Fitch ruffles feathers:

Credit-ratings agency Fitch Ratings has upgraded Taiwan’s economic outlook to AA, its second-highest rating after AAA. The good news still irritated Taipei because Fitch referred to the island as part of China for the first time, says the South China Morning Post. Beijing claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has pressured foreign companies to refer to it as “Taiwan, China”, which they usually do to prevent losing access to the Chinese market. Taiwan’s finance ministry expressed “deep regret” and asked Fitch to call it Taiwan. The improved rating reflects the fact that Taiwan outperformed its peers throughout the pandemic. Fitch expects GDP to grow by 6% in 2021 following an impressive 3.1% expansion last year. Growth has been boosted by “robust” exports and the island’s “relative success” at containing Covid-19 with minor disruptions to manufacturing operations. However the country’s vaccination rollout is lagging behind its peers’: only 45% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine and only 4% have been fully vaccinated owing to supply problems.