President Ma Ying-jeou has told a meeting of the World League for Freedom and Democracy’s Taiwan chapter that freedom and democracy can only flourish in a peaceful environment.
During the meeting held Friday to mark World Freedom Day, Ma also spoke about Taiwan’s role in promoting freedom and democracy. Ma said that former US President George W. Bush once called Taiwan a “lighthouse” of democracy in Asia. Ma also said that since the beginning of his first term in 2008, Taiwan has worked hard to cultivate democracy despite a difficult international climate and Chinese pressure.
During his address, Ma also referred to Taiwan’s performance in the annual freedom index published by the US-based think tank Freedom House. Ma said that in Freedom House’s 2014 evaluations, Taiwan received a “1”, the best rating possible, in the category of political rights, and a “2” in the category of civil liberties. Ma said that these ratings put Taiwan’s democracy on par with the democracies of the US, Europe, and Japan.