MANILA -- In past decades, liberal democracy and economic freedom have made great advances in all parts of the world. This general trend also applies to Asia, as is documented in the annual "Freedom in the World" surveys published by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation and the "Economic Freedom of the World" reports distributed by the Canadian Fraser Institute.
Interestingly, the Heritage Foundation survey now rates the Asia-Pacific region as the third most politically "free" region of the world -- behind the Americas and Western Europe and ahead of the states of the former Soviet Union, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East/North Africa. In the Asia-Pacific region, only 8 states (a quarter of the region's total) were rated "free" in 1972, while 13 were "partly free" and 11 "not free." Today, 18 are rated free, 10 partly free and 11 not free.
As documented by the Fraser Institute, two East Asian economies once more take the lead in international ratings: Hong Kong and Singapore (followed by the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Switzerland and Ireland). The rankings of other East Asian countries regarding "economic freedom" are as follows: Japan (24), Taiwan (30), Philippines and South Korea (38), Malaysia (51), Thailand (56), Indonesia (77) and China (101).