By Umamah Bakharia

US to host democracy summit

On December 9-10, 2021, President Biden will host the first of two Summits for Democracy, which will bring together leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector to set forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies today through collective action.

South Africa will be present along with other African countries.

“Biden has created a league of democracies,” says Naidoo referring to the countries invited.

Taiwan is invited based on that it is a democratic society and the relationship

The Biden administration included Taiwan among the 110 invitees to its upcoming democracy summit.

This move is intended to show solidarity with a key regional partner but risks angering China.

Including Taiwan may be the most controversial decision the administration has made about the summit, because only a handful of nations — the U.S. not among them — recognize it as sovereign.

“This is accepting that Taiwan is a separate entity from Beijing but the US does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state,” says Naidoo.

Tennis star, Peng Shuai on harassment allegations

Former tennis star accused a former vice premier in the communist party of sexual abuse.

Peng Shuai, believed to have been missing for nearly three weeks, has held a video call with the president of the International Olympic Committee confirming her safety.

In the 30-minute call, she told Thomas Bach that she was safe and well.

“Nobody is recognizing that the way in which women are treated particularly of these kind of issues of vulnerability and acts of violence against women,” says Naidoo.

30 years of China’s ties with ASEAN

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend and chair the special summit to commemorate the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations to review the ties and map out further development.

The two sides have forged the largest trading partnership, the most substantial cooperation partnership and the most dynamic strategic partnership since they established the dialogue relationship in 1991.

“It is politically very significant because Asean is a very interesting strategic economic block in the East Asia context,” says Naidoo.