Taiwan moved up six places in this year’s World Press Freedom Index, released yesterday by Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), but don't start cheering just yet.
The Paris-based watchdog organization said that the jump “does not reflect real improvements, but rather a global worsening of the situation in the rest of the world.”
According to the report, the number of countries with a “good” or “fairly good” state of the media has fallen by 2.3 percent, with press freedom deteriorating in nearly two-thirds of the 180 countries on the index.
At 45th place, Taiwan still boasts the most liberal press in Asia, with South Korea and Mongolia trailing in 63rd and 69th place respectively.
The ranking is one of the major factors that compelled RSF to open their first Asia bureau headquarters in Taipei earlier this month.
The organization chose Taipei over Hong Kong, which while 54th in 2012, has plummeted to a new low of 73rd, under the shadow of China — which consistently ranks within the bottom 10. Taiwan has remained relatively stable, hovering between 45th and 51st place since 2010. It now trails the US by two places.
The index describes Taiwan’s situation as “media freedom on hold,” stating that “the main threat to media freedom comes from China, which has been exerting growing economic and political pressure on the Taiwanese media.”
Local government officials are also directly interfering in the editorial policies of state-owned media, it said.
“Even in democracies like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, media freedom shall never be taken for granted, as political and financial powers will always try to interfere if they get a chance,” RSF Asia Bureau director Cedric Alviani said. “Self-censorship is another problem … a lot of journalists cannot freely write what they want because they might get in trouble.”
Alviani said that China’s efforts to pressure businesses to censor media content can also affect Taiwan.
Recently, Apple TV blocked the satirical China Uncensored show not only in China, but also in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Produced in New York, the show is highly critical of Beijing and can still be viewed in Taiwan on YouTube.
“This is a big concern for us,” he said. “It is a very bad precedent that might lead to other things. It looks small, but it is not. There is a risk for Hong Kong, and Taiwan in a lesser measure, to be dragged down by Chinese intervention.”
Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said Taiwan’s improved rating in the index this year serves as proof that the nation’s years-long pursuit of progressive values of democracy, freedom and human rights has earned international recognition.
“Press freedom is a significant indicator when evaluating a nation’s level of freedom. Taiwan will continue to adhere to these values, consolidate democracy and dedicate itself to maintaining the stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region,” Lin said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
This story has been corrected since it was first published.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
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 —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS