Joe Biden has invited some 110 countries to participate in his virtual summit for democracy in December, including the main Western allies of the United States, but also Iraq, India or Pakistan, according to the list posted on Tuesday 23 November on the US State Department website.
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China, the main rival of the United States, is not invited, unlike Taiwan, which risks angering Beijing. Turkey, Washington's ally within NATO, is not among the participating countries either. In the Middle East, only Israel and Iraq were invited to this online meeting organized by the US president on December 9 and 10. The traditional Arab allies of the Americans, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, are absent.
Joe Biden also invited Brazil, which is led by controversial far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
In Europe, Poland is represented, despite recurring tensions with Brussels over respect for the rule of law, but the Hungary of the very controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orban is not.
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On the African side, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Niger are among the invited countries.
