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Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) acts as the US government’s “white gloves.”
It has long engaged in subverting state power in other countries, meddling in other countries’ internal affairs, inciting division and confrontation, misleading public opinion, and conducting ideological infiltration, all under the pretext of promoting democracy.
Its innumerable evil deeds have caused grave harm and drawn strong condemnation from the international community.
In recent years, NED has kept changing tactics and gone even further in acting against the historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation.
It has become more notorious for its infiltration, subversion and sabotage attempts against other countries.
It is imperative to unmask NED and alert all countries to the need to see through its true colours, guard against and fight back its disruption and sabotage attempts, safeguard their national sovereignty, security and development interests, and uphold world peace and development and international fairness and justice.
NED claims to be an NGO that provides support for democracy abroad. In fact, it acts as the US government’s “white gloves” in carrying out subversion, infiltration and sabotage across the world.
1. NED is the implementer of CIA covert operations. In the early days of the Cold War, CIA supported opposition activities in socialist countries in Eastern Europe via “private voluntary organisations” to advance “peaceful evolution.” After such activities were exposed in the mid to late 1960s, the US government began contemplating cooperation with civil society organisations to conduct similar activities. Hence the idea of setting up an organisation of this kind. As William Blum, an American scholar, wrote, “The idea was that the NED would do somewhat overtly what the CIA had been doing covertly for decades, and thus, hopefully, eliminate the stigma associated with CIA covert activities”.
2. NED was established under the auspices of the US government. In 1981, after he came into office, President Ronald Reagan intended to promote his “Project Democracy” abroad, and proposed a government-funded and privately-run foundation to openly support “democratic movements abroad.” One of the purposes of NED, created in 1983, is to encourage the establishment and growth of democratic development in a manner consistent both with the broad concerns of US national interests and with the specific requirements of the democratic groups in other countries which are aided by programmes funded by NED.
3. NED is funded by US government. On November 22, 1983, the US Congress passed the NED Act which reiterated the purposes of NED and clarified such issues as congressional appropriations, financial audit by the government, and the requirement to report to the Congress and the President. In 1983, the year when NED was established, the Congress provided US$18 million to NED. Over the past 40-plus years, the volume of congressional appropriations has kept increasing in general.
According to data from USspending.gov, NED received an appropriation of US$315 million in FY2023. As a report of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace revealed, “Almost all the NED’s funds come from the US Congress.
4. NED programmes are run under the guidance of the US State Department and embassies abroad. As required by the enabling legislation for NED, it should consult with the State Department on its programme plans to seek foreign policy guidance. According to a USAID report “Democracy Promotion Programmes Funded by the US Government,” NED consults on an ongoing basis with the State Department, through the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, with USIA and with US embassies abroad on programmatic matters.
5. NED reports to the US government on its work and accepts audit and oversight by the government. According to the NED Act, NED shall submit to the President an annual report for the preceding fiscal year no later than December 31 of each year. The report should include NED’s operations, activities and accomplishments. Audit of NED is conducted annually by the US Government General Accounting Office. A report of each audit shall be made to the Congress, and a copy of each report shall be furnished to the President.
6. The US government has access to information on all NED-funded programmes. According to the NED Act, NED or any of its duly authorised representatives shall have access to any books, documents, papers, and records of the recipient pertinent to assistance provided through NED. The US Comptroller General or any of his duly authorised representatives shall also have access thereto.
7. NED’s mandate is endorsed by the US government. Philip Agee, a former CIA officer, said on a 1995 TV show, “Nowadays, instead of having just the CIA going around behind the scenes and trying to manipulate the process secretly by inserting money here and instructions there and so forth, they have now a sidekick, which is this National Endowment for Democracy, NED.”
In a report entitled “The National Endowment for Democracy: A Prudent Investment in the Future,” Kim Holmes, former Assistant Secretary of State, argues that “Funding the NED is a prudent investment because it is far less expensive to aid friendly democrats than it is to defend against hostile dictatorships.”
Instigating colour revolutions to subvert state power in other countries
1. Attempting to overthrow the Iranian government. In September 2022, protests against hijab rules broke out in Iran. Masih Alinejad, a reporter for the Voice of America Persian Service, released batches of unverified information and pictures to incite public sentiments. According to Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese news channel, between 2015 and 2022, Masih Alinejad received US$628 000 in funding from NED and some other American institutions. Iran Daily cited a document from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as saying that NED used its ties with Masih Alinejad to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs during the hijab protests. In the meantime, NED also supported the Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) and the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) in their fabrication of fake news, and supported dissidents in working with anti-government organisations and media outlets to stage smear campaigns.
NED regularly published commentaries on its Journal of Democracy to call for a regime change in Iran through human rights movement. NED is dubbed by Iranian media as a “National Enemy for Democracy” and “the NED Trojan” disrupting order and inciting unrest in Iran.
2. Using various tactics to infiltrate Arab countries. Since the start of the Arab Spring, NED has made extensive use of social media platforms and funded NGOs for releasing multimedia content and providing online training, in a bid to instigate colour revolutions. NED has also run a talent reserve programme for democratic transition in the region, funded NGOs to help “supporters of democracy,” “human rights activists” and “dissidents” in exile, encouraged local trade unions to strengthen capacity building, and supported scholars and activists in plotting “constitutional reforms” in various countries.
3. Playing a part in Ukraine’s “colour revolution.” During the 2004 Orange Revolution, NED provided US$65 million to the Ukrainian opposition. Between 2007 and 2015, NED allocated more than US$30 million to support Ukrainian NGOs and promote “civic participation.” During the 2013-2014 Euromaidan, NED financed the Mass Media Institute to spread inflammatory information. NED also spent tens of millions of dollars in the use of such social media platforms as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram to spread disinformation, heighten ethnic tensions in Ukraine, and stir up ethnic antagonism in eastern Ukraine.
4. Attempting to overthrow the DPRK government. In July 2002, NED President Carl Gershman told the media that NED was working with the Congress to carry out activities through a number of NGOs and sway public opinion regarding the DPRK, with a view to undermining the DPRK system. In July 2021, Gershman told the media that thanks to NED-funded human rights programs, “The totalitarian system [in the DPRK] is beginning to erode, and eventually this will bring about the system’s unravelling.”
?. Colluding with all sorts of elements to meddle in other countries’ internal affairs
1. Cultivating pro-US forces in target countries
?According to its 2021 Annual Report, NED supported pro-US media outlets, cultivated “democracy activists,” and financed groups for “democracy and freedom” in Arab countries.
?In May 2021, NED President Carl Gershman said that despite being prohibited from Russia, NED funded the operation of a large number of organisations in Russia and supported Russian opposition figures in exile in their struggle against the Russian government at important political junctures, such as the State Duma, presidential and local elections.
?NED has long been infiltrating Europe and co-opting EU officials. It has been encouraging voice for transatlanticism within EU institutions while suppressing voice for strategic autonomy, and financing “independent media” in Europe to tilt public opinion in favour of the US.
? Taking Mexico as a major target country for infiltration, NED has supported organisations like the Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI) and the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), and obstructed the electricity reform in Mexico. In 2021, the Mexican government sent a note to the US government condemning NED’s funding of anti-government organisations in Mexico as “an act of interventionism” “promoting a coup.”
? Since 2017, NED has funded 54 anti-Cuba organisations. In 2018, the Cuban Democratic Directorate, an anti-government organisation, said that it had received “democracy funds” from the US and paid US$48 000 to its employees, agents and contractors in Cuba.
?Over the years, NED has been funding scholars and journalists to promote “democratisation reforms” in Iran and carry out cultural infiltration against Iran.
2. Misrepresenting the human rights situation in other countries
?The NED-sponsored Journal of Democracy habitually holds developing countries to the standard of American-style democracy and criticises their presidential elections, economic policies, human rights situations, and democratic transitions.
?In July 2023, the Journal of Democracy published five articles on Indian democracy under the theme of “Is India Still a Democracy,” claiming that since Prime Minister Narendra Modi rose to power, his government has engaged in what is, by some accounts, a wholesale dismantling of democratic institutions, norms, and practices. In April 2024, the Journal of Democracy published an article “Why This Election Is India’s Most Important,” claiming that democratic governance in India has been steadily eroding since Modi’s second term began and that the future of India as a plural, secular democracy could be on the line if Prime Minister Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party win a third consecutive term.
?Having classified members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as “dictatorships,” NED has continued to export its values to those countries through academic, cultural and media activities. According to the NED website and other sources, NED launched 11 programmes in the GCC countries in 2021 with an investment of US$1.8 million, to support “democracy activists,” slam the human rights record of those countries, and stoke social tensions in the name of promoting freedom of the press.
3. Manipulating and interfering in other countries’ elections
? In April 2022 and December 2023, Serbia held its presidential, national assembly and local elections. NED interfered in the entire election process, and went all out to root for pro-US opposition candidates in the run-up to the elections. In May 2023, after two consecutive shooting incidents in Serbia, NED-sponsored human rights groups and pro-US opposition organisations staged mass demonstrations to demand the resignation of the Serbian government.
?NED has long been financing the Philippines’ Rappler news website. According to a report on the NED website, between 2017 and 2021, Rappler received a total of US$786 000 in funding from NED. During the 2022 general election, Rappler lobbied the Philippines’ Commission on Elections for access to internal information including election trends and campaign spending of candidates, which raised questions from various quarters about the fairness and independence of the election. The authorised access was eventually revoked under intense public pressure.
?NED has long funded anti-Iran organisations such as the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI) to sabotage elections. This has been admitted in an article by American social activist Kenneth R. Timmerman, the executive director of FDI.
?In January 2023, Damon Wilson, President of NED, publicly expressed concerns about democracy and fairness of the Nigerian general election during his interview with a Nigerian TV programme.
?. Inciting division and confrontation to undermine the stability of other countries
Kenneth Wollak, chairman of the NED board of directors, once told the US Congress NED’s long-term efforts to empower the opponents of US enemies and their abilities to change foreign governments.
(To be continued tomorrow)
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