In 1971, Alexander George, a professor at Stanford University, first put forward the concept of "coercive diplomacy," which was used to summarize the policies of the United States on Laos, Cuba and Vietnam. In his view, coercive diplomacy concerns the use of threat or limited force to coerce an adversary to stop or reverse its action.

In the past half century, the U.S. has never stopped engaging in coercive diplomacy in spite of great changes in the international structure. From economic sanctions to technical blockades, and from political isolation to threat of force, the U.S. has demonstrated what coercive diplomacy is to the world with its actions, a report published on China's Xinhua News Agency said on Thursday.

The report titled "America's coercive diplomacy and its harm" has three main parts. Based on abundant facts and data, it disclosed the "notorious record" and numerous means of U.S. coercive diplomacy and the serious damages to the world.

The report said that the U.S. is used to accusing other countries of using great power status to force other countries to obey and engage in coercive diplomacy, but in fact, the U.S. is the actual instigator of coercive diplomacy, with a disgraceful "dark history" that has caused immense suffering for the world, particularly developing countries, which have borne the brunt of its actions. Even allies and partners of the U.S. have not been spared from it, the report said.

The report cited numerous examples of U.S. coercive diplomacy, including successive sanctions on developing countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Belarus, Sudan, Russia and China, forcing Japan to sign the "Plaza Accord" in 1985, which caused the appreciation of the yen and led to the rapid expansion of Japan's domestic economic bubble, dismembering Alstom, a giant rail transit equipment manufacturer, by means of "economic hostages," and imposing tariffs on products from several countries and regions, including the EU.

The means of U.S. coercive diplomacy are various, the report said, listing out the the hegemony of U.S. dollar, trade control, "long-arm jurisdiction", the excuse of the so-called democracy and human rights, powerful military support, and the covert means of its soft powers of culture, science and technology, which aims to promote American values around the world.

U.S. coercive diplomacy has endangered world peace and development, the report said. It has disrupted the process of economic globalization and regional economic integration, hindered the development of emerging economies and developing countries represented by the BRICS countries, and intensified division and antagonism in the international community, according to the report.

The report was published one day ahead of The Group of Seven (G7) Summit. Experts say under the U.S. dominance, one important theme of the summit is to stick the label of coercive diplomacy on China, so China releasing the report could help the international community to better see through the hegemonic and bullying nature of U.S. coercive diplomacy and the serious damages caused by U.S. actions to the development of all countries, regional stability and world peace.

Click the following link to see the full text of the report.

America's Coercive Diplomacy and Its Harm