The US to Sanction Foreign Officials Ahead of Summit
Dave DeCamp / AntiWar.com
(December 3, 2021) — At the upcoming Summit for Democracy hosted by President Biden, the US will urge other countries to start using sanctions against government officials Washington deems to be “corrupt,” The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Citing unnamed Biden administration officials, the report said the US will slap sanctions on foreign-government officials and other people the US accuses of corruption and human rights abuses ahead of the virtual summit that will be held on Thursday and Friday.
“Over the course of the week, Treasury will take a series of actions to designate individuals who are engaged in malign activities that undermine democracy and democratic institutions around the world including corruption, repression, organized crime, and serious human rights abuse,” one official said.
The measures will be levied under the Magnitsky Act, a law the US uses to target individuals with sanctions. The US’s allies have adopted new laws to be able to join the US in sanctioning officials, including the EU, the UK, Canada, and now Australia, which passed new rules Thursday.
The US invited over 100 countries to the summit and snubbed Russia and China by leaving them out. China is also angered by the fact that Taiwan will be participating.
Russia and China have both denounced the summit as another example of the US dividing the world into Cold War-style blocs and slammed Washington for making itself the arbiter of what is considered a democracy.
Biden ‘Democracy Summit’ Snubs China and Russia
But Invites Taiwan and Ukraine
(November 24, 2021) — President Biden is hosting a democracy summit on December 9th and 10th that will be attended by over 100 countries. Biden snubbed both Russia and China by not inviting them and asking Taiwan to attend.
Russia said the US was separating countries by “dividing lines.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the guest list released by the State Department shows that the US “prefers to create new dividing lines, to divide countries into those that — in their opinion — are good, and those that are bad.” He added that the US is trying to “privatize the term ‘democracy.’”
Since China is opposed to any official contacts between the US and Taiwan, Biden’s move to invite Taipei to the summit angered Beijing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Beijing “firmly opposes” the US inviting Taiwan.
“What the US has done shows exactly that it is only using democracy as a cover and tool to advance its geostrategic goals, suppress other countries, divide the world, and serve its selfish agenda of maintaining hegemony,” Zhao said.
President Biden has framed the US relationship with China as an ideological battle between “autocracy” and “democracy.” The US is also expanding military cooperation with so-called “like-minded” countries in Asia to counter Beijing and is taking steps to boost diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
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