On Tuesday, the US sent quite some mixed signals regarding its diplomatic posture. To begin with, US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr called the WHO "moribund" and urged others to quit. On the same day, the US announced that it would skip the G20 summit in South Africa, yet confirmed that the US is not withdrawing from the world.

In a video shown to global health officials meeting for the body's annual assembly in Geneva, Kennedy dismissed the WHO as bloated and "moribund." "I urge the world's health ministers and the WHO to take our withdrawal from the organization as a wake-up call… and we encourage others to consider joining us," he said. This seems to be a US message to the world: When the US walks away from the WHO, other countries should follow suit. However, it appears that other WHO members have ignored this request. Reports indicate that this speech from the US side failed to spark an immediate reaction at the assembly, with most diplomats and ministers remaining silent. Meanwhile, the WHO signed its first international pandemic response treaty without the US, which the UN calls a victory for public health and a major step toward ensuring strong global cooperation.

Also on Tuesday, it was announced that the US president would not attend the forthcoming G20 meeting to be held in South Africa, following last week's news that the White House had banned US agencies from all work on G20 in South Africa. 

"We chose not to participate in this year's G20, hosted by South Africa, either at the foreign ministers level or the presidents level. They clearly, on the global stage and in multiple multinational organizations, have consistently been a vote against America's interests time and again," the US side said. 

In other words, the unilateralist US is fundamentally dissatisfied with the multilateralism championed by the G20 - just as Washington harbors deep dissatisfaction with the current global trade order. Therefore, it is natural to see the White House show little enthusiasm for the smooth functioning of this key global economic cooperation mechanism. The US stance toward both the WHO and G20 reveals a clear posture: Washington seeks to reshape the international order with its own interests taking precedence, Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

The US withdrawal from international organizations, along with its decision to skip the upcoming G20 meetings, serves to pressure the world into accepting the current administration's unilateral mandates. However, G20 is unlikely to stop holding its annual summits just because the US decides not to show up, just as globalization will continue to march forward and cannot be reversed simply because of one country. 

The US is not withdrawing from the world, said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday as he batted away criticism of cuts to aid and diplomatic budgets from former colleagues in Congress, Reuters reported. 

It is true that the US is not withdrawing from the world; it endeavors to remold the world with a new order that places American interests at its core, Li said. However, this mind-set and practice have already caused concern and vigilance among many countries, including US allies. The world has changed. No matter how much the US tries to resist, its unipolar moment is gone. What today's global governance needs is equality, not hegemony; it needs mutual respect and equal footing, not arbitrary treaty-breaking, or coercing more countries to follow suit; it needs cooperation, not putting a single country's interest first. 

That the US is not withdrawing from the world requires real commitment. If the US wants to stay at the heart of global governance, it is time to show a genuine willingness to collaborate. 

(Source: Global Times)