Taiwan’s global competitiveness fell two notches to 14th place this year, its worst showing since 2008, because of lower rankings in terms of goods market efficiency, business sophistication and innovation, a World Economic Forum (WEF) report said yesterday.
The report said Taiwan’s “performance has been very stable over the past six years,” noting that its strengths include a capacity to innovate, highly efficient goods markets, world-class infrastructure and solid higher education and training.
“In order to enhance its competitiveness, Taiwan will need to further strengthen its institutional framework, whose quality is undermined by some inefficiency within the government and various forms of corruption and will also need to address some inefficiencies and rigidities in its labor market,” the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 said.
As with other Asian countries, Taiwan can boost its competitiveness by encouraging and facilitating the participation of women in the workforce, the report said.
Taiwan’s ranking in goods market efficiency dropped four places, from seventh last year to 11th this year, because buyers in the local goods market are considered to make their decisions based more on prices instead of “a sophisticated analysis of performance attributes,” the report by the Geneva-based organization said.
Agricultural policy was also believed to be more of a burden to the efficiency of local goods market than a balance of interests among taxpayers, consumers and producers, the report said.
Taiwan dropped two places to 10th this year in innovation because domestic companies are believed to have spent less on research and development, and the government’s spending is considered not to be conducive to innovation in the private sector, the report said.
It also fell two spots — to 17th — in business sophistication because domestic companies are believed to have less control over international distribution and marketing, the report said.
Taiwan was ranked as the fourth-most competitive in Asia this year, behind Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong, the report said.
Switzerland placed first in the most competitive category, followed by Singapore, the US, Finland and Germany.
“The decline was partly because of recurring civil movements in Taiwan in recent years, which caused company managers who responded to the forum’s survey to have doubts about the nation’s prospects, economic condition and policy direction,” the National Development Council said in a news release yesterday.
“About 70 percent of the report is based on surveys. Hence, it is unavoidable that the civil movements in recent years will affect the results to a certain extent,” council analyst Hsieh Chung-tsung (謝中琮) said in the news release.
The report was based on 30 returned questionnaires, and the survey was conducted from January through the middle of June, Hsieh said. To prevent the report from being distorted by short-term events, the forum ranks every nation based on weighted scores computed from surveys conducted this year and last year, Hsieh said.
Survey respondents are chosen at random and are management officials in Taiwan working for foreign and domestic firms, Hsieh said.
The report ranks 144 economies around the world based on 114 factors in 12 categories.
Additional reporting by CNA
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
NATURAL INTERRUPTION: As cables deteriorate, core wires snap in progression along the cable, which does not happen if they are hit by an anchor, an official said Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) immediately switched to a microwave backup system to maintain communications between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County (Matsu) after two undersea cables malfunctioned due to natural deterioration, the Ministry of Digital Affairs told an emergency news conference yesterday morning. Two submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper and the outlying county — the No. 2 and No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cables — were disconnected early yesterday morning and on Wednesday last week respectively, the nation’s largest telecom said. “After receiving the report that the No. 2 cable had failed, the ministry asked Chunghwa Telecom to immediately activate a microwave backup system, with
RSS