The Chinese mainland's competitiveness has moved up to the world's 15th position in 2007 from 18th last year. Taiwan dropped one spot to 18th this year, according to the most recent World Competitiveness Yearbook issued by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

IMD established the rankings based on the growing competitiveness of emerging world economies, said the Chinanews.com.

Among countries and areas with a population of more than 20 million, Taiwan's competitiveness fell to the Asia's sixth position. But its ranking still maintained fifth in Asia and Pacific Region. Singapore came up on top, followed by Hong Kong, Australia and the mainland.

Taiwan performed poorly in basic infrastructure and government efficiency, with their rankings of the world's 51st, 50th and 48th respectively. Taiwan also did not perform well in other criteria such as financial risk, financial transparency, stock market index and cell phone fees.

Taiwan's listings in business efficiency slipped to 17th place from 13th last year, its infrastructure ranking goes down to 21st from 18th, according to the annual yearbook.

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