I'm so happy you're joining me again.

I know it's been a while since I haven't done  any episodes about the news anymore about Taiwan

but there is a lot of stuff that has been  going on so I'm happy to get back to it!

Before we do I want to wish you  a super happy Lunar New Year.

It's the year of the ox,  

so I wish you all happiness health and  everything you wish for in this year of the ox.

It has also been Valentines two days ago, so happy  Valentines as well! (especially if you're single)

*high five*

The article I want to talk about today is  actually something I read in the newsletter

from the Taipei Representative Office

I get mail from them every friday,  because I subscribe to the newsletter

This article is actually  super positive for Taiwan,

because Taiwan ranks first in Asia and 11th  globally in the EIU democracy index 2020.

The EIU, that's the 'Economist Intelligence Unit'

They have an index of democracy everywhere around  the world and actually if you go on their website,

you can see that they wrote  something about the year 2020:

"Democracy was dealt a major blow in 2020.

Almost 70% of countries covered by the  economist intelligence units democracy index  

recorded a decline in their overall score

as country after country locked down to  protect lives from a novel coronavirus.

The global average score fell to its lowest  level since the index began in 2006."

We can see that worldwide democracy hasn't  been doing so well according to this index,

but as the title told you, there is a  country that has been doing pretty well.

It's about Taiwan that is ranked first in Asia

and 11th globally out of the 167  countries that they assessed.

On february 3rd, by the London-based  Economist Intelligence Unit,

this score was actually published.

I'm going to read something more in the article.

"Singled out as this year's star performer,  

Taiwan climbed 20 places in the rankings  as compared to the previous year

and gained the denomination of "full democracy".

Taiwan's strengthening of  democracy backed the global trend

in a year that saw a large majority of  countries record a decline in their total scores

compared with previous year."

So this is very unusual. While most countries  were declining their democracy score,

Taiwan was actually rising up  this year! That's very remarkable.

"The report also described Taiwan  as a "beacon of democracy in Asia"

and chalked up the country's spectacular  rise as a reflection of a consolidation  

of positive political and legal  developments over recent years."

Today's news has also been reported  on several other news outlets.

For example on Taiwannews.com  

we can read that while Taiwan was still  categorized as a "flawed democracy" in 2019,

transparency in political party financing  as well as political and judicial reforms

propelled the nation 20 places higher on  the list this year. CNA reported this.

Taiwan was also one of only 38 countries  to improve their rankings in 2020

compared to the previous years

That's a huge achievement!

The only two other full democracies  in East Asia, Japan and South Korea  

finished at number 21 and 23.

China was listed as an authoritarian regime  at number 151, with Laos coming at number 161

and North Korea at the very bottom number 167."

Yeah, that's no surprise for North Korea there...

"On a global scale, Northern European countries  

occupied the top rankings  with Norway at number one,

Iceland at number two and Sweden at number three."

I have studied in Sweden! Just by the way...

"New Zealand finished in fourth  place followed by Canada.

Switzerland, often seen presented as a  model state by international surveys,

finished just one notch behind Taiwan in  the 12th slot." So that's pretty impressive.

Taiwan got a higher score  than Switzerland on the list.

Super impressive!

I would like to end this video by mentioning  some of your comments on the previous video,

Where I tried some Taiwanese snacks  that I got from a friend in Taiwan  

together with my friend Eline

There is one person with the user named  "Tasty treats and travel" who says:

"The coconut cheetos are often  used superstitiously for good luck

because the brand name, I think.

The school I work at will place them  around in weird locations for good luck

for example if the printer keeps breaking, people  will place a couple of those bags around it

I think they taste very coconutty. I couldn't  believe you didn't know what flavor they are!"

I think this is super super  funny because you know what...

this is not the only comments I read related  to these chips and these superstition beliefs!

So apparently in Taiwan  

it's usual to put these kind of Taiwanese  coconut cheetos around broken machines.

I even heard someone who was an engineer, and if  there is a very complex machine that's broken,

they would jokingly put these cheetos around  it. I really think this is so interesting!

I have never heard of any tradition like  that in Belgium, so that's something very  

Taiwanese I think.

Another comment from Alex Lin says:

"Before you try the peanut soup you can put it  in the cooler for a day. It will taste better."

Thank you for the advice Alex!

But I'm really confused, because I  recently saw another comment that mentioned  

that this soup is best if you heat it up!

So now I'm really confused. Some people say it's  better cold and some say I have to heat it up.

What do you think is right? Should peanut  soup be hot or cold? please let me know.

The person by the name of "My name is" says:

"Hi, your friend is like the fairy  princess in the movie Lord of the Rings.

Beautiful of course, both of you are  beautiful, elegant and generous."

That's so nice of you, to  give such a huge compliment!

And it's really funny because many of you have  noticed a similarity between my friend Eline

and the fairy princess in Lord of the Rings. What  do you guys think? Does she really look alike?

That was it for today's video. I hope you enjoyed!

I definitely always enjoy talking about positive  news like that, so I really had fun making this.

Thank you as usual for supporting me.

If you watched until the end,  

you're one of a kind! Not many people  do that, so you're pretty special.

Let's find a password.

Since it's new year of the ox, let's just say:

"Happy year of the ox!"

If you write that in the comments,  

I know you watched until the end  and all my love goes out to you!

I also want to mention something.

So actually, it's been a little bit hard juggling  my work and private life and making videos

because there's so much work  that goes into making videos.

I have to first find the idea of what to film,  then I have to film and set up everything myself,

then I have to edit everything myself, then I need  to find music, then I need to write the subtitles

Luckily, I have a friend helping me to correct  the google translated Chinese subtitles,

because usually they're pretty horrible...

and then I have to upload them,  write a whole description,

It takes me so so so much time so I'm super  happy to say that this time, for the first time,

I'm gonna let someone else edit this  video so it's taking one step away

This is only possible because of your support!

You're watching the advertisements and especially  also the people who support me on Patreon.

It's really thanks to you that I'm able now  

to take a little bit of workload of  myself and pass it to someone else

Hopefully I can stay more  active and make more videos

Thank you so much for all your help  you have been giving me the past year.

I really appreciate every single one of you!

Thank you and I hope to see you  very soon in the next video.

Bye bye ~