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The Biden administration has invited Taiwan to its”Summit for Democracy” coming month, according to a list of actors published on November 23, a move probably to rankle China, which views the democratically governed islet as its home.
The first-of-its- kind gathering is a test of President Joe Biden’s assertion, blazoned in his first foreign policy address in office in February, that he’d return the United States to global leadership to face down authoritarian forces led by China and Russia.
There are 110 actors on the State Department’s assignation list for the virtual event on December 9 and 10, which aims to help stop popular backsliding and the corrosion of rights and freedoms worldwide. The list doesn’t include China or Russia.
The invite for Taiwan comes as China has stepped up pressure on countries to downgrade or ramify relations with the islet, which is considered by Beijing to have no right to the trappings of a state.
Tone- ruling Taiwan says Beijing has no right to speak for it.
Sharp differences over Taiwan persisted during a virtual meeting before this month between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
While Biden reiterated long- standingU.S. support for the”One China” policy under which it officially recognizes Beijing rather than Taipei, he also said he” explosively opposes unilateral sweats to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,”the White House said.
Mr. Xi said that those in Taiwan who seek independence, and their sympathizers in the United States, were” playing with fire,” according to state news agency Xinhua.
Rights groups question if Biden’s Summit for Democracy can push t
hose world leaders who are invited, some indicted of harboring authoritarian tendencies, to take meaningful action.
The State Department list shows the event will bring together mature republic similar as France and Sweden but also countries similar as the Philippines, India and Poland, where activists say republic is under trouble
.
In Asia, someU.S. abettors similar as Japan and South Korea were invited, while others like Thailand and Vietnam were not. Other notable absentees wereU.S. abettors Egypt and NATO member Turkey. Representation from the Middle East will be slim, with Israel and Iraq being the only two countries invited.
