China left out in favour of Taiwan at Biden's international summit

In a step that marks another challenge towards the powers in Beijing, the United States of Americ ahad excluded China from the list of countries invited to attend President Joe Biden's virtual summit on democracy which will take place in December. Taiwan is present on the list published by the US State Department, which is likely to anger the Chinese government which does not recognise the island state as a sovereign republic.

The United States Navy had announced yesterday that it had sailed a warship through the sensitive strait of Taiwan, which has previously provoked China to respond ith accusations of the USA undermining peace and stability of the region. Although the US has no proper diplomatic recognition of Taiwan it remains one of its biggest allies and arms suppliers and has been training troops on the island since Chinese incursion into Taiwanese airspace in October.

The summit which was announced in August is aimed at galvanising "commitments and initiatives across three principal themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights." India, Iraq, Pakistan, Poland, Israel, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Nigeria and Niger are on the list on invitees.

Notably, the list does not include invitees from MIddle-East regions traditionally affiliated to the US such as its longstanding ally the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar. Hungary, led by hardline nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was not invited. Fellow NATO member Turkey is also not present on the list. Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been excluded.