Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats

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

Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
Formation15 October 1993; 30 years ago (1993-10-15)
TypeRegional organization
Legal statusActive
PurposeLiberalism
HeadquartersTaipei, Taiwan
Region
Asia
Websitecald.org

History and details

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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 (1933–2009) 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

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CountryNameGovernmentPolitical wing
 CambodiaCambodia National Rescue Movementin exileCentre
 IndonesiaIndonesian Democratic Party of Strugglesenior party in government coalitionCentre-left
 IndonesiaNational Awakening Party[5]junior party in government coalitionCentre-right[6]
 MalaysiaMalaysian People's Movement Partyextraparliamentary oppositionCentre
 MongoliaCivil Will-Green Partyextraparliamentary oppositionCentre
 PhilippinesLiberal Partyin oppositionCentre to centre-left
 SingaporeSingapore Democratic Partyextraparliamentary oppositionCentre to centre-left
 TaiwanDemocratic Progressive Partyin governmentCentre to centre-left
 ThailandDemocrat Partyin oppositionCentre to centre-right

Observer parties

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CountryNameGovernmentPolitical wing
 MyanmarNational League for Democracyunder military juntaCentre[7]
 JapanConstitutional Democratic Party of Japan[8]in oppositionCentre to centre-left

References

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  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.
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