On June 11, 2025, the East Asia Democracy Forum (EADF) was held at Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo Ikebukuro, Japan. The event was co-hosted by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), the Institute for Global Governance Research (GGR), Hitotsubashi University, and the EADF Steering Committee.

The forum was inaugurated with a welcoming speech by Daniel K.Y. Han, Chairperson of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. In the welcoming remarks, Yi-Yang Lee, Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office; Da-Chi Liao, President of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy; and Maiko Ichihara, Professor at the Institute for Global Governance Research, Hitotsubashi University, also gave brief speeches. Following this, the forum’s first session titled “Significance of Foreign Aid in Strengthening Democracy” began. In this session, two speakers, James Gomez, Regional Director of Asia Centre, and Alissa Wahid, National Director of the Gusdurian Network Indonesia, analyzed the importance of foreign aid in upholding democracy in the region and how the suspension of U.S. government foreign aid has impacted these efforts. The session was moderated by Lynn Lee, Senior Director for East Asia and Strategic Partnerships, National Endowment for Democracy.

The second session began with a speech by Teppei Kasai, Program Officer at Human Rights Watch. He was followed by Toru Kubota, Co-founder of Docu Athan, and Daniel O’Maley, Director for Technology and Democracy from the National Endowment for Democracy, who shared their insights on “Authoritarian Tactics and Democratic Resilience.” They highlighted the implications of suspended U.S. foreign aid and the rising influence of authoritarian powers. This session was moderated by Yeh-Chung Lu, Vice President of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy.

After lunch, the third session titled “Strengthening Civil Society’s Role in Safeguarding Freedom” commenced. In this session, Tsolmon Bayaraa, Executive Director of the Zorig Foundation, and Alric Lee, Co-founder and Executive Director of Lady Liberty Hong Kong, emphasized that recent international developments have proven that strengthening collaboration between democracies and partners is more important than ever. This session was moderated by Gus Miclat, Executive Director of Initiatives for International Dialogue.

The forum featured Q&A sessions after each discussion, where participants raised important questions about funding, human rights, artificial intelligence, and democratic prospects. Speakers also addressed all the inquiries very thoughtfully.