Taiwan's Press Freedom Best in East Asia: Freedom House

While any Taiwanese will be quick to remind a foreigner of the significant political differences with China, it probably has much more to do with the so called White Terror era :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror_(Taiwan)

After the transition to democracy, the Taiwanese of the last few decades recoil from anything that even slightly reminds them of that violent oppression in their recent past.