Jun Sheng
In the eyes of some US politicians, international organizations can be used as a tool to reshape the US' global influence, and also as amusement parks where it can come and go freely. The various actions of the US deviating from multilateralism have fully demonstrated its unilateral mentality of seeking hegemony and ignoring its own international responsibilities.
Fanning flames, instigating and detonating the Russia-Ukraine conflict, wooing allies, and continuing to strengthen sanctions against Russia, the US creates chaos here and there, causing a huge impact on various fields in the world including energy, finance, and food. Since the Ukrainian crisis broke out, it has once again exposed its hideous conduct to engage in unilateralism and safeguard its hegemony.
From fanning flames and instigating conflicts to create confrontation, to forcefully overthrowing the regimes of other countries, causing continuous turmoil in many parts of the world; from adhering to the American Exceptionalism, ignoring international law and basic norms of international relations, to abusing long-arm jurisdiction, frequently wielding the stick of "sanctions"... Behind the US's hegemony as shown by domineering and bullying actions, lies its own long-standing unilateralism gene.
The unilateral acts of the US are numerous as shown by its addiction to "withdrawing from organizations" to "break contracts". Since the 1980s, the US has successively withdrawn from multiple international organizations or agreements including the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and the Treaty on Open Skies. In the eyes of some US politicians, international organizations can be used as a tool to reshape US' global influence, and also as amusement parks where it can come and go freely. The various actions of the US deviating from multilateralism fully demonstrate its unilateralist mentality of seeking hegemony and ignoring its own international responsibilities.
Knowing that unilateralism has been unpopular in recent years, the Biden administration has shouted to "return to multilateralism" from time to time in an attempt to confuse the world. But its so-called multilateralism is, as a matter of fact, another insidious variant of unilateralism, focusing on ganging up allies as demarcated by ideology and splitting the world by forcing other countries into taking a side. Its unilateralist words and deeds have been rampant as shown by its implementation of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy", strengthening the Five Eyes Alliance (FVEY), peddling the "quadrilateral mechanism" (Quad), piecing together a trilateral security partnership, and tightening the bilateral military alliance, and forming a little clique and an exclusive "club".
In order to maintain global hegemony, the US tends to repeatedly resort to unilateral sanctions to coerce its opponents into making concessions. For a long time, the US has abused its financial hegemony and technological advantages, frequently resorted to unilateral bullying and imposed sanctions on multiple countries, which have seriously violated international law and basic norms of international relations. These acts of hegemony have not only seriously damaged the international trade environment, but also put the economies of relevant countries into trouble, and even led to serious humanitarian crises.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Venezuela, Syria, and Iran, which have been sanctioned by the US for a long time, have had domestic economic and medical conditions increasingly deteriorating, so the pandemic prevention and control situation. The US, on the other hand, has continued to enhance sanctions applied and even imposed so-called extreme sanctions on these countries, making the economic and people's livelihood of these countries even worse. According to statistics, the number of sanctions imposed by the US has increased tenfold in the past 20 years.
Hegemonic acts harm all other countries across the world, and unilateralism is unpopular. History has repeatedly proved that indulging in the hegemonic dream by assuming the air of self-importance and the attempt to put one's own interests above the common interests of the international community will inevitably end in failure and eventually be cast aside by the times.
