Rubio Calls for Reviving the "Western Spirit": Experts Interpret Democratic Values and the Logic of U.S. Competition with China and Russia

U.S. official Rubio delivered a speech in Athens, calling for the revitalization of the spirit of Western civilization and democratic values. Experts analyze that this move aims to call on Europe and democratic nations to jointly address the ideological challenges posed by non-democratic regimes such as China and Russia, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding U.S. national interests and core Western values amidst the great power competition among the U.S., China, and Russia.

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Because this time Rubio is speaking in Athens, the city where democracy budded, to discuss the so-called spirit of Western civilization or the importance of democracy, in a way, he is of course using this location to talk about how strong the connection is between democracy and Western civilization itself. Discussing this matter particularly at this point in time, I think to some extent he also wants to relate it to the current strategic competition of the United States, or the potential competition of the United States, especially the different ideologies brought by Russia or China, their challenges to the United States, and the differences between the values they symbolize and those of the United States.

So when he emphasizes this, to some extent he also hopes to use the values of Western civilization and the spirit of democracy as an appeal to European nations or democratic countries, arguing that today we are facing a common challenge. We share common values, but at this stage, our shared values are being confronted by so-called communism or non-democratic, dictatorial systems that oppose what we represent. Therefore, in this speech, he links these two things together. Of course, it is not necessarily a pure East-West opposition, because after all, many Eastern countries are also democratic. He merely uses the city of Athens as a starting point to discuss the combination of Western civilization and the spirit of democracy. This is not simply an East-West opposition; rather, the opposition is targeted at the confrontation between these non-democratic competitors and the United States.

In fact, at its core, the Western spirit is the spirit of freedom, the spirit of democracy, and the core spirit of capitalism. The Western spirit, as primarily articulated by the United States, usually cannot be separated from these three points. Of course, whether every country values these three points equally varies, but most countries, especially Western ones, believe that freedom and democracy are inherently the core of the Western national spirit and the foundation of human rights. As for capitalism, while some countries have policies that lean relatively more toward socialism, they at least still stand on a pro-capitalist and anti-communist position. Therefore, the spirit of Western civilization that Marco Rubio spoke of this time mainly appeals to these three points. Naturally, if he were to appeal further, he would discuss basic human rights. However, since his target audience basically already has basic human rights, it seems they just haven't stood with the United States in the areas of democracy and freedom, as well as in the opposition between capitalism and communism. Thus, when he re-evaluates this Western construct, he naturally wants to describe this value, which they seem to have forgotten is the core difference between them and China.

The priorities are very simple: just don't lose. That is, the national interest of the United States. In the competition with these major powers, the U.S. cannot lose; it cannot lose this great power competition, whether in terms of military, economy, or even values. When we talk about the opposition between democratic and non-democratic values, we can see that some European countries are gradually showing pro-China or pro-Russia voices. For the United States, this is a practice that harms U.S. national interests. That is to say, he wants to re-assert that today we stand on the same values, the same foundation, the same civilization, or the same political system to compete with the brutal Russia and China. If you do not put this matter before your so-called national economic interests today, then in terms of the overall competition between major powers, we will see the balance gradually shift toward China and Russia.

However, if you allow China and Russia to take the lead, does that mean the core values we respect—such as democracy, freedom, and the so-called Western civilization contest, or even capitalism—will no longer be accepted, or that they will be replaced by China's so-called non-democratic values because of a failure in this competition? Therefore, it aims to echo or appeal to these so-called European nations, as well as those countries that are relatively democratic yet pro-China, urging them to reconsider what kind of values they are truly standing with today.