US President Joe Biden will be hosting a virtual democracy summit on December 9 and 10. Leaders from about 110 countries, including Taiwan, have been invited to the event. However, the list, posted on the State Department website, does not include China or Russia.

The summit, as per State Department’s press release, will bring together leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector to set forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies today through collective action.

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On receiving the invitation for the event, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, as per Reuters, said,” Our country’s invitation to participate in the ‘Summit for Democracy’ is an affirmation of Taiwan’s efforts to promote the values of democracy and human rights over the years.” 

It added that the government would be represented by Digital Minister Audrey Tang and Hsiao Bi-khim. 

However, China opposed Taiwan’s invitation. Beijing described the summit as a tool the US is using to advance its geopolitical objectives.

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“US actions only go to show democracy is just a cover and a tool for it to advance its geopolitical objectives, oppress other countries, divide the world and serve its own interests,” ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing, according to Reuters. 

The summit will focus on ‘challenges and opportunities facing democracies and will provide a platform for leaders to announce both individual and collective commitments, reforms, and initiatives to defend democracy and human rights at home and abroad’, the State Department said. 

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Japan, India, Pakistan and South Korea are amongst the countries invited while the likes of Thailand and Vietnam were not.

The democracy summit, first of its kind, will encourage leaders to announce ‘specific actions and commitments to meaningful internal reforms and international initiatives that advance the Summit’s goals’.