The US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is not planning to change the way it operates, despite Beijing’s sanctions against US non-governmental organizations working in Hong Kong, NED president Carl Gershman told the Taipei Times in an interview in Taipei on Wednesday, adding that it hopes to work more closely with Taiwan to defend democracy.
Gershman on Tuesday received the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in recognition of his contribution to the consolidation of Taiwan-US relations, as well as advancing freedom and democracy around the world.
The NED, along with the US National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the US International Republican Institute, US Human Rights Watch and US Freedom House on Dec. 2 were named by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as “abominable actors” instigating Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters to commit violent crimes and rebel against Beijing.
Photo: Lin Chia-nan, Taipei Times
The ministry said that it would sanction the US groups.
“We’re not gonna change what we do,” Gershman said when asked if the sanctions would influence the organization’s activities. “We’re not the reason that people in Hong Kong are demanding freedom.”
“They’re demanding freedom because China is trying to take it away from them... Obviously, they’re struggling for their own freedom. That’s something between people in Hong Kong and China. That has nothing to do with us,” he said.
“It’s a false issue,” Gershman said. “They’re [the Chinese government] trying to blame somebody for causing this problem,” when it is the Chinese government that is to blame for its attempt to control Hong Kongers.
Beijing does not support freedom and human dignity, as demonstrated by its concentration camps in Xinjiang and its imposition of secular rule over Tibetans, he said, describing what Beijing has done to the minorities as “cultural genocide.”
Asked if the NED has financed protesters in Hong Kong, Gershman said: “No.”
The NED provides three grants in Hong Kong for preparing periodical reviews for the UN on human rights and the rights of migrant workers, and to encourage dialogue between the government and civil society, as listed on its Web site, Gershman said.
“They’re very specific grants and nothing to do with what is going on today,” he said, adding that China’s accusations are “totally false and without any foundation whatsoever.”
The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, signed into law by US President Donald Trump on Nov. 27, is largely a statement manifesting US support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, he said when asked if the US act would be effective in helping to alleviate the territory’s crisis.
Gershman expressed the hope that there could be some temporary settlement of the confrontation in Hong Kong.
Hopefully, the protesters’ immediate objectives, such as ending police violence, could be achieved, he said, while their other goals survive.
China is threatened by Taiwan’s liberal democracy, which has proved to be dynamic, stable and successful at a time when democracy has entered a period of crisis in other parts of the world, he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in 2012 tasked the Chinese Communist Party with writing a secret communique, Document No. 9, which directs party members to intensify the struggle against the core principles of liberal democracy — constitutional government, universal values, civil society and a free media, Gershman said.
Yet, Taiwan’s experience proves that democratic principles are compatible with Confucian culture and are truly universal, and its success is more significant now that China is rising as a dictatorship, rather than a liberal democracy that it had once intended to become in the late 1990s, he said.
Asked about the possible areas of collaboration between the NED and Taiwan that would help defend democracy, he said Taiwan’s democratic transition in the 1980s and 1990s could be referenced by other nations undergoing a similar transition from an authoritarian to pluralistic system, such as Malaysia, Sudan, Tunisia and Armenia.
Taiwan’s experiences of defending against malign foreign interference, such as how it has responded to the biggest number of cross-border cyberattacks in the world, is also inspiring for other nations, he said, adding that during his stay in Taiwan, he has met with government officials and experts to discuss information security, as well as the usage of social media to enable people to participate more in the global systems that unite democracies.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas,” the US military said yesterday, as tensions between China and Taiwan raise concerns in Washington. US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defense identification zone near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). The US military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which
STRATEGIC MISTAKE: Beijing’s deployment of aircraft near Taiwan proves the ‘China threat theory’ that sees it attempting to destabilize the region, an analyst said China on Saturday and yesterday sent a record number of military aircraft into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in what analysts said was an attempt to flex its military might for US President Joe Biden. Thirteen Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ on Saturday and 15 entered yesterday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. On Saturday, eight Xian H-6K bombers, four Shenyang J-16 fighters and a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, entered the ADIZ, while yesterday there were two Y-8s, two Su-30s, four J-16s, six J-10 fighters and a Y-8 reconnaissance
DISPOSING MYTHS: A new constitution would better reflect reality, as the current one was drafted ‘in and for China,’ without the consent of Taiwanese, advocates said Independence advocates yesterday launched the Taiwan New Constitution Alliance to promote drafting a new, localized constitution. “This is a historic moment for Taiwan. Drafting a new constitution is the most important task Taiwanese face,” veteran independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said at the inaugural event in Taipei. “Although the Democratic Progressive Party is in power, its authority is based on the Republic of China [ROC] Constitution, which has no connection to Taiwan,” said the 95-year-old Koo, a former presidential adviser. “The historic task of drafting a new constitution depends on efforts by all Taiwanese,” Koo said. “A constitution for a sovereign, independent Taiwan
RSS