The world’s democracies are facing “the greatest challenges” since the Cold War as the likes of Russia and China continue working to erode democratic institutions, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Tuesday at an international democracy event in Taipei, while calling for a better understanding of authoritarian regimes to counter their influence.
Democracies that value the rule-based international order are facing “the greatest challenges since the Cold War,” Tsai said at the Global Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy (WMD), referring to the geopolitical competition between the United States and the Soviet Union from the end of World War II to the early 1990s.
The 11th WMD global assembly is being held from Oct. 25-27 in Taipei, where more than 300 activists, politicians, and donors from 70 countries have been brought together to discuss ways to counter authoritarian challenges and foster democratic momentum, the WMD said.
According to Tsai, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February has shown the world that authoritarian regimes will do whatever it takes to achieve their expansionist ambitions.
In recent years, Tsai said, China has engaged in military intimidation, cyberattacks, influence operations, and economic coercion against Taiwan with the aim of instilling fear, creating doubt and obliterating people’s confidence in the democratic system.
The challenge posed by authoritarian regimes is an important wake-up call for democrats worldwide, Tsai said, adding that democratic partners must work together to “strengthen our resilience and safeguard our values.”
She also called for a better understanding of authoritarian tactics in order to come up with strategies to “counter the influence exerted by authoritarian regimes.”
Meanwhile, Hong Kong activist Nathan Law (羅冠聰) underlined the importance of giving support to pro-democracy activists as well as “the exile community” as part of efforts to combat the rise of authoritarianism.
These people who have been fighting for democracy on the ground or forced to leave their own country following their involvement in democratic movements are “the main source of rebellion” in the face of authoritarian regimes, said Law, who is currently based in the U.K.
Once one of the student leaders in the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, Law left the former British colony in June 2020 for fear of being targeted by the National Security Law, which has led to the prosecution of several pro-democracy activists, politicians and media workers since its implementation in 2020.
At the same time, Law expressed concern over the lack of enthusiasm among young people about what he called the “traditional political system.” While young people have been politically active in social movements seeking to fight climate change and poverty, many of them have regarded electoral politics as a mechanism that serves the rich and powerful instead of a means for change in society, Law said.
“They don’t believe in the system that they are in is capable of changing all those problems … They don’t believe that their vote counts,” Law said.
He called for ways to encourage and invigorate young people in the democratic world to participate in politics and believe in the political system in their country.
Meanwhile, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa focused her speech on the impact of fake news and disinformation on elections in democratic societies worldwide.
Ressa, co-founder of the Philippines online news outlet Rappler and chairwoman of the WMD’s steering committee, said fake news and disinformation were being spread six times faster than facts on social media platforms.
“If we have no integrity of facts, then we have no integrity of elections,” Ressa said, pointing to facts, the truth and trust as key to maintaining the democratic system and preventing elections from being manipulated.
She warned that if the problem of fake news and disinformation could not be addressed through drastic reforms in the next two years, “there will be more illiberal leaders elected democratically, tipping the balance of power globally, from democracy to fascism.”
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel