《TAIPEI TIMES》 Tsai to hold talks with Zelenskiy, Bush

VIRTUAL EVENT: Volodymyr Zelenskiy and George W. Bush would discuss the fight for freedom, and Tsai Ing-wen would comment on it afterward, the organizers said

By William Hetherington / Staff writer, with CNA

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President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） is to discuss the fight for freedom and democracy with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and former US president George W. Bush during a video conference on Wednesday, the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas announced yesterday.

It would be the second meeting between Tsai and Zelenskiy, after a meeting at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit in June.

“President Bush, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will participate in the #StruggleForFreedom conference hosted by the Bush Institute, @freedomhouse & @NEDemocracy on Nov. 16.,” the center wrote on Twitter.

The meeting at 11pm is organized by the center’s George W. Bush Institute, Freedom House and the National Endowment for Democracy.

Bush and Zelenskiy would discuss the topic, while Tsai would comment on it afterward, the center said.

The meeting would be followed by a discussion on the fight for freedom and resistance to authoritarianism with former US officials and academics, it said.

The discussion would also touch on the role of emerging technologies in the fight for freedom and ways for the US to support human rights and democracy movements, the center said.

“Around the world, dictators are growing bolder in their attacks on human rights, while democracies are back on their heels,” the event’s Web site cited Freedom House president Michael Abramowitz as saying.

“Today, free societies face complex challenges posed by the digital revolution, potent forms of internationalized corruption and authoritarian regimes bent on altering the global rules of the road to their liking,” it cited National Endowment for Democracy president Damon Wilson as saying.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the possibility of a Chinese attack on democratic Taiwan have made the challenges to global democracy particularly acute, the center said.

In June, Tsai and Zelenskiy discussed the role of Taiwan and Ukraine in the fight for freedom via videoconference at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit.

Tsai at the time said that Taiwan would not succumb to pressure, and that it was determined to defend its sovereignty and democratic way of life.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES