People visit the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the United States, Jan. 17, 2022. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
"Nobody elected whites or Americans as global leaders. Nor is a privilege like prosperity predestined. And in this age of massive disruptions, can such privileges be sustained?" said an opinion piece published by the South China Morning Post.
HONG KONG, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The white privilege embedded in U.S. global leadership is fundamentally flawed and unsustainable, according to a recent opinion piece published by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
"The rules-based order that Western foreign policy insists on raises a fundamental question -- who sets the standards, norms and rules?" said the article written by Andrew Sheng, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong.
"Can we have a proper conversation on whether these rules are fair to all or are at least enforced fairly, justly and transparently?" said the author, a former central banker.
The article cited a study of U.S. foreign policy by sociologist Hermann Kurthen, which showed mostly white experts across the political spectrum were agreed on U.S. global leadership and shared five imperatives including defending U.S. global leadership and securing U.S. prosperity.
"But nobody elected whites or Americans as global leaders. Nor is a privilege like prosperity predestined. And in this age of massive disruptions, can such privileges be sustained?" said the article.
"Nor is the world truly democratic, because if each of the world's 7.8 billion citizens had a vote, the rich and powerful -- who are mostly white -- would have been outvoted long ago and the global order would look very different," said the article. ■