Taiwan was 13th in this year’s global rankings for economic freedom, a fall of two places from last year due mainly to a lower score in investment freedom, according to the US-based Heritage Foundation, which released the index yesterday.
One year after the nation achieved its highest ranking of 11th on the index, which was first compiled in 1995, it fell to 13th in the latest rankings, with declines in property rights and business, labor, monetary and investment freedoms.
Meanwhile, it recorded improvements in government integrity, judicial effectiveness, government spending, tax burden and fiscal health, with its performance in trade freedom and financial freedom unchanged.
A drop of five points in investment freedom and a rise of 7.1 points in fiscal health canceled each other out to give Taiwan an overall economic freedom score of 76.6, which was 0.1 points higher than last year’s score, the think tank said in a report.
Overall, the report found that “a relatively well-developed commercial code and open-market policies that facilitate the flow of goods and capital have enabled small and medium-size enterprises to become the backbone of Taiwan’s expansion.”
The nation ranked fifth among the 43 nations in the Asia-Pacific region, with an overall score that was above the regional average of 61 and the global average of 61.1.
However, the Heritage Foundation recommended that the nation “make more reforms to increase competition and openness” to reduce its reliance on China and increase trade with other Asian nations.
The National Development Council released a statement in response to the ranking, saying that it would continue to monitor the liberalization of Taiwan’s financial sector as the government makes headway with its initiative to eliminate barriers to foreign investment in the nation.
The top six countries and territories in descending order were Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia and Ireland.
The results of this year’s index were based on data from each nation between July 2016 and June last year.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group