China Belatedly Calls Out John Bolton’s Coup-Planning Admission

China has belatedly reacted to the coup-plotting admission of former White House national security adviser and longtime neocon foreign policy architect John Bolton. In a live interview last week with CNN’s “The Lead”, Bolton casually admitted to having planned “coups d’etat” in the past while being questioned about Trump’s role on Jan.6. “As somebody who has helped plan coups d’etat—not here but, you know, [in] other places—it takes a lot of work,” Bolton had boasted.

During a Monday press briefing, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Wenbin was scathing in his critique of the interview, saying that “overthrowing foreign governments is deep in the bones of how the US conducts its foreign policy.”

Jake Tapper: “One doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup.”

John Bolton: “I disagree with that. As somebody who has helped plan coup d’etat, not here, but other places, it takes a lot of work.” pic.twitter.com/REyqh3KtHi

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) July 12, 2022

“Bolton’s admission is so revealing,” he continued. “Leading US politicians trumpet the so-called ‘rules-based international order’ for one purpose: to ensure that the US can easily interfere in other countries’ affairs and overthrow their governments at its own will.”

“This is exactly the kind of ‘rules’ and ‘order’ that people like Bolton want absolutely to defend. The people of the world, however, will not let them,” Wang added.

China and Russia have long held up the disastrous US invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan in particular as evidence that Washington is addicted to regime change, and further that it hypocritically denounces other countries while employing moralistic language, despite its well-known human rights abuses killings of civilians in regions like the Middle East.

Continuing this theme of Beijing’s, Wang said in his Monday comments, “The US’ acts of regime change remain unchecked even after the end of the Cold War. For years, the US has created political unrest in Latin America, played a part in the Arab Spring, and instigated color revolutions in Europe and Asia.”

Some of the earliest and fiercest reaction in the wake of Bolton’s CNN interview came out of Latin America. For example, former Bolivian president and socialist leader Evo Morales denounced Bolton, saying, “It is proof that the US is the worst enemy of democracy and life.” Additionally, Maduro’s Venezuela held a formal vote in parliament condemning Bolton’s remarks as “an extraordinary feat of brazenness” – also calling him “crazy”.

Washington relations with China have soured further over the Russian war in Ukraine, given calls for Beijing to unreservedly denounce the invasion have been met with silence. China has further gone so far as to urge to West to take seriously Moscow’s security demands related to NATO expansion.