The government of Taiwan has fallen in two out of six categories of governance, according to the Worldwide Governance Indicators report, released at the end of June. 

The annual report, commissioned by the World Bank, said that compared with its rankings last year Taiwan had fallen behind in the “Government Effectiveness” and “Voice and Accountability” categories.

I would dispute that the recent cooling of tensions between Taiwan and that of mainland China are pragmatic indicators for a shift in political tone, of Taiwan preferring economic stability over political tumultuousness. Indeed, the distance between mainland China and Taiwan has become closer than ever, ironically since the two decided to go separate ways 59 years ago. However, in regards to overall government effectiveness, the government received its lowest score since 1998.

In spite of the decline, Taiwan was still put in the second tier of nations, meaning that its performance falls somewhere between the 75th and 90th percentile of all nations.

Hsu Chiu-huang, deputy minister of the Government Information Office, told reporters in response to the report, that the government cares deeply about improving its effectiveness, and that it will review the report as soon as possible and send its findings to the relevant government agencies.

But is the task of improving governmental effectiveness pale in comparison to the nation’s growing economic woes? Taiwan’s consumer price index had its biggest decline in June since 1970 as the prices of oil and food fell, and the government today stated it expects the CPI to remain depressed for the rest of the year. The CPI fell 1.97% in June from a year earlier, steepening from May’s 0.08% drop, data from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed.

Mainland China, by contrast, remains among the world’s worst performers in the Voice and Accountability category, which measures freedom of speech and government accountability to its people. It rose to the third tier in the Government Effectiveness category, however, meaning that it now falls between the 50th and 75th percentile of all nations.

Chen Yunlin, chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and Chiang Pin-kung, the chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, met in Taipei last Tuesday and agreed to open three channels — commerce, post and port — between China and Taiwan. 

This signifies that the two countries are opening and expanding logistic, economic and personnel exchanges. The Chinese media praised the breakthrough as a “historical progress toward one united China.”

It ultimately remains to be seen whether a rise in government effectiveness will indeed occur over mounting economic turmoil, even in the face of a  thawing of a long-standing political and military standoff.