On August 9, 2024, the Foreign Ministry of the People’s Republic of China (FMPRC) has released a report titled “The National Endowment for Democracy: What It Is and What It Does?” The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is referred to in the report’s opening sentence as the “White Gloves” of the US government.
There are more than six sections in the study, three of which (III, IV, and VII) are more detailed and pertinent in relation to the PRC. In Section III, “Colluding with all sorts of elements to meddle in other countries’ internal affairs,” the NED’s role in 1) fostering pro-US forces in target countries, 2) distorting the state of human rights in other countries, and, most importantly, 3) manipulating and interfering in other countries’ elections—all of which have helped the US extend its influence across the globe—is thoroughly examined.
Fascinatingly, Section VII of the study, which is titled “NED exposed and criticised by the US and the international community,” describes how Americans—such as US Congressmen and the American media—exposed NED’s true nature, and how the international community uncovered and denounced NED’s wrongdoings.
For instance, the paper notes that the NED’s overt and covert actions have drawn criticism from think tanks, academia, and media in nations including Brazil, France, Hungary, and Russia in addition to other countries.
The Report charges the NED in Section IV (“Inciting division and confrontation to undermine the stability of other countries”) with conspiring with Uyghurs and Tibetans, whom the Chinese government views as anti-state, anti-national, and anti-China, in addition to having a questionable role in the recent state of affairs in Taiwan and Hong Kong. For example, the study lists the leaders of three Uyghur diaspora organizations as long-term beneficiaries of the NED.
According to the Report, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), an organization representing the Uyghur diaspora based in Munich, has received “an average annual funding ranging from 5 to 6 million USD” from the NED.
Additionally, the article stated that, to the dismay of the Chinese authorities, the NED had asked a leader of the WUC to speak at an event it had organized earlier this year. It is important to note that Dolkun Isa, the former president of the WUC, was invited by the NED to speak on March 14, 2024, at an event sponsored by the NED and titled “Countering the Chinese Communist Party’s Genocide on the Uyghurs.” Isa is the author and speaker of the 2023 autobiography The China Freedom Trap: My Life on the Run.
The NED “has awarded $ 8,758,300 to Uyghur groups since 2004, serving as the only institutional funder for Uyghur advocacy and human rights organizations,” according to an earlier version of a publication published on the NED website on May 29, 2020, titled “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act Builds on Work of NED Grantees.” It follows that since its founding in 2004, the WUC has been eligible to receive NED funding. Furthermore, the publication notes that the WUC was the beneficiary of the 2019 Democracy Award from NED.
In addition, the FMPRC Report charged that the NED had given financial support to one Hidayet Oguzhan, the president of the East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association, a Uyghur diaspora organization with its headquarters located in Istanbul, Turkey, in addition to assisting Hidayet in his efforts to “sow discord between China and Turkey and ramp up anti-China rallies.” Likewise, the Report said that Ms. Rushan Abbas, the leader of an American Uyghur organization, was financially supported by the NED and that Rushan’s regular trips to Turkey to collaborate with Uyghurs were also paid by the NED. It is noteworthy to note that Rushan is expected to be the WUC’s next president; an election will take place at the end of October of this year, 2024. Rushan has a solid relationship with the NED leadership.
Neither Rushan Abbas nor the WUC have responded as of yet. Hidayat, however, described these accusations as “entirely baseless and part of a defamation campaign aimed at tarnishing our honorable struggle,” according to his social media posts. “Any financial assistance from any state, political power, or foreign organization” was something he emphatically denied having received. Hidayet accused China of seeking to “distort facts to undermine the legitimacy of East Turkistan” in addition to denouncing the PRC government for using such “manipulative tactics to malign those who defend their rights and to spread misinformation to the global public.”
The startling thing is that this report makes a few references to India in sections III and VII. According to the Report, the effectiveness of Indian democracy has been questioned in the last two years by the Journal of Democracy, which is published under the NED’s auspices. As an illustration, the Journal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration of “dismantling democratic institutions, norms, and practices” in an article titled “Is India Still a Democracy?” that was published in July 2023.
“Democratic governance in India has been steadily eroding since Modi’s second term began and that the future of India as a plural, secular democracy could be on the line if Prime Minister Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party win a third consecutive term,” read an article titled “Why This Election Is India’s Most Important” that was published in the same journal nine months later, in April 2024. It is imperative to note that the study also stated that the NED was placed under watch list by the Indian government in 2016 as a result of its donations to NGOs that were made in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
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The NED was established in 1983 as a key component of US President Ronald Reagan’s “Project Democracy,” which aimed to publicly support “democratic movements abroad.” Since then, it has led efforts to operate under various US administrations as a possible barrier against nations that either already challenge or plan to challenge American dominance. It has never benefited foreign democratic movements or democracy overseas. Rather, the US has targeted, even browbeat, those nations that do not continue to be under its control by using the NED and its good offices. America virtually ever upholds the fundamental principles of democracy; instead, it merely preaches democracy to further its own agenda or to harbor resentment toward any nation it finds objectionable.
It is imperative that nation-states worldwide, particularly democratic ones like India, speak out against the NED’s activities and those of its founder and sponsor, the United States, since the report issues a clear call to action to “unmask NED and alert all countries to the need to see through its true colours, guard against and fight back its disruption and sabotage attempts, safeguard their national sovereignty, security, and development interests, and uphold world peace and development and international fairness and justice.”
