Biden to Convene Summit to Rally Democracies Against Authoritarianism, Taiwan Wants to Participate

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on Aug. 11, 2021. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. President Joe Biden will convene a “Summit for Democracy” with other world leaders in December, the White House said on Aug. 11, in an effort to shore up faith in democratic governance and defend “against authoritarianism.”

The action is widely seen as a response to the Chinese Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping, who in his speeches has vowed to see that the ruling totalitarian party in China shapes mankind’s common future by promoting “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Taiwan, an independent self-ruled liberal democratic island that the Chinese regime wants to claim as part of its territory, expressed its wish to participate in Biden’s democracy summit after the White House’s announcement.

‘Summit for Democracy’

The White House announced Biden’s plans to bolster support for democracy on Wednesday.

The first summit will be a virtual meeting to take place on Dec. 9 and 10, and “will galvanize commitments and initiatives across three principal themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights.”

The White House said it will plan for a second in-person summit a year later to review each country’s progress toward these commitments.

“Both Summits will bring together heads of state, civil society, philanthropy, and the private sector,” the White House said, according to a news release.

The summit is the latest action that the Biden administration has taken to address what the president has called the “challenge of our time”—a need to demonstrate that “democracies can deliver by improving the lives of their own people and by addressing the greatest problems facing the wider world.”

Since taking office, Biden has repeatedly warned of a “race for the 21st century between democracies and autocracies,” particularly in the wake of the disruption caused by the CCP virus pandemic.

The White House said it hopes the summit will allow participating nations to “speak honestly about the challenges facing democracy so as to collectively strengthen the foundation for democratic renewal.”

It didn’t mention which countries will be invited to participate in the summit.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, European Council President Charles Michel, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel pose for a group photo at the G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Britain, on June 11, 2021. Patrick Semansky/Pool/Reuters

CCP’s Ambitions

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), under the guidance of the party’s founding ideological principles of Marxism-Leninism and Maoism, have frequently proclaimed in recent months that China has been advancing ahead of other countries in controlling COVID-19 outbreaks and its economic recovery. Xi even vowed that the CCP, under his leadership, will be what shapes mankind’s common future and again expressed his dedication to the communist goal of dominating the world.

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On July 6, Xi told political party leaders in over 100 developing countries who have bought into the CCP’s totalitarian vision: “The CCP insists on making the Chinese people and the people of all countries to have the same destiny … [The CCP] is progressing the development and prosperity of all countries [in the world].”

Xi said his confidence in the CCP stems from what he sees as its success in controlling the pandemic.

The CCP virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, was first transmitted to humans in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province in late 2019. CCP officials didn’t acknowledge the deadly outbreak until five million people had fled the ground zero city, which saw the virus spread to every country around the world. The regime also purchased tons of medical materials from overseas in late January 2020 before those countries knew about the pandemic to fight the outbreak in China.

Since then, the CCP has launched the world’s harshest lockdown measures, in one city after another, to curb the virus without concern for Chinese people’s lives. It has also underreported the true scale of China’s ongoing outbreak, while claiming several so-called achievements, such as economic recovery, which have been revealed as untrue.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping attends a welcoming ceremony for Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos outside the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China, on May 14, 2019. Jason Lee/Reuters

On Jan. 11, Xi told China’s higher ranking officials that the pandemic had brought chaos to the global community and that this should be used to help the CCP reach its goal of dominating the world. CCP leaders were then directed to used “vaccine diplomacy” in the hopes of securing greater political influence with world leaders as their people called for assistance in their battle against the CCP virus.

“I think Biden wants to deliver clear information to the world by convening this summit for democracy. First is telling the world that the democratic system can curb the outbreak as well as take care of humanity at the same time, which is better than the CCP’s cruel policies,” Tang Jingyuan, a U.S.-based China affairs commentator, told The Epoch Times on Aug. 11.

“The second is telling the world that the United States has the capacity to team up with the free world against totalitarianism and authoritarianism,” Tang added. “In fact, this is an ideological confrontation between the free world and communism, in my eyes. One party is the countries led by the United States. The other side is the Chinese regime.”