BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Despite its high-sounding rhetoric or manipulations in various forms, it is increasingly clear that democracy has become a tool of the United States to maintain its hegemony and instigate division.

In 2022, democratic pretensions, dysfunctional politics, and a divided society continued in the United States. Problems such as money politics, identity politics, social rifts, and the gulf between the rich and poor worsened, according to a report titled "The State of Democracy in the United States: 2022."

Even with mounting domestic problems, the United States continued to behave with a sense of superiority, point fingers at others, and usurp the role of a "lecturer of democracy" to serve its own interests, says the report released by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.

But a "lecturer" who trumpets a gravely-ill democratic model worldwide amounts to a "poisoner" rather than a partner.

In fact, American democracy is in name only. For example, freedom of speech in the United States is upheld according to self-centered "U.S. standards." Partisan interest and money politics have become the "two big mountains" that weigh on free speech.

Americans are increasingly disillusioned with their own democracy. Americans' pride in their democracy has dropped sharply, from 90 percent in 2002 to 54 percent in 2022, according to a joint Washington Post-University of Maryland survey.

In order to maintain its hegemony, the United States has long been monopolizing the definition of "democracy" and instigating division and confrontation in the name of democracy. Its hosting of farcical "Summit for Democracy" is a case in point.

Behind the U.S. narrative of democracy is a Cold War mentality, a hegemonic logic, and a preference for camp-based politics. America's so-called democracy has created instability and chaos worldwide, afflicting people in a number of countries.

Democracy is a common value of humanity and must not be used as a tool to advance geopolitical agendas or counter human development and progress.

What the world needs is not hegemony or division. Pseudo-democracy must be jointly rejected and greater democracy promoted in international relations. After all, diversity is a feature of civilizations and political systems alike over the history of humanity.