Taiwan ranked 14th on last year’s Human Freedom Index, the highest placement among countries in Asia, two places ahead of Japan, 16 ahead of South Korea and 138 in front of China, a report published by the Washington-based Cato Institute and the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute said.
The top 10 countries, in descending order, are Switzerland, New Zealand, Estonia, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, said the report, which was published on Thursday last week.
Canada took the No. 13 spot, followed by Taiwan, with Germany at 18, the UK at 20, the US at 23, Ukraine at 89, Russia at 119 and Syria last at 165.
Photo: CNA
The report found a strong link between freedom and democracy, and said that freedom plays a critical role in people’s well-being.
The index used data from more than 165 jurisdictions in 2020, the most recent year for which there was sufficient information.
The index — a ranking on how free the people of the world are — represents 98.1 percent of the global population and is the most comprehensive freedom index to date.
It is based on 83 indicators in categories including: rule of law; security and safety; movement; religion; association, assembly and civil society; expression and information; relationships; size of government; and legal system and property rights.
On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 representing more freedom, the average human freedom rating dropped to 6.81 in 2020 from 7.03 in 2019, the report said.
“There can be no doubt that the coronavirus [COVID-19] pandemic was calamitous for overall human freedom,” the report said, adding that the crucial question highlighted by the index is whether governments would gradually roll back restraints that were imposed in the name of disease prevention.
Only 13.4 percent of the world’s population are living in jurisdictions ranking in the first quartile of those in the index, while 39.9 percent are living in the bottom quartile, the report said.
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
TRADE MISSION: After Fijian elections in December last year, pro-democratic parties formed a coalition and overruled a name change imposed by the former government The Taipei Trade Office in Fiji has been restored to its former name, the Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the Republic of Fiji, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Fiji on Friday last week issued a note verbale to the office saying that the name change was retroactively effective from March 15, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Wallace Chow (周民淦) told a news conference in Taipei. The mission’s diplomatic privileges have been reinstated as stipulated in Fiji’s Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act, which was enacted in 1971, Chow said. Taiwan set up a trade
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday departed for a 12-day trip to China as scheduled, despite calls for him to cancel the trip after Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan as an apparent result of China’s dollar diplomacy. “This is my first trip to China. I was 37 when I began handling cross-strait affairs in the government. Now I am 73 and have waited 36 years for the visit. It is indeed a bit too long, but I am glad I can go,” Ma of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) told reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. “Aside from paying respects to
‘INDISPENSABLE ROLE’: Despite stopovers in the US, Tsai said the aim of her trip is to ‘demonstrate determination to deepen exchanges’ with the allies of the nation President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday afternoon left Taiwan on a 10-day trip to Central America that includes stopovers in New York and Los Angeles. “Through this visit, I will express my gratitude to diplomatic partners for their support of Taiwan,” Tsai said at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport shortly before boarding the plane. The trip to Guatemala and Belize — her first overseas journey since the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping around the world in early 2020 — aims to “demonstrate Taiwan’s determination to deepen exchanges” with its Central American allies, she said. Tsai said that she and her delegation would also explore the possibility
RSS