It remains to be seen whether democracy is on the decline everywhere, as is often claimed.
It is obvious that there are large countries that can afford a few “people's democratic” ornaments, but are otherwise strictly authoritarian or dictatorial.
The order and power-political schism of our time runs between authoritarian and democratic forms of rule.
It was therefore justified that American President Biden invited around a hundred governments to a “summit of democracies”. It was an act of self-assurance and an appeal to stand together as democracies: against threats from outside, against disdain and erosion within. This applies not least to the host country.
Democracy needs defenders, just as human rights need defenders.
Only well-established democracies free from the ulcer of corruption can seriously oppose external challenges.
Yes, realpolitical pragmatism suggests cooperating with regimes whose values and forms of rule have little or nothing to do with Western principles.
But it does not show democratic self-confidence when a successful democracy like the Taiwanese one receives as little esteem as it is.