Taiwan maintained its status as a “free” country in the latest edition of the Freedom in the World report released yesterday.
With 94 points, Taiwan ranked second in Asia for freedom, the US advocacy group said.
The report, Freedom in the World 2025: The Uphill Battle to Safeguard Rights, said that global freedom declined for the 19th consecutive year due to “political violence and manipulation of elections, ongoing armed conflicts and deepening repression.”
Screengrab from www.freedomhouse.org
The report assesses political rights and civil liberties around the world, providing numerical ratings and descriptive evaluations for each country and region.
This year’s report covers developments in 208 countries and regions from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 last year.
Last year, “60 countries experienced declines in their political rights and civil liberties, while only 34 registered improvements,” the report said.
The report called for everyone who values democracy to work together to defend it in the coming year.
Election-related violence was a major issue, occurring in 40 percent of the 66 places that held national elections last year, it said.
“Candidates were attacked in at least 20 countries, while polling places were attacked in at least 14,” the report said.
“Taiwan’s vibrant and competitive democratic system has allowed for regular peaceful transfers of power since 2000, and protections for civil liberties are generally robust,” Freedom House said on its Web site. “Ongoing concerns include inadequate safeguards against the exploitation of migrant workers and the Chinese government’s efforts to influence policymaking, media and the democratic infrastructure.”
Taiwan’s score of 94 was the same as last year, with 38 out of 40 points in political rights and 56 out of 60 points in civil liberties.
This classifies Taiwan as a “free” country, ranking second in Asia behind Japan, which scored 96 points.
Freedom declined around the world last year with authoritarians solidifying their grip, but South Asia led a series of bright spots, Freedom House said.
The Washington-based group elevated two countries to the status of “free” — Senegal, where the opposition triumphed after the outgoing president’s attempt to delay elections was defeated, and Bhutan, the Himalayan kingdom, which consolidated a transition to democracy with competitive polls.
Bhutan gained the distinction of being the only South Asian country classified as free, while others in the region such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka made strong gains in the index without changing categories.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
Opposition parties not passing defense funding harms Taiwan’s national security, two US senators said separately in rare public criticism. “I am disappointed to see Taiwan’s opposition parties in parliament [the legislature] slash President [William] Lai’s (賴清德) defense budget so dramatically,” Roger Wicker, a Republican who chairs the US Senate Armed Forces Committee, said on social media. “The original proposal funded urgently needed weapons systems. Taiwan’s parliament should reconsider — especially with rising Chinese threats,” he added. Wicker’s post linked to an article published by Bloomberg that said that the two opposition parties’ move was “potentially jeopardizing the purchases of billions of dollars of
RSS