Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats

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Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
Formation15 October 1993;30 years ago (1993-10-15)
Type Regional organization
Legal statusActive
Purpose Liberalism
Headquarters Taipei, Taiwan
Region
Asia
Website cald.org

The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) is a regional organization of liberal democratic political parties in Asia.

Contents

History and details

The Council was created on 15 October 1993, in a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan. [1] There are nine member parties, an associate member, and one party with observer status. Currently, many democrats in Asia have a relationship with CALD. CALD has also opened its membership to like-minded individuals, and regularly engages with non-member political parties from Japan and South Korea with which it shares the same democratic values. The Democratic Party of Japan is one of the examples.

For the convenience of particular members, they also accept individual members, like the situation in Hong Kong. The Democratic Party of Hong Kong is represented in CALD by Martin Lee and Sin Chung Kai. The third individual member of the CALD was Indonesia's ex-President Abdurrahman Wahid (1940–2009). Aung San Suu Kyi and Corazon Aquino (19332009) are honorary members of CALD.

The CALD has been sanctioned by the People's Republic of China for allegedly promoting Taiwanese independence. [2] [3] The council has called the sanctions unfortunate and said they would not undermine the advocacy work it is engaged in. [4]

Full members

CountryNameGovernmentPolitical wing
Flag of Cambodia.svg  Cambodia Cambodia National Rescue Movement in exileCentre
Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle senior party in government coalitionCentre-left
Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia National Awakening Party [5] junior party in government coalitionCentre-right [6]
Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia Malaysian People's Movement Party extraparliamentary oppositionCentre
Flag of Mongolia.svg  Mongolia Civil Will-Green Party extraparliamentary oppositionCentre
Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines Liberal Party in oppositionCentre to centre-left
Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore Singapore Democratic Party extraparliamentary oppositionCentre to centre-left
Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party in governmentCentre to centre-left
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand Democrat Party in oppositionCentre to centre-right

Observer parties

CountryNameGovernmentPolitical wing
Flag of Myanmar.svg  Myanmar National League for Democracy under military juntaCentre [7]
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan [8] in oppositionCentre to centre-left

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References

  1. "History : CALD | Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats". cald.org.
  2. "MOFA response to April 7 announcement by China's Taiwan Affairs Office to sanction Taiwan's Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan-based Prospect Foundation, and Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats". Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan). 7 April 2023.
  3. "China imposes further sanctions on Taiwan's U.S. representative". CNBC. 6 April 2023.
  4. "Statement of the CALD Chairperson on China's sanctions against CALD and its officials".
  5. "PKB Becomes Full CALD Member : CALD | Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats". cald.org.
  6. "Guide to the 2019 Indonesian elections: A little psephology". Australia-Indonesia Centre. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  7. Derbyshire, ed. (2016). Encyclopedia of World Political Systems. Routledge. p. 108. ISBN   9781317471561.
  8. "List of members". cald.org. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.