ambitious program of spending on infrastructure, the social benefits under way and the measures to confront the devastating effects of climate change. Also the bipartisan vote to avoid the government shutdown until February.
The message for the celebration of this summit is to consolidate democracy, the system of freedoms, respect for human rights, the rejection of authoritarianism.
Biden noted: “Half of the democracies have experienced a decline in at least some aspect of the system in the last 10 years, including the United States.” For her part, the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, emphasized: “democracy will not be perfect but it is perfectible. That is the difference between democracy and autocracy ”.
Biden proposed to make a common front against the authoritarianism of Russia and China.
With Russia the most important problem is the eventual military intervention in Ukraine. Since 2014, the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatist forces have been facing each other. There are areas of Ukraine controlled by separatists. The US estimates that there are 175,000 Russian troops on the border with Ukraine.
Biden warned Putin of tough economic sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine. However, the sanctions were not effective when Russia annexed Crimea.
This experience suggests that the penalties should be more severe.
Since the overthrow of the pro-Russian government of Ukraine, relations between the US and Russia have been increasingly difficult.
With China tensions are multiplying. One of them is Taiwan and the US commitment to maintain the island’s autonomy from China, which it considers to be part of it.
In the South China Sea there are conflicts between countries that converge in the area, some US allies that are threatened by China and that the US supports them. China claims its sovereignty in that sea.
Another blow was the announcement by the US administration of a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. Other countries such as Canada and Great Britain have already joined this initiative.
Economically, the conflicts between the US and China will have to relax due to the fact that there are important global value chains between the two countries and the large Chinese investment in US financial assets.
Economist
Economy and Society
Writer and graduate in economics, graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. From 1984 to 1990 he was the Mexican ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, where he was awarded the Dannebrog order.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx