China Miffed By Exclusion From 'Summit For Democracy'

China is working to strengthen ties with countries not invited to the Summit for Democracy that the US will host from December 9 to 10, apparently concerned that the virtual meeting will lead to Taiwan's recognition by the international community, Tsukasa Hadano reported for Nikkei Asia.

Photo Insert: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who has been in touch with other countries that the US does not want at its democracy summit to bolster ties and cement an anti-US alliance, is seen here shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In response to the rebuke, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has been in touch with other countries that the US does not want at its democracy summit to bolster ties and cement an anti-US alliance.

The summit is expected to have representatives from more than 100 countries, including Taiwan.

Commenting on this development, Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) wrote an analysis for Japan Times on Nov. 28, saying “the Summit for Democracy is unlikely to have much of a lasting impact.

To be sure, it is unreasonable to expect a two-day virtual summit to make major inroads into a phenomenon — global democratic regression — 15 years in the making and due to numerous causes, ranging from public dissatisfaction with democratic leaders’ handling of major issues to the growing strength of the most powerful autocratic countries, China and Russia.”

University of Cambridge researchers found that dissatisfaction with democracy as a form of government has reached its highest level in more than two decades.

“A two-day summit is not going to just turn those attitudes around. And in some countries where it once seemed like democracy was making real headway, like Turkey and Russia, the slide toward autocracy has been so great, it is hard to imagine a turnaround anytime in the near future — if at all,” Kurlantzick argued.

He noted that the Biden administration invited more than 100 countries, including many states that do not fit the definition of democracy — Pakistan, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, the Philippines, and others.

“In other words, they do not hold freely and fairly contested elections and do not allow substantial civil liberties. As Steven Feldstein of the Carnegie Endowment notes, more than 30% of the invitees are countries that are either not free or are only partly free, according to rankings by Freedom House in its 2021 Freedom in the World report.”

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