The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) has lowered Taiwan’s global competitiveness ranking for this year by four notches to 11th, the lowest performance since 2009.
In its latest World Competitiveness Yearbook released yesterday, the Lausanne, Switzerland-based IMD said Taiwan reported across-the-board declines this year in all four subindices — economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
However, a government official said Taiwan’s ranking did not decline because the nation did not improve, but because other nations had made better progress.
“We have been liberalizing business regulations in Taiwan, but not as strictly as others,” Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) said by telephone yesterday.
The nation’s rating on the economic performance subindex was lowered to 16th this year from 13th last year due to weak economic momentum and a higher inflation rate.
Taiwan’s government efficiency was rated eighth-most competitive among the 60 countries polled this year, down from fifth place last year, which the IMD attributed to tighter business legislation compared with other countries.
As for business efficiency, the nation’s ranking fell to 10th this year from fourth last year because of lower productivity.
In terms of infrastructure, Taiwan saw its ranking drop to 16th this year from 12th last year as a result of lower input from research and development and personnel.
Among Asia-Pacific nations, Taiwan remains the third-most competitive country behind Hong Kong and Singapore, the IMD said. Taiwan was trailed by China, South Korea and Japan, it added.
Around the world, the US ranked the most competitive in this year’s report, followed by Switzerland, Hong Kong, Sweden and Singapore. Rounding out the top 10 were Norway, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Gemany and Qatar.
Former CEPD minister Chen Po-chih (陳博志) yesterday said the government should honestly face Taiwan’s problems and stop hiding behind statistics and rankings.
“The real problems of this nation were obvious even before the IMD report was released, but the government overlooked them,” Chen said by telephone. “Instead of focusing on the declining ranking, the government should recognize the problems and act to fix them with concrete reforms.”
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and