Taiwan performed well in a survey of corruption in national defense industries carried out by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, the organization said at a Taipei news conference Jan. 29.
The Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index survey, by TI’s UK-based Defence and Security Programme, gave Taiwan a B grade along with such countries as the U.S. and the UK, while only two countries were given an “A”—Australia and Germany.
It was the first time the nongovernmental organization, which is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, and which is best known for publishing an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, had held its GDAI press conference in the Asia-Pacific region.
A total of 82 countries and territories were assessed according to detailed answers on a 77-item questionnaire, which covered five main risk sectors: politics, finance, personnel, operations and procurement.
Taiwan’s superior performance was mainly due to two factors, TI said.
The Ministry of National Defense is quite transparent about its contract evaluation process, in contrast to the closed nature of procurement in most countries, it said.
The other factor is that the other ministries involved, such as the Ministry of Justice, the Public Construction Commission and the Ministry of Economic Affairs coordinate with the MND in contract evaluation, TI said.
Two factors were holding the country back from attaining an “A” grade, TI said.
Taiwan should allow civil society to participate in the formulation of national defense policy, and the national defense budget should be made public, it said. Also, secret provisions within the budget are relatively high compared with other countries, TI said. (SDH)