The top three places went to Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States, in that order, while Japan took 12th and China ranked 35th.

The research institute has since 2000 conducted annual surveys on 50 major economies around the world based on eight criteria: internationalization, business efficiency, education, financial system, government efficiency, technological development, social infrastructure and information technology.

For 2006, Taiwan ranked 18th in terms of internationalization, 25th in terms of business efficiency, 16th in terms of education, 18th in terms of financial system, 43rd in terms of government efficiency, seventh in terms of technological development, sixth in terms of social infrastructure and 13th in terms of information technology.

Taking the top position for the second consecutive year, Hong Kong ranked first or second in most of the eight criteria, with the exception of education and technological development.

The survey shows that Japan made progress in terms of business efficiency and internationalization in 2006, but its performance in government efficiency, social infrastructure and financial system was less good.

If Hong Kong is included, China’s potential competitiveness ranked 33rd in 2000 and advanced to 30th in 2005, but dropped to 32nd in 2006, according to the survey.

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