US coercive diplomacy, strong arm tactics counter- productive

ACROSS the world, every region and country has been a victim of America’s coercive diplomacy – typified in economic blockade, unilateral sanctions, military threats, political isolation, and technical blockades.

All these are instruments of American coercive diplomacy that have isolated and disrupted the world, and Zimbabwe us among the victims.

Zimbabwe is currently languishing under illegal sanctions imposed by the US in called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (2001) and several other executive orders since 2003. These sanctions are increasingly being referred to as “unilateral coercive measures” and have been criticised by many countries and parties, including the United Nations.

What is coercive diplomacy?Early last month, a document titled “America’s Coercive Diplomacy and Its Harm” was released, throwing light on how the US’ utilises certain tactics to suppress and armtwist others as though it were a playground. According to the document, coercive diplomacy is “a standard instrument in the US foreign policy toolbox, and containment and suppression in political, economic, military, cultural and other fields have been used to conduct coercive diplomacy around the world for pure US self-interest.”

The concept was put together by Alexander George, a professor at Stanford University, in 1971.Its main aim was to summarize the policies of the United States on Laos, Cuba and Vietnam. “The developing countries are the “worst-hit areas” of America’s coercive diplomacy,” says the article.

The US uses sanctions to cower them.The history of coervive measures dates to 1962 when the United States imposed an economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba which continues to this day. The US-Cuba diplomatic relations were restored in 2015, but the US did not fully lift its blockade against Cuba.

 Since 2006, the US has imposed sanctions on Venezuela, preventing Venezuela from entering the financial system.

During the Trump administration, the US expanded economic and financial sanctions against Venezuela, froze all assets of the Venezuelan government in the US, and imposed sanctions on its oil, banking, mining industries and more than 140 government personnel, which severely hit the Venezuelan economy. Since 2006, successive US administrations have continuously strengthened sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Since 1988, the United States has for many years included the DPRK in the list of “state sponsors of terrorism.” Unilateral sanctions have been imposed on African countries such as Sudan (from 1993) and in addition Burundi, the Central African Republic, Somalia and Zimbabwe. Violating fair trade as coercive diplomacyAmerica has also violated the principle of fair trade and imposed tariffs on China. In July 2018, the US launched a trade war with China, announcing a 25% tariff on approximately $34 billion of goods imported from China; in August, an additional 25% tariff on $16 billion worth of Chinese goods was announced; and in September, the US announced yet again a 10% tariff on $200 billion of Chinese imports.America has also introduced Tech blockade against China in the semiconductor sector. In August 2022, the “CHIPS and Science Act” was enacted.

The law, which plans to provide up to $52.7 billion in government subsidies for the US semiconductor industry, requires semiconductor companies that receive federal financial aid not to make substantive expansion in countries such as China.

 Since 2003, the US has played a hand in the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia, the “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine and the “Tulip Revolution” in Kyrgyzstan. The Financial Times reported that agencies such as the US National Endowment for Democracy and the US Agency for International Development have been instrumental in driving domestic protests in other countries. 

These actions were meant to foment regime change in those countries. According to the American scholar Lindsey A. O’Rourke’s “Covert Regime Change: America’s Secret Cold War,” the United States carried out 64 covert regime change operations and six overt operations from 1947 to 1989.US hegemony: Economic coercionThe hegemony of US dollar is also another important foundation for US economic coercion.

As an international settlement currency, the US dollar accounts for the majority of global trade and investment, enabling the US to pass domestic economic problems onto other countries through export inflation and trade deficits.American imposed sanctions have caused untold harm on victims.In the case of Cuban sanctions mentioned before, the 61-year-old embargo has brought enormous economic losses and grave humanitarian disasters to Cuba.During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States also blocked Cuba’s access to raw materials for vaccine production.

The People’s World, an American news website, pointed out in an article that the blockade imposed by the United States had prevented Cuba from obtaining materials for the manufacture of syringes in time. Pertaining to Venezuela, during the COVID-19 pandemic, US sanctions made it difficult for the country to obtain materials to combat the pandemic and basic commodities such as food, drinking water and gasoline in a timely manner.

According to the report released by the UN Special Rapporteur Du Han on the Negative Effects of Unilateral Enforcement Measures on Human Rights, the sanctions have left more than one third of the population of Venezuela in a serious food crisis and a shortage of basic medical supplies and equipment; conditions of health care services have deteriorated and maternal, infant and seriously ill patients deaths have increased.

In addition, years of US sanctions have led to a severe humanitarian crisis in Sudan, with a large number of children across the country dying of malnutrition, according to a report released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan. 

In the 1980s, Japan’s GDP was half that of the US. In order to eliminate Japan’s economic threat, the United States forced Japan to sign the “Plaza Accord” in 1985, forcing the yen to appreciate, which led to the rapid expansion of Japan’s domestic economic bubble, the collapse of the real estate bubble and the long-term stagnation of the Japanese economy.Multilateralism is panacea to coercive diplomacy.

The world must work together closely in the spirit of true multilateralism. We must draw leadership from China and its leader’s call for five principles that oppose hegemonism and power politics, as well as all forms of unilateralism and protectionism.As such the world should advocate for peace, development, equity to build a better world. Secondly, it should jointly promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, stay committed to mutual benefit and win-win results, step up cooperation and lastly uphold the authority and standing of the United Nations so as to guard against American coercive diplomacy.The world should draw upon President Xi’s proposed practical cooperation mechanisms arising from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which guarantees capital towards infrastructure development crucial in reviving run down economies incapable of infrastructure brought about by American coercive diplomacy.Secondly, there is need to adopt the Global Security Initiative (GSI), as an architecture that will help to bring about world peace and stability which has been endangered by wars and insurgencies.Lastly, the world should implement the (GCI) which advocates respect for the diversity of civilisation. T

Through upholding the common values of humanity, and international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation, the world stands a better chance of countering the U.S’s soft powers of culture and science and technology through its media and international social media which have forcefully propped up and supported US coercive diplomacy.