Concerns about the political independence of prosecutors in Taiwan have “reached new heights,” an annual report issued on Thursday by the US-based human rights watchdog Freedom House said.
In particular, the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, which is tasked with investigating high-profile cases, was singled out for criticism.
The report highlighted the “political crisis” that erupted in September last year, when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) attempted to oust Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) based on accusations by the SID.
Despite the SID’s actions, Taiwan won high marks for democracy.
“Taiwan remained one of the best performers in Asia in 2013, as its civil society gained additional ground in influencing political debate and government policy,” the report titled Freedom in the World 2014 said.
The report also mentioned as examples of democracy the National Communications Commission’s rejection of a media conglomerate’s bid to purchase Taiwan’s second-largest cable TV provider and the collapse of efforts by a mostly China-based conglomerate to buy the Taiwanese assets of Hong Kong’s Next Media Group.
“A growing number of social movements led by students and civil society groups took place in Taiwan in 2013, initiatives that in the past had mostly been organized by political parties,” the report said.
On a scale of 1 to 7 — with 1 being the most free and 7 being the most restrictive — Taiwan was given top marks (1) for political rights and near top marks (2) for civil liberties.
This gave the country an overall “freedom rating” of 1.5 and a status of “free” — which was the same as last year.
China was judged “not free,” with the lowest possible rating of 7 for political rights and 6 for civil liberties.
The report said that over the past five years, the Asia-Pacific region has been the only place to record gains in political rights and civil liberties even though it was home to China, where more than half the world’s “not free” population lived, and North Korea, the “least free” country in the world.
“A number of Asia-Pacific countries have made impressive gains in the institutions of electoral democracy — elections, political parties and pluralism — and in freedom of association,” the report said.
Globally, the “state of freedom” declined for the eighth consecutive year.
Particularly notable were developments in Egypt, which endured across-the-board reversals in its democratic institutions following a military coup, the report said.
“There were also serious setbacks in democratic rights in other large, politically influential countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Venezuela and Indonesia,” it said.
Freedom House claims that its annual report is the “oldest, most authoritative report on democracy and human rights.”
Worldwide, 54 countries showed declines in political rights and civil liberties over the past year, while 40 showed gains.
The number of countries designated as “free” stood at 88, representing 45 percent of the world’s 195 countries, and the number qualifying as “partly free” stood at 59 percent or 25 percent of the world total.
There were 48 “not free” countries.
“This was not a year distinguished by political leaders who showed much inclination toward abandoning bitterness and embracing adversaries,” Freedom House vice president Arch Puddington said.
“To make matters worse, some of those who bear responsibility for serious atrocities and acts of repression were not only spared the world’s opprobrium, but in some cases drew admiring comments for their strong leadership and statesmanship,” Puddington said.
He said that despite official rhetoric about fighting corruption, improving the rule of law and inviting input from society, the new Chinese Communist Party leadership under President Xi Jinping (習近平) had proven even more intolerant of dissent than its predecessors.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat