The public forum of the Forum for Democratic Cooperation (FDC), titled “The Future of Democratic Strength: Trust, Resilience, and Cooperation,” will take place on 27 May 2026, from 09:00 to 11:30 (Taipei Time), at the Sheraton Grand Taipei Hotel.
The event will open with remarks by Jakub Klepal, Executive Director of the Forum 2000 Foundation, and H.E. Lin Chia-lung, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan.
The first panel, “Making Democracy Stronger: Resilience, Public Trust, and Leadership in a Tougher World,” will be moderated by Ketty Chen, Senior Advisor at Thinking Taiwan, and will feature Mantas Adomėnas, Secretary General of the Community of Democracies, Lithuania; Fei-fan Lin, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Security Council, Republic of China (Taiwan); and Carl Gershman, Founding President of the National Endowment for Democracy, USA.
The second panel, “Beyond Great-Power Politics: What Can Middle and Smaller Democracies Actually Do?” will be moderated by Tingting Liu, News Anchor and Senior Foreign Affairs and Defence Reporter at TVBS News, and will feature Paulson Panapa, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Labour and Trade of Tuvalu; Szu-chien Hsu, Vice Minister of National Defense, Republic of China (Taiwan); Delia Albert, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines from 2003 to 2004; and Tomáš Petříček, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechia from 2018 to 2021.
The discussions will focus on how democracies can strengthen resilience, rebuild public trust, and cooperate more effectively in a changing geopolitical environment, with particular attention to the role of middle and smaller democracies beyond great-power rivalry.
