Taiwan can learn from recent riots in France

`European countries have been plagued by ethnic tensions resulting from immigration. These tensions should serve as a wake-up call for Taiwan.'

The recent wave of riots in France -- the worst the country has seen since the 1968 student revolts -- indicates that the integration of immigrants has become an explosive issue in France. In fact, most of the nations in Western Europe have yet to properly handle the issue of multicultural integration. Over the past 10 years, advanced European countries have been plagued by ethnic tensions resulting from immigration. These tensions should serve as a wake-up call for Taiwan, which is also composed of different ethnic groups and faces similar immigration issues.

The World Bank recently released a report entitled International Migration, Remittances and the Brain Drain. The report said that the reason developing countries cannot catch up with developed countries is because around 30 percent to 50 percent of the talent in developing countries has moved to developed world. However, not all the immigrants in developed countries are skilled workers. If these people cannot quickly adapt themselves to their new home, then social problems relating to education, crime and discrimination in the workplace will certainly arise.

In Taiwan, young people with higher incomes tend to get married later in life and usually do not want to have too many children. However, some men in the middle or lower income brackets face various socio-economic constraints that compel them to marry brides from China or Southeast Asian countries. While higher income couples actively practice birth control, these lower-income couples often produce large families. The result is that birth patterns for various socio-economic groups have become unbalanced.

Similarly, Taiwan has certain characteristics that belong to an immigrant society. Earlier immigrants sometimes oppressed, discriminated against and even exploited newcomers. There is also a gap between the Chinese or Vietnamese brides and the Taiwanese. Some people tease or discriminate against children whose mothers are foreigners, especially those from developing countries.

Children who suffer discrimination will often grow up with distorted personalities, and their anger, lack of self-confidence and other factors often make them a source of social disorder. From a political perspective, the imbalance within socio-economic groups easily leads to a polarization of society, destroying the middle class. A political system without the support of a middle class quickly becomes a hotbed of extreme or even fascist policies.

These are the contradictions and conflicts brought about by political, cultural and racial differences. Rectifying the imbalances in our society resulting from a failure to integrate workers from developing countries is a matter of considerable importance. If we do not get it right, we may also risk social implosion in the coming decades.

Johnny Lin is a staff member of the Democratic Progressive Party's department of Chinese affairs.

---Translated BY DANIEL CHENG