President Tsai Ing-wen said Sept. 20 that securing Taiwan’s democracy is imperative to ensuring freedom and human rights for the collective future.
According to Tsai, democracies and the rules-based world order are facing the greatest challenges since the Cold War. In addition to mitigating the impact of the pandemic on global health and economy, the free world also needs to combat authoritarian regimes’ attempts to corrode democratic institutions and tarnish human rights and civic space.
Tsai made the remarks during a video address for the 2022 Concordia Annual Summit from the Presidential Office in Taipei City.
Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the daily threats Taiwan faces from China are all evidence of authoritarian expansionism, Tsai said, adding that being educated on their playbook will lead to an understanding of what those regimes seek to extinguish.
What such states do best is to divide and conquer and it is only through strengthening partnerships and defending one another that expansionism can be thwarted, Tsai said, citing recent statements from the Group of Seven industrialized nations, ASEAN and representatives of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to the UN as examples of the type of partnerships to formulate.
Tsai took the opportunity to thank the organizers for bringing together national leaders, officials from international organizations such as the U.N. and civil society, with representatives from industry, academia, and politics to discuss vital topics such as democracy, geopolitical risk, global trade, manufacturing, and supply chains, as well as human rights and social progress.
Founded in 2011, Concordia is a New York-based, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to actively fostering, elevating, and sustaining cross-sector partnerships for social impact. It aims to create a global community where challenges are solved collaboratively and inclusively. (DL-E)
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