The US State Department has invited 110 countries to the upcoming summit on democracy hosted by US President Joe Biden. China, the United States' principal rival, is not invited, while Taiwan is -- a move that risks angering Beijing. Turkey, which like America is a member of NATO, is also missing from the list of participants.
China has reacted sharply after Biden administration invited Taiwan to its "Summit for Democracy" next month and snubbed Beijing by not inviting it for the virtual summit. Chinese foreign ministry said that it 'firmly opposes' to Taiwan joining Biden democracy summit. In a strong message to U.S, Beijing said that 'setting a stage for Taiwan separatists will only make you stuck in an embarrassing situation'. It went on to say that 'by playing with fire with Taiwan separatists, you will only burn your own fingers'.
In the South Asian region Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka have been excluded. Traditional US allies from the Middle East like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have not been invited. Only Israel and Iraq will be invited from the region.
Biden invited Brazil even though its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro has been criticized as having an authoritarian bent and was a firm supporter of Donald Trump.
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The online gathering is an event Joe Biden vowed to host while a candidate for president last year, with the goal of rallying like-minded countries around efforts to fight corruption and authoritarianism and advance human rights.
The theme of the summit is to galvanize commitments and initiatives across three principal themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights.