White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pushed on Monday to explain the guestlist for President Joe Biden’s upcoming Democracy Summit — the manifestation of a campaign promise to reaffirm classic alliances and return liberal U.S. leadership to the world stage.
The virtual event, taking place Thursday and Friday, is aimed at “renewing democracy in the United States and around the world.”
The Washington Post’s Ashley Parker asked Psaki “why Hungary, which is an EU member, and Turkey, which is a NATO member, are not invited, while other countries like the Philippines and Pakistan, which has an especially egregious record on human rights are included.”
Psaki responded, saying, “Well, the Democracy Summit that will happen later this week is an opportunity to bring together U.S. officials, civil society leaders, and foreign leaders who represent a diverse array of experiences to talk about strengthening democracy, defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption and promoting respect for human rights.”
She added, “inclusion or an invitation is not a stamp of approval on their approach to democracy nor is exclusion a stamp of the opposite of that of disapproval.”
Parker followed up and asked, “There’s a group of about a dozen or so that are a little, to use a non-wonky term, cuspy right?” Again, trying to clarify the process by which invitations to attend were given out.
“Sure, I mean, I would think, say broadly speaking, that this is an opportunity, again, not to celebrate everything we&
“The president feels that you know, democracy is is always a work in progress,” she continued.
Biden’s summit has already stirred controversy with China, another country that is not attending.
Xu Lin, the vice minister of the party’s publicity department, added that “The U.S. calls itself a ‘leader of democracy’ and organizes and manipulates the so-called Summit for Democracy.”
“Their domestic governance is messed up, but they point fingers at and criticize other democracies,” Xu said. “Is this the democracy they advertised?”