Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) Results of a study released Tuesday show misconceptions and concerns over the economy, as development of the textile industry has been underrated while the service sector has underachieved, according to a researcher.
"The textile industry has often been described as a 'sunset industry' in Taiwan, but statistics show its export values still accounted for 8 percent of Taiwan's annual total exports, " said David Hong, director of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER), at the World Chinese Traders Convention.
"The upper and middle stream of the industry is highly competitive, ranking only behind South Korea, " Hong said, citing a compilation of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) indexes of different sectors of 10 East Asian countries.
On the other hand, the service sector, which accounted for 73 percent of Taiwan's national gross domestic product (GDP) , ranked bottom among the same countries.
Low competitiveness of the service sector is cause for concern for a country that sets its goal as becoming a global value-added service center, said Hong.
As expected, Taiwan's electric and electronic manufacturing sector outperformed China, Japan and South Korea. However it ranked behind the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia, presenting another concern, according to Hong.