US Prez Biden invites 110 nations & Taiwan to virtual summit on democracy; China snubbed

US President Joe Biden has invited 110 nations, including Taiwan to the much-touted world’s first upcoming global "Summit for Democracy" scheduled to be held between December 9-10, but has excluded China, a list of participants published on Tuesday by the US Department of State revealed. Biden’s summit, aimed at making democracies more responsive and resilient, and to build a broader community of partners committed to global democratic renewal, has several countries as invitees, mainly US’ western allies. It also includes India, Pakistan, and Iraq as well as Brazil despite that the far right president, Jair Bolsonaro has been a staunch supporter of former US President Donlad Trump.  

US' Arab allies, Russia, Turkey, China excluded from list

United states’ traditional Arab allies -- Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, were also not invited, according to the list. The US also excluded Turkey, a NATO member as recently the geopolitical spat between the two nations escalated over US President Joe Biden's declaration of Armenian massacre in the Ottoman Empire as ‘genocide.’ Ankara’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan indulged in heated rhetoric with the US calling the move "simply outrageous", as he threatened retaliation.   

In a step that is likely to aggravate tensions with Beijing, Washington invited the self ruled Taiwan island country to the summit that the US leader announced far back in the month of August. The "Summit for Democracy" will "galvanise commitments and initiatives across three principal themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights,” the White House said in a statement. 

Taiwan was invited to join several nations, including US western ally UK and Japan and other like-minded countries that will discuss efforts to fight corruption and authoritarianism and advance human rights. According to the US Department of State, Biden’s democracy summit, which does not include China, will strengthen accountable governance across the globe, expand economic opportunities, protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.

“We also will show how open, rights-respecting societies can work together to effectively tackle the great challenges of our time, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, and growing inequality,” the US Department of State said.  

The controversial decision on part of the US comes just days after China threatened Lithuania of disregarded Beijing's strong objection and repeated dissuasion and approving the establishment of the so-called “Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania”. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian at a presser warned the Western world of undisclosed retaliatory measures for opening the De facto embassy in Vilnius.