American President Joe Bidenwho promised to restore American hegemony after the presidency of Donald Trump, today opens the second Democracy Summit under his shadow war V Ukraine and concerns about the rise of Chinese power.

This second session, like the first in 2021, will take place mostly online and will last three days. Biden invited 121 world leaders, eight more than last time.

Moreover, to avoid accusations of American egocentrism, he invited the leaders of Zambia, Costa Rica, South Korea and the Netherlands – as representatives of the continents – to become co-hosts of the summit.

Biden is expected to announce a $690 million investment to support “democratic renewal” around the world, a senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

These resources will be used to promote fair and free elections, protect human rights and freedom of speech, and fight corruption, he added. The official even specified that this amount would be added to the $400 million allocated during the first session.

Today, each of the leaders of the five co-hosting venues will hold an online meeting. The US-sponsored meeting is dedicated to “democracies’ response to global challenges” with invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Tomorrow, Thursday, on the second day of the meeting, events will be held in the capitals of each of the co-organizing countries.

The summit will also feature officials and civil society representatives who will speak about the challenges democracy faces around the world, including in the tech sector, as Westerners accuse TikTok of serving Beijing.

Türkiye and Hungary do not participate

While Biden kept his campaign promises to host the summit and renewed U.S. ties with many countries, he has also come under fire for working to bring Washington closer to leaders accused of authoritarian tendencies and questionable credentials.

Last year, the US President visited Saudi Arabia and Egypt to participate in COP27 and also addressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

None of the three countries were invited to the summit, which excluded the nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as well as the leaders of Singapore and Bangladesh.

The State Department declined to specify the criteria by which the invitations were made. “We are not trying to determine which countries are democratic and which are not,” the spokesman said.

This year’s session will feature five African countries that were excluded two years ago: Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Mauritania and Mozambique.

Pakistan declined the invitation, saying it was willing to “work bilaterally” with the countries hosting the summit, according to a spokesman.

South Korea, for its part, has offered to host a third Democracy Summit, without specifying when, according to a US official.

^{Source: APE, AFP, Reuters.}