TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan kept its ranking as the second freest country in Asia and seventh in the world in Freedom House’s latest report on global freedom.
In its annual Freedom in the World report released on Thursday (Feb. 29), Taiwan repeated last year's score of 94 out of 100, making it the second-freest country in Asia trailing only Japan, which maintained its score of 96. Taiwan is tied for seventh freest in the world with the Czech Republic, Chile, Barbados, and Iceland.
In Freedom House's country evaluation of Taiwan, the nation again scored 38 out of 40 for political rights and 56 out of 60 for civil liberties and is classified as a "free" country.
Finland was ranked first, Sweden and New Zealand tied for second, and Norway came in third. On the other end of the spectrum, China ranked as the ninth least free country with a score of 9, while Yemen scored a 10. China came in 83rd overall, with a minus 2 score for political rights, 11 for civil liberties, and a "not free" classification.
In terms of internet freedom, Taiwan scored 78 out of 100, putting it in sixth behind fifth-placed U.K. and fourth-placed Costa Rica. Canada came in third, Estonia was second, and Iceland took the top spot with a score of 94.
Freedom House rated Taiwan's protection of civil liberties as "generally robust." However, it noted that challenges include insufficient guardrails against the exploitation of migrant workers and Beijing's campaign to "influence policymaking, media, and the democratic infrastructure."
The organization pointed out that the explosion of the #MeToo movement in May led to a "social reckoning with sexual violence and gender inequality," resulting in the passage of amendments to three gender equality laws in late July. However, it also noted that the soaring cost of housing continues to be a key public policy issue and "source of political dissatisfaction among younger voters," prompting a national protest in July and debates during this year's election campaign.
The report evaluates 210 countries and territories and uses local people's access to political rights and civil liberties as the key indicators. The sources for the report include on-the-ground research, local contacts, news articles, nongovernmental organizations, and governments, among others.
