Last but not least, "the Chinese government needs to rethink its role and give more say to the market", he said, adding that there are experiences to be referred to in other high-ranking Asian countries.

David Fouquet, an expert of the Brussels-based European Institute of Asian Studies, said China's leadership should have a more comprehensive picture than what was described in the report, which is more business-based.

"China should be careful about the criteria in the report, which indicates that the smaller the economy is, the more competitive it will be," said Fouquet, adding that this is an indication that China needs to interpret the results in the report critically.

The report indicated that Switzerland and countries in Northern Europe have been consolidating their strong competitive positions since the economic downturn in 2008.

The US declined in the rankings for the fourth consecutive year, falling two places to seventh. It's overtaken by the Netherlands, which is fifth, and Germany, which is 6th.

"Persisting divides in competitiveness across regions and within regions, particularly in Europe, are at the origin of the turbulence we are experiencing today," said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

"We urge governments to act decisively by adopting long-term measures to enhance competitiveness and return the world to a sustainable growth path."

Dennis Pamlin, founder of Sweden-based consultant firm 21st Century Frontiers, said: "For a 21st-century perspective, one must look at how much countries are able to lift people out of poverty and create an economy that can deliver sustainable solutions for 9 billion people. These are areas in which China is pretty advanced. Most of the countries high in the list focus their economy and competitiveness almost exclusively based on their ability to efficiently produce goods and services to the rich part of the world.

"And they do so in an environmentally unsustainable way that ignores the fact that we have only one planet.

"For a country like China, which is so big and has special circumstances, it is better to use a tailor-made approach in which China is compared with other counties in key areas. An index in which peaceful development is the starting point, not almost totally ignored."

Contact the writers at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn and weitian@chinadaily.com.cn