I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. The US can be a bit too extreme is their demands to adopt US-style system, but the US system isn't perfect by any means. But I do agree that democratic freedoms are important for the sustainable development of a country. Free press in particular. But selling out your internal market to foreign multinationals seems to be a terrible idea.

I've long felt that the EU should have been doing something similar: instead of barriers around the EU market, they should have offered free trade with any developing country, as long as they follow certain basic values like free press, human rights, and at least some degree of democracy. Economic development in exchange for European values. If handled right, I think that could have done a lot of good in the world. Now China seems to beat us to it.