In the absence of evidence and real arguments, Georgian Dream has no other weapon, except to conduct a dirty campaign through direct attacks, threats and trolls. This is how the NGO “Civil Idea” responds to the accusations made by Georgian Dream against its founder, Tinatin Khidasheli, regarding the financing from Taiwan.

“We are not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, therefore we do not express a position on the recognition or non-recognition of any state. Neither Civil Idea nor Tinatin Khidasheli has ever made a statement about the recognition of Taiwan’s independence, and you will never hear such a statement. We are no longer in the Ministry of Defense, and therefore, the fact that Tinatin Khidasheli had access to secret documents 8 years ago is impossible today, after 8 years, to have anything to do with our activities.

We are also engaged in educational activities and can educate interested MPs on the difference between “One China Policy” and “One China Principle”, the positions and recognitions of Georgia’s Western partners. Yes, Civic Idea has partnerships with organizations in Taiwan. This information is completely open and public on our website. Also, on our page, you will read that the partner of the international conference, which we hosted in Tbilisi in October 2023 and which was attended by leading experts from more than 30 countries, was the Taiwan Democracy Foundation, the NATO Contact Embassy in Georgia, the Embassy of Great Britain, the Embassy of Poland, the Visegrad Foundation, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation of Germany together with the Foundation and NED. Their financing amounted to USD 5 000. Also, on our page there is information about our visits to Taiwan and the panel discussions we held there.

And finally, also on our page, you would have seen that we are participating in a very large international project together with another of our Taiwanese partners, where Civic Idea, taking into account the reputation and professionalism of its experts, in 13 different countries of the world, research and analysis of the activities carried out by China has passed. “Taiwan will fund you” is a mistake, because unlike the governments of Holland, Norway, Great Britain and the USA, where Civic Idea has had funding for embassies, therefore directly from these countries, for years, we have never had funding from the Taiwanese state. We really had and we hope that our cooperation with our partners from Taiwan will continue in the future as well, which are private, independent organizations and therefore, in case of approval of the initiatives presented by us, they will also allocate funding”, - reads the statement.