Taiwan has maintained its status as one of the world’s freest countries, but its score for civil liberties was downgraded over flaws in protection of the rights of criminal defendants, Freedom House said in a report released on Tuesday.

While Taiwan’s overall rating in the Freedom in the World 2010 report was the same as last year, its score for political rights advanced from grade 2 to grade 1 because of an increased crackdown on corruption.

Internet giant Google Inc on Tuesday made a shock threat to quit China, the world’s biggest Internet market by number of users, after hackers accessed human rights activists’ e-mail accounts.

“These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered — combined with attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the Web — have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China,” Google chief legal officer David Drummond said in a statement.

China yesterday raised the proportion of deposits that banks must hold in reserve in the clearest sign yet that it has started to tighten monetary policy with its economy roaring back to the brink of overheating.

The 0.5 percentage point increase in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) will take effect on Monday and will apply to all banks apart from rural credit cooperatives, the People’s Bank of China said on its Web site.