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.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
HSINCHU CASES: Five people among 35 who were reported being sick were still in hospital after eating at a vendor in a market in Jhubei, the local health agency said Thirty-five people have sought medical treatment for acute symptoms after allegedly eating banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from a vendor in Jhubei City (竹北), the Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said that since Saturday, it has received several reports of suspected food poisoning from hospitals. The vendor has been ordered to temporarily suspend its business, it said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine whether the people had food poisoning, with results expected in about two weeks. A preliminary investigation showed that the people who sought treatment had recently eaten banh mi at a vendor at a retail market
GOOD MODEL: Speaking at his book launch, Law said that Taiwan is the most democratic Chinese-speaking country, which is why Hong Kongers relocated here China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday. Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行:羅冠聰的香港備忘錄). Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021. “Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also
IMITATING OTHERS? Tsai Ing-wen’s office said the former president rents a commercial unit for her personal office and had never used election funds to purchase real estate Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday confirmed that he used about NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May. Ko made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) earlier in the day told a news conference that she received a tip-off that the TPP chairman had purchased a 48.76 ping (161.2m2) office unit at Jinan Building (濟南大樓), a commercial building in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正). Lin said that Ko purchased the unit on May 10, paying about NT$43 million in cash,