perceived corruption levels, according to the 2008 Bribe Payers Index (BPI) report issued by Transparency International (TI) Tuesday, despite wide publicity concerning prosecutors' investigations into the former first family's alleged bribe-taking, embezzlement and money laundering scandals.

TI-Taiwan released the report at a news conference in Taipei on behalf of TI -- a global coalition against corruption based in Berlin -- to coincide with International Anti-Corruption Day.

The TI survey assesses the supply side of corruption in 22 of the world's leading exporting countries, based on interviews with 2,742 senior business executives in 26 countries. The combined global exports of the 22 countries represent 75 percent of the world's total.

The BPI, expressed on a scale of zero to 10, is a measure of how willing a nation appears to be to comply with demands for corrupt business practices. The higher the score, the lower the likelihood of companies from the country in question engaging in bribery when doing business abroad.

Taiwan received a score of 7.5, sharing the No. 14 spot with South Africa and South Korea but lagging behind Singapore, which placed ninth along with France and the United States with a score of 8.1, and Hong Kong, which ranked 13th with a score of 7.6.

China ranked 21st with a score of 6.5 among the 22 countries -- only slightly better than Russia, which placed last with a score of 5.9.

Topping the list were Belgium and Canada, each with a score of 8.8, followed by the Netherlands and Switzerland, which shared third place with scores of 8.7, while Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom placed fifth with scores of 8.6. Australia ranked eighth with a score of 8.5.

In TI's 2006 BPI report, Taiwan placed 26th with a score of 5.41 -- one notch above China's 21st place with a score of 4.94. That survey evaluated 30 leading exporting countries.

TI said in a news release that there is evidence that "a number of companies from major exporting countries still use bribery to win business abroad, despite awareness of its damaging impact on corporate reputations and ordinary communities."

The organization urged the governments of major exporting countries to redouble their efforts to enforce existing laws and regulations on foreign bribery. It also urged companies to adopt effective anti-bribery programs.