The first day of the Democracy Summit: United States

The first day of the Democracy Summit: The United States will set up a coordinator and fund to strengthen the fight against global corruption

WASHINGTON

The online "Summit for Democracy" (Summit for Democracy) convened by US President Biden and attended by the governments of 110 countries, as well as leaders of civil society and the private sector, concluded its first day of agenda on Thursday (December 9). US Secretary of State Blincoln and Secretary of the Treasury Yellen emphasized the need to combat transnational corruption in their speeches. Among them, the US State Department will establish the role of global anti-corruption coordinator, and the US Treasury Department will establish an anti-corruption fund to reward those who can provide relevant information. Corrupt foreign leaders who have hidden clues of stolen money in the United States.

Brinken said in a roundtable discussion on Bolstering Democratic Resilience: “We have seen a significant increase in corruption, extortion, procurement fraud, false invoices, counterfeit products, and misappropriation of funds that should save lives. Democratic countries. We need to stand together against these dangerous trends, because if we don’t, no one will do it.”

Brinken said that the United States will take new steps to combat corruption. He said: "We will establish a new role, the Coordinator on Global Anti-corruption Issues. This senior official will integrate and improve anti-corruption capabilities in all aspects of U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid. And lead us in our efforts to implement the first US anti-corruption strategy announced by the White House just this week.

Brinken also criticized the governments of China and other autocratic countries for their actions to restrict democracy and civil liberties in the name of preventing and controlling the new crown epidemic. He said: "We need democracies to lead, because we have all seen the tactics used by authoritarian governments under the guise of preventing and controlling the new crown epidemic. We have seen how they can implement severe and unnecessary emergency orders to assemble people peacefully. Or put strict restrictions on their freedom of association, and try to postpone or cancel elections, and use this crisis to consolidate their power by any means necessary."

Last year, the Hong Kong SAR government used the new crown virus pandemic as an excuse to postpone the general election of the Hong Kong Legislative Council for one year. Analysis by outsiders generally believes that Beijing's move is actually worried that its candidate will lose the election.

Brinken also warned that the authoritarian government has further restricted civil liberties during the epidemic and conducted extensive monitoring of citizens. He said: "We have seen spyware and other surveillance technologies being abused, and the surveillance of citizens far exceeds the need to combat viruses. We have also seen the rapid spread of false and misinformation."

In another roundtable discussion, U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen said that the U.S. Treasury Department is working hard to combat money laundering and illegal financial activities from overseas, and at the same time strengthen law enforcement against domestic tax evaders. The Ministry lost $600 billion in revenue.

Yellen said that the U.S. Treasury Department must play an important role in global and domestic anti-corruption efforts. She said: "We have also established an anti-corruption fund to reward those who can provide clues about corrupt foreign leaders hiding money in the United States. This work is to drive thieves out of the U.S. market and hunt them abroad. Our work is carried out with our partners from the State Department, the Department of Justice and the United States Agency for International Development."

The Global Democracy Summit lasts for two days. The three main themes of the Global Democracy Summit are strengthening democracy, fighting against autocracy, fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights. U.S. President Biden delivered an opening speech on the first day of the opening.