Opinion | Corruption Perceptions Index: Don’t read too much into the scores for mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
- Despite Covid-19 upheavals, their performances appear to have held up. But the index is only useful in picking out broader trends, and more can be done to fight corruption
In the latest Corruption Perceptions Index, the annual league table outlining the best and worst performers in tackling public-sector corruption, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan all fared reasonably well. But big gaps in performances remain.
The index, published by Transparency International, the world’s leading anti-corruption NGO, pools together data from 180 countries and territories to offer a snapshot of the battle against corruption. The data comes from a wide array of organisations: the Economist Intelligence Unit, World Economic Forum and various country risk indicators all contribute to this year’s offering.
The story in and around mainland China is an interesting one. Yet on the face of it, very little seems to have changed. Every country or territory in the index is awarded a score of between 1 and 100, and neither mainland China, Hong Kong nor Taiwan has moved at all since the index was last published in January 2022.
China again scored 45 points, Hong Kong 76 and Taiwan 68. That translates to China coming in at 65th place (alongside the likes of Cuba and Montenegro), Hong Kong at 12th and Taiwan at 25th (alongside Bhutan).
Other places were not quite so consistent. Some countries that traditionally did well saw perceptions of public-sector corruption get worse. Switzerland (82) and Austria (71) saw their scores noticeably drop, whilst the United Kingdom (73) is now at its lowest point since comparable data started to be produced in 2012.
