China branded US democracy a "weapon of mass destruction" , following the US-organised Summit for Democracy which aimed to shore up like-minded allies in the face of autocratic regimes. The Communist country also raised allegation against US President Joe Biden of stoking Cold War-era ideological divides.

China, Russia and Hungary were left out of the two-day virtual summit. Ahead of the summit, China ramped up a propaganda blitz criticizing US democracy as corrupt and a failure. ‘Democracy’ has long become a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ used by the US to interfere in other countries- a foreign ministry spokesperson of China said in an online statement, which also accused the US of having "instigated 'colour revolutions'" overseas.

The ministry also claimed the summit was organised by the US to "draw lines of ideological prejudice, instrumentalise and weaponise democracy... (and) incite division and confrontation." Instead, Beijing vowed to "resolutely resist and oppose all kinds of pseudo-democracies".