Beijing, Jun 6 (Prensa Latina) China deplored on Monday that the United States excluded Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the Summit of the Americas, and described such an action as a reflection of its eagerness to manipulate democracy to interfere and create divisions.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian criticized Washington for clinging to the Monroe Doctrine mentality and ignoring the widespread rejection in the region of the absence of these nations from a hemispheric forum.
“The Summit of the Americas is not the US summit. As host, the United States should stop acting in its own way (…), respect the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, and listen with humility to their legitimate voices and concerns,” he said.
Zhao stressed that the subcontinent is nobody’s backyard while advocating that the meeting should focus on a common agenda and promote solidarity, cooperation and the welfare of all peoples.
The Summit of the Americas will extend from Monday to June 10 in the US city of Los Angeles and will begin with meetings between representatives of civil society, the private sector and other meetings prior to the high-level segment in the last two days, around which the unknowns persist.
Organizations such as the Caribbean Community, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the Puebla Group condemned the decision of the United States -as host- to deny the attendance of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
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