The epicenter of the future of freedom is here in Taiwan and in Ukraine. That was the word from National Endowment for Democracy (NED) President Damon Wilson during an interview with Radio Taiwan International.
The NED and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy hosted this week’s 11th Global Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy. Over 300 activists, journalists and policymakers gathered in Taipei for the forum from October 25 to October 27.
Wilson says the greatest threat to democracy is coming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Beijing’s coercion of Taiwan and its own people. He says this decade is defining new challenges for democracies and that democracy is under attack. Authoritarian governments are oppressing their own people and exporting tools and technologies of oppression around the world.
He also says Xi Jinping’s authoritarian grip on power contains many risks as last week’s 20th Party Congress revealed that Xi has surrounded himself with loyalists. As they lead in a vacuum, Wilson says authoritarian leaders are more susceptible to mistakes and miscalculations. He says this is clearly the case in Russian President Vladmir Putin’s sudden invasion of Ukraine.
The NED is a private nonprofit organization funded by the US government that provides grants to groups strengthening democracy around the world.