Taiwan is the 10th-freest country in the world, according to The Human Freedom Index 2018 released yesterday by Canadian think tank the Fraser Institute, while China sits near the bottom at 135th.
Taiwan allows the greatest personal freedom in East Asia, having received the highest score in the category in the region, the institute said in a report.
While Taiwan has moved up from 43rd place in 2008, China has remained near the bottom as the least-free country in East Asia, it said.
“China is by far the least-free nation in East Asia, creating concerns for neighboring jurisdictions as it promotes its model of undemocratic governance internationally,” said Fred McMahon, holder of the institute’s Dr Michael A. Walker research chair in economic freedom and editor of the report.
The index — jointly compiled by the institute, Germany’s Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and the Cato Institute in the US — ranked 162 countries and jurisdictions based on 79 indicators of personal, civil and economic freedoms.
New Zealand tops the index, followed by Switzerland.
Hong Kong, the world’s freest jurisdiction for several years, was ranked third.
From fourth to ninth are Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland and the UK in descending order.
Norway, Finland and Taiwan share 10th place.
Germany at 13th and the US at 17th failed to make it to the top 10.
Other notable countries are South Korea, ranked 27th, and Japan at 31st.
Syria is the least-free country on the index at 162nd.
Freedom has declined around the world over the past decade, the institute said, adding that of the 142 jurisdictions with data since 2008, 81 have declined in freedom, 58 have increased and three were unchanged.
People in freer countries are more prosperous than those in less-free countries, it said.
For example, the average per capita income for the top-quartile countries on the index was US$39,249, compared with US$12,026 for the least-free quartile in 2016, the most recent year with available comparable data, it said.
“The evidence is clear — when people are free, they have much greater opportunity to prosper and they lead happier, healthier lives,” McMahon said.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS