Taiwan has maintained its status as one of the world’s freest countries, but its score for civil liberties was downgraded over flaws in protection of the rights of criminal defendants, Freedom House said in a report released on Tuesday.
While Taiwan’s overall rating in the Freedom in the World 2010 report was the same as last year, its score for political rights advanced from grade 2 to grade 1 because of an increased crackdown on corruption.
On the other hand, Taiwan’s score for civil liberties slid from grade 1 to grade 2 because of flaws in the protection of the rights of defendants as evidenced in the handling of corruption cases involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his close aides.
Arch Puddington, director of Freedom House’s research department, said Taiwan generally performed well in promoting political freedom and deserved praise as one of “democracy’s stars” in East Asia.
Flaws in the handling of corruption cases of the former president led to concerns, however, that Taiwan’s rule of law “may be twisted a bit,” he said.
“In Taiwan, increased government efforts to enforce anticorruption laws were marred by flaws in the protection of criminal defendants’ rights, and new legislation restricting the political expression of academics,” the Washington-based human rights watchdog body wrote in the report.
It said the decline in Taiwan’s civil liberties rating was “due to flaws in the protection of criminal defendants’ rights that were exposed during the anticorruption prosecutions and a high-profile murder case, as well as a law that infringes on academic freedom by barring staff and scholars at public educational facilities from participating in certain political activities.”
It also said that the improvement in Taiwan’s score for political rights was “due to enforcement of anticorruption laws that led to the prosecution of former high-ranking officials, the annulment of several legislators’ election owing to vote-buying, and the investigation of over 200 candidates for alleged vote-buying in local elections.”
Freedom House has released a Freedom in the World report annually since 1972. The report evaluates a country’s degree of freedom based on two indicators — political rights and civil liberties — with each measured on a scale of one to seven.
Of the 194 countries surveyed in this year’s report, 89 were listed as “free,” 58 “partly free” and 47 “not free.”
Of 14 other disputed or trust territories, Puerto Rico received the best score for both indicators, while Tibet got the worst score for both.
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
INTERCEPTION: The 30km test ceiling shows that the CSIST is capable of producing missiles that could stop inbound missiles as they re-enter the atmosphere Recent missile tests by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) show that Taiwan’s missiles are capable of intercepting ballistic missiles as they re-enter the atmosphere and pose a significant deterrent to Chinese missile threats, former Hsiung Feng III missile development project chief engineer Chang Cheng (張誠) said yesterday. The military-affiliated institute has been conducting missile tests, believed to be related to Project Chiang Kung (強弓) at Pingtung County’s Jiupeng Military Base, with many tests deviating from past practices of setting restriction zones at “unlimited” and instead clearly stating a 30.48km range, Chang said. “Unlimited” restrictions zones for missile tests is
PUBLIC SAFETY: The nationwide distribution campaign aims to enhance society’s overall understanding of threats and bolster defense awareness, an official said The latest edition of the National Public Safety Guide is being mailed to all citizens starting today to foster public awareness of self-defense in the event of war or natural disasters, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. “The guides will be disseminated to the public to enhance society’s overall understanding of threats and bolster defense awareness, demonstrating the government’s emphasis on people’s safety and its determination to pursue self-defense,” All-out Defense Mobilization Agency Director Shen Wei-chih (沈威志) said at the ministry’s news conference. The nationwide distribution campaign was planned according to President Lai William’s (賴清德) Sept. 20 directive, he said, adding
RSS