STORY: America in no position to define democracy -- views on U.S. democracy
SHOOTING TIME: March 22, 2024
DATELINE: March 23, 2024
LENGTH: 0:02:25
LOCATION: Seoul
CATEGORY: POLITICS/SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of people protesting in South Korea (Source: 촛불전진)
2. various of the "Summit for Democracy" (Source: Presidential Office of South Korea)
3. various of people protesting in South Korea (Source: 촛불전진)
4. various of the "Summit for Democracy" (Source: Presidential Office of South Korea)
5. various of Washington DC
6. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): HUMPHREY MOSHI, Director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam of Tanzania
7. various of Washington DC
8. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ONG TEE KEAT, Former deputy speaker of Malaysia's lower house of parliament
9. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): ALI EL-HEFNY, Egypt's former deputy foreign minister

STORYLINE:

Amid public protests, the third "Summit for Democracy," an initiative launched by the United States, was held in South Korea from March 18 to 20.

The event has been criticized for promoting "false democracy," and pushing international relations toward camp confrontation.

The United States has been touting itself as a "beacon of democracy." However, scholars in various countries have said that in the U.S., democracy is not about the welfare of the people but a political tool.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): HUMPHREY MOSHI, Director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam of Tanzania
"The U.S. has been the largest economy for a number of years, but we still talk something called homelessness. We talk of people who are poor. And on the social aspect, look at the way the blacks are discriminated in the United States, but here are the people who call themselves the 'champions of democracy.' You have to address the basic needs of those people and you have to ensure that the economy benefits almost everybody."

Analysts said that the United States is in no position to define the nature of democracy, as there's no one-size-fits-all democracy in the world.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ONG TEE KEAT, Former deputy speaker of Malaysia's lower house of parliament
"The present model of electoral democracy is widely touted as the west creation and has ever since been made the one-size-fits-all benchmark for democratic rule worldwide. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a fallacy. The cohesive transplant of electoral democracy, either through military intervention or brutal regime change, as was initiated by Washington in the developing world, has only added more failed states and ensuing humanitarian disasters to the list. People's well-being and aspirations are nowhere to be seen."

SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): ALI EL-HEFNY, Egypt's former deputy foreign minister
"Democracy is not mere rhetoric and it is not a weapon that is used in the relations of countries with each other. If democracy is adopted this way and with this conditionality, then it contradicts human rights."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Seoul.
(XHTV)