Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2005 Worldwide Press Freedom Index, which was made public yesterday, showed that Taiwan has made further progress in terms of press freedom over the past 12 months.
"We can and will do better next year, I am sure," said Pasuya Yao (姚文智), minister of the Government Information Office (GIO).
According to the index, Taiwan occupies the 51st spot among a total of 167 countries while China was ranked 159th.
Last year, Taiwan was ranked in 60th place.
In response to the rankings, Yao said that if the statute of the national communications committee (NCC) is authorized and the politics are withdrawn from it, Taiwan would probably occupy an even better position in the future.
"I have always insisted that the NCC should be a neutral organization and the GIO should be disbanded. If we can make it happen, I am sure that Taiwanese journalists would enjoy even more freedom," Yao said.
Earlier this August, the Paris-based watchdog had condemned the GIO's controversial decision to suspend the licenses of ETTV-S' news stations and six other entertainment-based cable stations and its placing of all other cable news stations under a three-month probationary period.
At the time, the group joined forces with the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists to express concern over the government's defense of press freedom.
Yesterday's index is the result of a 50-question survey, which was completed by the organization's 130 members in different countries. These include reporters, lawyers, researchers and human-rights activists.
Among the 167 countries, North Korea was again at the bottom of the list, while Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland share top spot.
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