Taiwan moved up two spots to 19th out of 162 countries and territories assessed in the latest Human Freedom Index report jointly released Dec. 17 by Washington-based Cato Institute and Vancouver-based Fraser Institute.
》Global Exchanges


"Cultural Circulation Survey in Asia: The Southeast Asian Cultural Events in Taiwan, 2010-2020" exhibition, a collation of the cultural context of Southeast Asian communities in Taiwan, was on view at the Taipei-based Guling Street Avant-garde Theatre on Dec. 19 and 20.
With the pandemic still ongoing around the world, not too many places are planning lavish New Year’s Eve celebrations. With domestic transmission of COVID-19 contained for over the past 200 days, Taipei is getting ready for its annual New Year’s Eve fireworks at Taipei 101, which usually brings over 1 million people to the area to watch the extravagant display.

Taiwan’s farsighted One Country, One Center initiative is sharing the country’s health care experience with like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific, underscoring the government’s commitment to improving lives across the region.

The Taiwan Tourism Bureau and CNN cooperated to jointly film the true story of Kiwi ultra-runner Ruth Croft, learned new things about herself as she discovered the stunning trails of Taiwan’s mountains. The 2-minute video, “Discover a Higher Love,” was launched in celebration of International Mountain Day.
Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) has become a full member of the International Cooperation on Cosmetics Regulation (ICCR) at 14th ICCR Annual Meeting, held on December 7, 2020. This is a new chapter for the collaboration between Taiwan and ICCR. It can represent that TFDA has been affirmed for our recent efforts in the internationalization of cosmetics administration regulations.

Taiwan has again been rated a “free” country in the People Power Under Attack 2020 report released Dec. 8 by South Africa-based Civicus, a global civil society alliance comprising organizations spanning local and international levels.
On November 26th, the Executive Yuan approved the draft of amendment to the “Culture and Arts Reward Act” crafted by the Ministry of Culture, and will submit it to the Legislative Yuan for review.
The National Museum of History (NMH) on Dec. 4 organized an event celebrating its 65th anniversary.

The “9th Meeting of Taiwan-Philippines Agricultural Cooperation” was held via video conference on December 3, 2020. It was jointly presided over by Deputy Minister Chin-cheng Huang, Council of Agriculture(COA) and an Undersecretary of the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture.