This is a good first step:
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will address a forum on democracy next week that will also be attended by Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung–a combination that is certain to infuriate China.
Their appearance at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, where the European Union will be represented by European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova, will give Tsai a moment in the international spotlight. ...
Pompeo, on his part, will talk about “China and the challenge to free societies”.
A summit is nice. What we need is Pompeo speaking at the opening of a League of Democracies founded by Taiwan and Hong Kong activists:
Long ago I concluded that a League of Democracies as an alternative to the autocrat-ridden United Nations is not the solution to our problems in that body.
But why couldn't Taiwan host a League of Democracies on Taiwan to discuss the mechanics of democracy promotion and democracy practice?
It could be composed of nations, provinces/states, and cities that want to discuss these issues.
As a body discussing the concept of democracy in both state and sub-state actors, it would not run afoul of Chinese red lines about independence. China has offered one state with two systems to Hong Kong--although it really doesn't--and to Taiwan to ease resistance to Peking absorbing Taiwan. How could China oppose democracy as a concept apart from independence when it formally agrees?
Yet it would be a powerful symbol of resistance to Chinese efforts to deny Taiwan democracy.
Taiwan would invite specific qualifying countries, states or provinces, and cities--including Hong Kong--to join the body. Taiwan could invite non-governmental bodies that address democracy and rule of law, including the Carter Center. Perhaps those NGOs could help define a rule of law democracy for membership qualification. Neither China, Iran, nor Chicago, for example, would qualify if the definitions are real.
How would the Chinese people react over time to such a body in their backyard discussing how to create and improve democracy--something China does not have and which Xi Jinping will never grant the people voluntarily?
With the history of protest in Hong Kong since I wrote that, I think the Hong Kong protesters should be part of the founding and not just members. Free societies, and those who aspire to be free societies, should be a challenge to China.
And yeah, that would really infuriate the Chinese Communist Party.
