TAIPEI: Taiwan aims to attend a summit of the leaders of the world’s democracies to be convened by US president Joe Biden as part of his administration’s efforts to defend against authoritarian governments such as China, the island’s foreign ministry said today.

Regine Chen, deputy director general of the ministry’s Department of North American Affairs, told a virtual news briefing that the Taiwan government will continue negotiating with the Biden administration to participate in the summit, scheduled in December.

The White House said yesterday that Biden will bring together leaders from a diverse group of the world’s democracies at the “Summit for Democracy”, followed by a second, in-person summit in roughly a year.

The themes of the summit, to be held virtually from Dec 9, will be defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption and promoting respect for human rights, according to the US government.