Before receive Alberto Fernández at the White Housethe American president, Joe Bidencalled this to unite against Russia and China, during a summit on the state of democracy in the world in which he promised to inject almost 700 million dollars to stop the global decline of pluralism.
Following criticism that the first Summit for Democracy, in 2021, was too focused on the United States, Biden named leaders of countries from five continents as co-hosts for this edition: Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea and Zambia.
For this mostly virtual summit, the US president invited 121 leaders, eight more than in 2021, including the prime ministers of Israel and India despite accusations of growing authoritarianism weighing on them.
Conceived by Biden as a way to restore the credibility of the US after the presidency of Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021) and the violent invasion of Congress in January 2021, the Summit faces a new challenge due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. and China’s diplomatic offensive.
The instance will work for “hold Russia to account for its unprovoked and unjust war against Ukraine, showing that democracies are strong”Biden said during the opening of the meeting.
“Strengthening transparent and accountable governance based on the consent of the governed is a fundamental imperative of our time,” he added. His South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk Yeolsaid democracy was “under attack.”
Biden proposes to create a fund of 690 million dollars to promote democracy abroad, a US official told reporters before the president’s intervention.
The money will go to finance free elections, promote independent media outlets and strengthen action against corruption, added the official, who asked not to be named, the AFP news agency reported. At the first summit, Biden pledged $424 million.
The US administration will also announce an initiative with about 10 allies to counter the misuse and proliferation of spyware, which the US fears has become a tool of China as its technological influence grows.
Two days ago, Biden restricted the use of commercial spyware by the United States government and Republicans are proposed in Congress to ban TikTok, the video-sharing application subsidiary of the Chinese company ByteDance.
Source: Ambito