THEY LOST THEIR WHITE HOUSE ALLY:

In a recent joint op-ed published in The National Interest, the Russian and Chinese ambassadors to the United States slammed the summit as a product of America's "Cold-War mentality" and warned that it "will stoke up ideological confrontation and a rift in the world, creating new 'dividing lines.'"

The ambassadors, Anatoly Antonov of Russia and Qin Gang of China, decried the notion that the Biden administration is deciding what counts as a democracy, while describing their countries' systems as democratic -- despite the obvious communist one-party domination in China and dictatorial rule of Vladimir Putin in Russia. China, the envoys write, has an "extensive, whole-process socialist democracy," while democracy is the "fundamental principle" of the Russian system.

"There is no need to worry about democracy in Russia and China," the pair write. "Certain foreign governments better think about themselves and what is going on in their homes. Is it freedom when various rallies in their countries are dispersed with rubber bullets and tear gas? It does not look very much like freedom."

The public relations offensive has continued. The Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party media mouthpiece, this month launched a series about the "evils committed in the name of democracy." One representative headline: "GT investigates: US war-mongering under guise of 'democracy' inflicts untold damage on the world."

Taiwan's inclusion in the summit has especially rankled China, which claims the island as its turf. Given repeated U.S. promises to support the island in the face of recent aggressive moves by Beijing, the Biden administration likely determined that excluding Taiwan from the summit would have suggested a weakened resolve.

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