Hong Kong remains the world's freest economy, but the Asia-Pacific region overall became more tightly controlled economically during the last year, according to a survey released yesterday.
It was the 10th consecutive year that Hong Kong has topped the annual survey by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal because of its low regulations and low taxes.
The Heritage Foundation, a US-based conservative think tank, said small, free economies like the Chinese territory of Hong Kong offer a good example for poorer governments seeking to improve their economies.
Small countries were prominent in the top ranks in the survey. Southeast Asian city-state Singapore was ranked No. 2, followed by New Zealand, Luxembourg and Ireland.
The US was ranked tenth.
Overall, Asia-Pacific fared worse than the previous year, with 16 economies scoring lower and only 11 improving.
The region has six of the world's most controlled economies, including North Korea, Laos and Burma, the survey said.
"This represents an unwelcome reversal of the trend reported in the 2003 Index, which found economic freedom gaining in Asia," the foundation said in a statement.
The survey, which gauged the economies of 155 countries or territories this year, ranked them according to 10 factors, including trade policy, government intervention in the economy and the size of the underground economy.
Nearly half, or 75 of the economies ranked, were freer than the previous year. But 84 economies remained "mostly unfree" or "repressed," the survey found.
Although Hong Kong has enjoyed Western-style freedoms since returning to Chinese rule in 1997, it remains only partially democratic. China treats its territory as a separate economy.
China slipped one place to 128th this year, scoring worse in government intervention. The foundation said Chinese leaders seemed to have slowed massive economic reforms and levied new rules to hamper foreign investment in the retail sector.
Hugo Restall, editorial page editor at the Asian Wall Street Journal, said Beijing's reluctance to allow Hong Kong to speed up democratic reforms may spell trouble for the former British colony's economic freedom.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa pledged to consult the central Chinese government on political reforms -- a move that drew fire from opposition leaders, who accused him of undermining Hong Kong's autonomy and ignoring growing calls for full democracy.
Beijing said later in the day that it hopes to participate in the discussion of reforms before Hong Kong works out the details.
A lack of political freedom "does tend to undermine the road to economic freedom," Restall said. "Unless Beijing reconsiders its approach, I have to say that I'm pessimistic that Hong Kong will remain the world's freest economy."
The government did not immediately respond to Restall's comment.
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