The Coalition urges all who believe in freedom to stand with Taiwan: ”A threat to one democracy is a threat to all democracies. We have to press every democracy to make an unambiguous statement to defend Taiwan,” state the authors including Russian chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov, Member of the European Parliament Alexander Vondra, Former Georgian Minister of Defence Tinatin Khidasheli, Executive Director of Forum 2000 Foundation Jakub Klepal and the Director of Václav Havel Library, Michael Žantovský, Wall Street Journal columnist William Galston, President of the National Endowment for Democracy Carl Gershman, Chinese democratic opposition activist Jianli Yang, Stanford University lecturer Larry Diamond, Joao Espada of Catholic University of Portugal, and others.
Through decades of hard work, Taiwan became a beacon of democracy in Asia, and democracy and democratic values have become part of the identity of the Taiwanese people. At the same time, Taiwan is facing escalating pressure and aggressiveness from Beijing and the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping is not excluding the possibility of military invasion. The future of Taiwan should be decided by the 23 million citizens of Taiwan, not the authoritarian régime across the Taiwan Strait. Supporters of democracy must stand resolute and united against any group or government that seeks to infringe on the freedom and democracy of the Taiwanese people. The cause of democracy is global, not national. The people of Taiwan have embraced democracy, and they deserve the support and solidarity of democratic governments and freedom-loving people everywhere.
The International Coalition for Democratic Renewal (ICDR) is a global initiative of a group of intellectuals, activists, and politicians, concerned with the expansion of power and influence of authoritarian regimes and the simultaneous weakening of democratic systems from within. The ICDR aims to reaffirm the fundamental principles of democracy, expose authoritarianism, and to demonstrate solidarity with the brave people who are fighting for freedoms in undemocratic systems around the world.
Find the full joint statement here.
For inquiries please contact Ms. Dominika Vondráčková at dominika.vondrackova@forum2000.cz.
