Editor's note: Radhika Desai, a special commentator for CGTN, is a professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba in Canada. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

When the annals of US and Western imperialism and hegemonism are written, the National Endowment for Democracy will feature as one of their principal instruments. The publication of its Annual Report for 2025 is a good time to consider how it will be remembered.

2025 was a tumultuous year for the NED, leading it to reorder its priorities. It has never neglected China – portraying it as an "authoritarian" country, ensnaring other countries in "debt traps" and bullying its partners, for instance, along the Belt and Road and funding and aiding actors within China, whether allegedly fighting for democracy in Hong Kong or against "genocide" in Xinjiang, or against COVID-19 restrictions at the end of 2022. However, 2026 will see China topping the list of countries targeted for most funding. How should we understand this?

The NED claims it is "an independent, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world." This is wrong in three key ways.

First, it is not "independent," it is not a non-governmental organization. Rather it is what is ironically known as a GONGO, a government-organized non-governmental organization. Its budget comes from the US State Department and is subject to US Congressional approval. It is a creature of the US government.

Secondly, it was established to deal with rising criticism, within the US and abroad, of the covert operations of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which manipulated politics in foreign countries, including through plots against progressive, left-wing political leaders like Lumumba, Allende and Castro and by interfering in elections and political parties, not only in the Third World but also in allegedly "allied" Western Europe. Already in the mid-1960s, President Lyndon Johnson had urged the creation of a "public-private" organization to undertake these activities. With criticism culminating in the Church Committee to investigate the activities of the CIA, FBI and other US agencies against people and political leaders within and outside the US, the NED was launched in late 1983. As its first president Allen Weinstein declared publicly in 1991: "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA."

Even this is only partly true. The NED did not replace the CIA, whose covert operations continue down to the present day. The NED has, therefore, only added a new arm to the US’ destabilising activities around the world, now violating the sovereignty of countries openly, interfering in the public spheres of many societies, undermining their very purpose as arenas of national discussion in the national interest. Finally, not only do the NED's activities involve introducing discourses not committed to the national interest of the country targeted, it also results in undermining the credibility of all public discourses, leaving public spheres almost irredeemably damaged.

The final problem lies with taking the NED's claims to be promoting democracy at face value. In the name of promoting democracy, it promotes neoliberal capitalism. This involves the violation of countries' sovereignty in ways that matter most: The right of each country to organize its economy in its own national interests, based on its resources, its capacities and the needs and desires of its people.

This violation is central to the operation of hegemonism and imperialism: They demand that other countries organize their economies in ways that suit US and big Western corporations, give them access to markets for their excess production, investment and lending opportunities that make exorbitant profits and interest, and primary commodities, low technology manufactures and labour at low prices. Neoliberalism prevents societies from developing, since that would require, first of all, controlling and regulating, if not prohibiting, US and Western corporations and working to improve the prices and wages that its working people receive. And it could even enable successful developers to contest the technological leadership of the imperialist and hegemonistic countries, as China has done so well.

One might think that a US President elected on an "America First" platform might not favor the NED and, indeed, 2025 was a hard year for the GONGO, with Elon Musk ensconced as "head" of the infamous Department of Government Efficiency charged with slashing government spending. The NED was labelled "evil" and had its funding cut. However, as with so much else in the Trump administration, its America First rhetoric has not matched its actions in government, which have reverted to imperialism and hegemonism.

So, the NED was able to regain its funding after going to court, and then busied itself aligning with the Trump administration's priorities. One key outcome was that whereas in 2024, Russia was the top target with $16 million spent on it and with China coming second with nearly $10 million, in 2025, China topped the target list with $13 million spent against it.

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