Democracy around the world faces “ongoing and worrying challenges,” U.S. President Joe Biden acknowledged during a virtual “democracy summit” on Thursday.
Biden, who took office in January, when the United States experienced its worst political crisis in decades, said the trend was “largely in the wrong direction” and that “democracy needs fighters more than ever.”
“We are at a turning point,” he said. “Will we allow the uncontrolled decline of rights and democracy?” he asked rhetorically.
The White House said the two-day video summit confirmed the US readiness to take the lead in the existential struggle between democracies and dictatorships.
“Countries in almost every region of the world have experienced some degree of democratic decline,” said Uzra Zeja, the US Undersecretary of State for Civil Security, Democracy and Human Rights.
Biden and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken gave the opening speech at the summit. It is attended by about 100 government officials, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations, businesses, philanthropic organizations and parliaments.
The president called on world leaders to make a concrete commitment to democracy and to commit $ 424 million to support media freedom, fight corruption and promote free elections around the world.
The US Treasury Secretary Janet Yelen spoke at the summit about fighting corruption in the world, acknowledging that the US is currently “the best place to hide and launder money”.
The Biden summit has sparked a lot of discussion about both the elected participants and the stability of US democracy itself, after former US President Donald Trump did not acknowledge the results of the 2020 presidential election.-
Prior to Baiden’s inauguration on January 6, aggressive demonstrators stormed the U.S. Congressional building, which is tantamount to a coup attempt.
China and Russia were not invited to the summit, and Biden has called them leaders of the autocracy.
“No country has the right to judge the world’s broad and diverse political spectrum by just one yardstick,” Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov and China’s ambassador Qin Gan wrote in a joint essay last month.
while countries such as pakistan and the philippines were invited to the summit, the hungarian national conservative government was not invited. Brazil’s right-wing president, Jairo Bolsonaru, was invited, but NATO president Turkey’s Tajip Erdogan was not invited.
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