President Tsai Ing-wen addressed Third Copenhagen Democracy Summit

President Tsai Ing-wen was invited by the Alliance of Democracies to give a speech at Third Copenhagen Democracy Summit on June 19, 2020.  The summit was organized by the Alliance of Democracies, a non-governmental organization established in 2017 by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who is a former Danish prime minister and NATO secretary-general.  The event also included speeches from US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and former US secretaries of state John Kerry and Madeleine Albright, who spoke by videoconference or through prerecorded videos.    President Tsai said “Those privileged to live in a democracy must never rest until the entire world can share in the birthright that is freedom.  Taiwan stands on the front line of the global community of democracies, and it looks forward to forging closer cooperation with like-minded democracies.“  During her 8 minutes, Tsai also addressed Taiwan’s success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.   She said that Taiwan was fortunate to have been better prepared than most in dealing with the corona virus crisis.   Tsai added “We learned important lessons from the SARS outbreak in 2003 so that we would never be caught off guard again.  With the right measures, it is possible to control the spread of the virus without sacrificing our most important democratic principles.”   Tsai was disappointed that the WHO “put politics before health” when it did not invite Taiwan to share its experience at this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA).   Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated that the United States supports Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA), saying Taiwan's presence will be "useful" to the global community at a time of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Pompeo also said Taiwan has "a great deal of knowledge to handle the coronavirus very very well. They have high end technology, high end pharmaceutical capability, and high end scientists.”