When news broke in November last year that Sri Lankan students were sent to work illegally in slaughterhouses and factories, the Ministry of Education called it an “isolated case” and said that it would launch an investigation.
However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) last week said that at least six universities have been collaborating with employment agencies to trick foreign students into providing cheap labor, with some working up to 10 hours per day and one group was assigned to shabby dormitories near their work.
This time, the ministry said that it had been aware of the problem since early last year. It is the ministry’s money — and ultimately taxpayers’ — that is being used to subsidize brokers’ fees for the universities.
Students being forced to work illegally in factories is not the only problem with recruiting foreign students under the New Southbound Policy. Two weeks ago, the Central News Agency reported that brokerage agencies had forced Cambodian students to sign a US$1,500 promissory note after they paid a broker’s fee of about US$1,000. Those students said that during a recruitment pitch they were told they had 20 subjects to choose from, but once in Taiwan they found that they were only eligible for the leisure and tourism program.
While the universities should not be let off the hook just by claiming innocence, it seems like the common problem in these cases is brokers, who already have a bad reputation for exploiting migrant workers in various ways, including, again, tricking them into doing work they did not sign up for. Now they are taking advantage of the government’s drive to recruit more Southeast Asian students, which harms the students and hinders the government’s efforts.
Countless universities are desperate for students due to the nation’s low birthrate and an excessive number of schools. On Friday last week, the ministry reported that enrollment at nine of the nation’s higher-education institutes was last year less than 60 percent of regular levels, which could force closures. If not closely regulated, they might turn a blind eye to transgressions just to survive.
As these policies are relatively new, universities that have little experience with foreign students might not even know what is illegal. For example, using employment agencies to find students is prohibited. One of the accused universities has denied going through an employment agency, saying that the students were just doing part-time work to pay for their expenses.
A thorough investigation is needed and swift action must be taken to prevent such situations.
Due to the nation’s political isolation, the New Southbound Policy is an important piece of the puzzle moving forward. However, it appears to be a double-edged sword — as evidenced by 148 Vietnamese tourists who made use of expedited visa applications absconding after arriving in the nation. Regardless of whether they came to work illegally themselves or were trafficked, such incidents only cause the already dissatisfied public to lose faith in the government’s policies and tarnish the nation’s reputation in countries targeted by the policy.
One of the Sri Lankan students told reporters that he would never trust Taiwanese again and would not recommend anyone to come to Taiwan. That is something the nation cannot afford right now.
The government should never look at such incidents as isolated cases — officials cannot be that naive. A close examination of the New Southbound Policy and the nation’s relations with the countries it is focused on is needed to see what can be done as a whole to stop the abuse of a well-intended system.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has offered Taiwan a paradoxical mix of reassurance and risk. Trump’s visceral hostility toward China could reinforce deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. Yet his disdain for alliances and penchant for transactional bargaining threaten to erode what Taiwan needs most: a reliable US commitment. Taiwan’s security depends less on US power than on US reliability, but Trump is undermining the latter. Deterrence without credibility is a hollow shield. Trump’s China policy in his second term has oscillated wildly between confrontation and conciliation. One day, he threatens Beijing with “massive” tariffs and calls China America’s “greatest geopolitical
On Sunday, 13 new urgent care centers (UCC) officially began operations across the six special municipalities. The purpose of the centers — which are open from 8am to midnight on Sundays and national holidays — is to reduce congestion in hospital emergency rooms, especially during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year. It remains to be seen how effective these centers would be. For one, it is difficult for people to judge for themselves whether their condition warrants visiting a major hospital or a UCC — long-term public education and health promotions are necessary. Second, many emergency departments acknowledge
US President Donald Trump’s seemingly throwaway “Taiwan is Taiwan” statement has been appearing in headlines all over the media. Although it appears to have been made in passing, the comment nevertheless reveals something about Trump’s views and his understanding of Taiwan’s situation. In line with the Taiwan Relations Act, the US and Taiwan enjoy unofficial, but close economic, cultural and national defense ties. They lack official diplomatic relations, but maintain a partnership based on shared democratic values and strategic alignment. Excluding China, Taiwan maintains a level of diplomatic relations, official or otherwise, with many nations worldwide. It can be said that
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) made the astonishing assertion during an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle, published on Friday last week, that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not a dictator. She also essentially absolved Putin of blame for initiating the war in Ukraine. Commentators have since listed the reasons that Cheng’s assertion was not only absurd, but bordered on dangerous. Her claim is certainly absurd to the extent that there is no need to discuss the substance of it: It would be far more useful to assess what drove her to make the point and stick so
RSS