Taiwan has been ranked Asia’s No. 1 “full democracy,” jumping three places in the 2021 Democracy Index rankings from the previous year, a report released on Thursday by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said.
Globally, Taiwan has climbed to the No. 8 position, from 11th in 2020, scoring 8.99 out of 10, the EIU report showed.
Regionally, Taiwan was ranked ahead of Japan and South Korea.
Photo: Reuters
“Asia and Australasia have five ‘full democracies,’ including three Asian ones (Japan, South Korea and Taiwan), alongside Australia and New Zealand,” the report said.
The EIU bases its findings on five factors: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture.
The factors are used to assess the state of democracy in 167 countries and regions worldwide.
Based on a range of indicators, each country is given an overall score out of a maximum of 10, and is classified as a “full democracy,” “flawed democracy,” “hybrid regime” or “authoritarian regime.”
The developed countries of Western Europe continued to dominate globally last year, with 12 of 21 ranked as “full democracies,” the EIU said.
Taiwan was the only Asian country in the top 10, while Norway topped the global rankings with a score of 9.75, followed by New Zealand (9.37), Finland (9.27), Sweden (9.26), Iceland (9.18), Denmark (9.09) and Ireland (9.0).
Australia and Switzerland were tied in ninth place with a score of 8.9, ahead of the Netherlands (8.88), Canada (8.87), Uruguay (8.85), Luxembourg (8.68) and Germany (8.67), which were ranked 11th to 15th.
The US was ranked 26th and classified as a “flawed democracy.”
The EIU said that the number of “full democracies” fell from 13 in 2020 to 12 last year, with Spain ranked 24th and slipping into the same rank as the US.
In the bottom positions were North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan, placing 165th to 167th.
The report mentioned the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on freedom around the world.
“The pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented withdrawal of civil liberties among developed democracies and authoritarian regimes alike, through the imposition of lockdowns and restrictions on traveling and, increasingly, the introduction of ‘green passes’ requiring proof of vaccination against COVID-19 for participation in public life,” it said.
The EIU’s first Democracy Index report was issued in 2006.
SCANDAL: There are still discussions over whether a ban from being coaches, referees or agents should be imposed on the players, the association said The Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA), Taiwan’s basketball governing body, on Tuesday said that it has handed lifetime bans to 10 players accused of game-fixing and breaches of betting rules. In a statement on Tuesday, the CTBA said it has revoked the registration of nine former players from the semi-professional Super Basketball League’s (SBL) Yulon Lexgen Dinos and one from the Taiwan Beer Leopards of the professional T1 League. The nine former Dinos players are Ko Min-hao (柯旻豪), Chiu Chung-po (邱忠博), Chen Pin-chuan (陳品銓), Huang Hsuan-min (黃鉉閔), Wu Yu-jen (吳祐任), Chou Wei-chen (周暐宸), Yen Wen-tso (顏聞佐), Lee Chi-en (李其恩), and Senegalese center
It took director Chong Keat Aun (張吉安) nearly a decade to complete Snow in Midsummer (五月雪), a deft chronicle of Malaysia’s May 13 incident told through one woman’s search for her brother and father. Although only his second feature, it led the field at yesterday’s Golden Horse Awards with nine nominations. Chong said it had been a struggle to get people to share their memories of the intercommunal violence following the 1969 national election, known among the country’s ethnic Chinese community as “513.” “My father, for example, would shut the conversation down if my mother or grandma even mentioned the topic,” Chong said
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that a surge in respiratory illnesses in China has been caused by at least seven types of pathogens, and small children, elderly people and immunocompromised people should temporarily avoid unnecessary visits to China. The recent outbreak of respiratory illnesses in China is mainly in the north and among children, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Monday. Data released by the Chinese National Health Commission on Sunday showed that among children aged one to four, the main pathogens were influenza viruses and rhinoviruses, while among children aged five to 14, the main pathogens
A new poll of Taiwanese voters found the top opposition candidate for president jumping past the ruling party’s hopeful into the lead position ahead of January’s election — the latest twist in a drama-filled race. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had an approval rating of 31.9 percent versus 29.2 percent for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), ranked third with 23.6 percent, according to the survey conducted