Since January 2020, JCIE has been involved in an initiative convening key Indo-Pacific thought leaders on democracy from Australia, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States for a series of discussions on how to advance democratic principles and governance, and human rights in the region. JCIE has supported the participation of Ambassador Yukio Takasu, former UN Undersecretary-General for Management; former Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, who served as the Chair of JCIE’s Democracy for the Future Study Group, to join these meetings.

These leaders convened for the first time at a retreat organized by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands in January 2020. This initial  launched a project, also known as the “Sunnylands Initiative,” to help advance a vision for cooperation on strengthening democratic governance in the Indo-Pacific region.

JCIE co-hosted the 2nd retreat of the Sunnylands partners in Odawara, Japan in August 2022, which provided opportunities to engage Japanese policymakers and experts on this Initiative.

More information on the Sunnylands meetings below: