Echopedia

Asia Democracy Foundation (民主亞洲基金會)

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Asia Democracy Foundation (民主亞洲基金會)

Identity Snapshot

  • English: Asia Democracy Foundation
  • Chinese: 民主亞洲基金會
  • Era: Contemporary
  • Geography: Taiwanese American community
  • Core roles: Community organization (TAH directory)

The Asia Democracy Foundation is dedicated to promoting democratization in Asia, with a particular focus on China. Operating through modern internet and email platforms, the foundation publishes the online journal ‘Democracy Forum’ and the electronic newsletter ‘Democracy Newsletter.’ It has built a global network of individuals concerned with Chinese democratization and human rights issues, with readers and contributors reaching deep into mainland China. The foundation serves as a bridge for the exchange of experiences between the Taiwanese democratic movement and democratic movements in mainland China.

Role in the Community

  • Founded in 1998 in New York by the Taiwanese-American independence veteran 洪哲勝 (Hung Cheh-sheng), former vice-chairman of the Formosan Union Government (台獨聯盟) US headquarters, after Taiwan’s democratic transition turned his attention to Chinese democratization.

  • Published the electronic newsletter 《民主通訊》Democracy Newsletter and created the 《民主論壇》Democracy Forum website; funded mainland Chinese dissidents through royalties and built a network of readers and contributors reaching deep into China. Held that if China democratized, Taiwan’s democracy and security would be more secure.

  • 洪哲勝 led the foundation as chairman until his death of lymphoma complications in New York on 2020-12-18, aged 81; the online farewell was attended by over a hundred overseas figures, with eulogies from 駐紐約辦事處長李光章 and remarks from 王丹 and 陳破空 honoring the foundation’s work with the overseas Chinese democracy movement.

  • Community records: TAH directory entry 33. Asia Democracy Foundation 民主亞洲基金會(美國紐約); obituary coverage in the Taiwan Justice Journal archive — 民主亞洲基金會會長洪哲勝辭世，獨盟辦追思會 (2020-12-26) and 旅美民主人士洪哲勝辭世 僑界踴躍追思 (2021-01-02).

  • Founder’s pre-foundation record in the corpus: 洪哲勝 was社發 of the New York 《台灣公論報》 alongside 發行人羅福全 ([[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/ourjourneys49|Our Journeys #49]]), toured as a pro-democracy speaker in the early 同鄉會 era (e.g. North Carolina living-room talks, [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/our-journeys-381|TAH #381]]), and during the Chen Wen-chen case his wife typed the pseudonym-published memorial book ([[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/ourjourneys8-eng|Our Journeys #8 (EN) — 陳文成紀念基金會成立經過]]).

  • The founder’s papers survive as a catalogued holding: 103. Collection of the Dr. Cary S. Hung 洪哲勝博士的收藏 (private-collection record, catalogued 2020-12-24).

  • Late-period activism in the archive: 洪哲勝 urging Taiwanese green elders not to attack President Tsai, Newtalk interview (TJJ 2017-09-14). His 2020 death drew community memoirs: 2020 and 2020.

  • Note: the 1979-era “Taiwan Democracy Newsletter” (台灣民主通訊) published by 郭譽信 cited in 321. 由陳文成紀念基金會的創立談起 is a different, earlier publication — not this foundation’s 《民主通訊》.

  • Corpus re-scan 2026-09-24 (slice 09230500-3): fresh grep of works/articles for 民主亞洲基金會/Asia Democracy Foundation returns only the already-linked directory record asiademo and the two absorbed TJJ obituary articles — no new corpus material; verified saturated.

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