BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which takes direction from the U.S. government, has long operated as a "second CIA," using non-governmental organizations as channels for the subversion and infiltration of, as well as political intervention in, other countries to serve U.S. strategic interests.
Under the guise of "democracy," it sows seeds of unrest around the world and orchestrates countless tragedies, leading to economic decline, weakened public welfare, and intensified social confrontation in several countries.
INSTIGATING COLOR REVOLUTIONS
After World War II, the United States launched covert operations against the Soviet Union through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other intelligence agencies. By the 1960s, U.S. policymakers concluded that secret efforts alone were insufficient to sustain political influence abroad. This led to the creation of a more open "public-private mechanism" for funding political activities overseas.
In 1983, under the administration of the U.S. president at the time, the NED was established as a bipartisan, non-profit organization.
Although nominally being a non-governmental organization (NGO), the NED depends heavily on funding from the U.S. government and is widely regarded as aligned with official foreign policy objectives. In 1991, NED co-founder Allen Weinstein admitted in an interview with The Washington Post that many of its activities resembled those previously carried out by the CIA.
The organization has been closely associated with political upheavals in multiple regions. A 1989 Washington Post report titled "How We Helped Solidarity Win" pointed out that the NED provided financial support to the Polish Solidarity, which played a role in the fall of the then-Polish government and drastic changes in Eastern Europe.
In 2003, the "Rose Revolution" broke out in Georgia, forcing then-President Eduard Shevardnadze to step down. From selecting the opposition party leader, to training opposition personnel, to providing massive funding, the NED was fully involved in the planning and execution of the Rose Revolution throughout the entire process.
Since 2010, the "Arab Spring" swept across parts of the Middle East. Acting as a hidden hand behind the scenes, the NED provided funding to pro-U.S. groups in countries including Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, Syria and Libya under the pretext of supporting women's rights, press freedom, and human rights activism. Far from bringing a "spring" to the Arab world, the Arab Spring instead plunged the region into the quagmire of war, social unrest and economic recession, completely crushing the people's aspirations for freedom and social justice.
FUNDING SEPARATISM
Another major global criticism of the NED centers on its funding and cultivation of local anti-government forces and separatist groups to stoke internal divisions within targeted countries.
China has long been a primary focus of the NED's infiltration and subversive activities. Each year, the NED allocates substantial funding to anti-China programs, with the aim of fomenting separatist sentiment in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Xizang.
According to data released on its website in 2020, the NED provided over 10 million U.S. dollars in grants for 69 China-related programs within a single year, which supported activities aimed at undermining China's political and social stability.
It is the main source of funding for various "Xinjiang independence" and "Xizang independence" groups. It claims to have provided grants of about 8.76 million dollars to various "Uygur organizations" between 2004 and 2020. Its Xizang-related programs focus on strengthening the local separatist forces and hyping up the Xizang issue internationally. In 2019, the NED provided 600,000 dollars for Xizang-related programs.
Since 2003, the NED has been linked to the organization, planning, direction, and funding of multiple large-scale street movements in Hong Kong, including the illegal "Occupy Central" movement and violent demonstrations related to proposed legislative amendments. In 2019, it invested approximately 640,000 dollars in Hong Kong-related projects, primarily aimed at amplifying human rights narratives to discredit China.
DISINFORMATION AND INFILTRATION
In pursuit of its objective of containing the development of target countries and subverting their governments, the NED engages in systematic defamation and smearing campaigns, functioning as a producer and disseminator of falsehoods and disinformation.
The lies and rumors circulated by the organization are often packaged in the form of media investigations and academic reports, with the intent of concealing their biased nature behind a facade of so-called objectivity and impartiality.
Extremely absurd claims such as "genocide" in Xinjiang are examples of narratives manufactured and spread by NED-funded entities, including the so-called "World Uygur Congress" and "Human Rights Watch."
To advance ideological infiltration, the NED has established a range of so-called "democracy awards," aimed at encouraging dissidents in other countries to support the U.S. agenda of "exporting" democracy.
Since 1991, the NED has presented its Democracy Award annually to political activists and dissidents in countries including Russia, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Myanmar, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and Ukraine, recognizing what it describes as contributions to "defending human rights and democracy."
The NED has also been using "academic activities" as a cover for interference and infiltration. For example, it has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding to think tanks such as the European Values Center for Security Policy and the Global Security Center. These organizations have hosted seminars and policy forums encouraging the European Union to follow the U.S. "small yard, high fence" strategy. ■
