China accuses US group National Endowment for Democracy of ‘ideological infiltration’
In the report published by China’s foreign ministry on Friday, Washington was accused of “subverting state power in other countries” and “conducting ideological infiltration” through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) – claims that have been echoed by countries in Latin America and the Middle East.
The NED is funded by the United States Congress with the stated aim of supporting “democratic struggles everywhere”. It funds overseas groups, unions and institutions. In 1997, founding chairman of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, Martin Lee Chu-ming received the Democracy Award, the group’s top honour.
“The NED has long been colluding with those who attempt to destabilise Hong Kong by providing funds and public support,” the report said, naming organisations including Hong Kong Watch and Amnesty International, as well as “anti-China lawmakers” in the US, UK and Germany.
The NED makes more than 2,000 grants each year to groups in more than 100 countries “working for democratic goals”, according to the group’s website.
Michael Pillsbury, a former US Department of Defence official, said in 2014 that Washington had “funded millions of dollars of programmes” targeting Hong Kong through the NED.
“Every country has the right to pursue a development path suited to its national realities and the needs of its people,” the foreign ministry’s report said, while calling for “greater democracy in international relations”.
Beijing has long denounced the organisation. In 2022, the foreign ministry issued a “fact sheet” accusing Washington of weaponising democracy through the NED, which it said had been “meddling in Hong Kong’s elections and interfering in China’s internal affairs”.
The latest report also accused the NED of working with Taipei’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party “to mobilise ‘democratic forces’ to open up the ‘front line of democratic struggle in the East’ and hype up the false narrative of ‘Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow’.”
NED’s average annual funding for the World Uygur Congress ranges from US$5 million to US$6 million, according to the report.
An article published in the NED’s Journal of Democracy this month urged civil society organisations to push back on what it called Beijing’s “deliberate, ongoing antidemocratic strategy” to “undermine core democratic values and practices”.
It suggested groups should partner with “Chinese dissidents and other foreign China experts” to spread knowledge of Communist Party “methods and tactics”.
“The sprawling, full-spectrum influence and engagement campaign that the Chinese Communist party-state is waging around the world requires an equally comprehensive response from civil societies, governments, and economic actors that back democracy,” the article said.