A survey of foreign nationals living in this country found that 88.8 percent think that Taiwanese are “friendly.”
The overall satisfaction for bilingual markings on product packaging, however, remained the lowest category in the survey, with just 19.5 percent of respondents saying they were satisfied.
National Immigration Agency (NIA) Director-General Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) said he was surprised that 74.8 percent of respondents said they “do not know about” or “had no comment” on the Information for Foreigners Web site and the International Community Service Hotline.
The hotline (0800-024-111) provides Chinese, English or Japanese language help for foreigners on issues such as visas, employment, taxation, health insurance and transportation.
Hsieh said the center received 53,072 calls last year, up from 30,712 in 2007, and the number was even higher this year.
“But apparently we need to do more to advertise the 24-hour service,” he said.
The survey polled white-collar foreign workers, with 1,076 valid samples received from a population of 18,532. The poll will serve as a reference for the government in reviewing its policies on attracting professional personnel.
Hsieh said there are about 960,000 foreigners and immigrants in the country, including manufacturing and construction workers, careworkers and people married to Taiwanese.
The survey found that foreigners’ overall satisfaction with the living environment has continued to increase, rising from 67.9 percent last year to 75.1 percent this year.
Many respondents said they found it difficult to understand rules and regulations governing foreign workers, and just 38.3 percent said they were satisfied.
Satisfaction levels for the friendliness of employees and coworkers were 78.5 percent and 87.1 percent respectively, while the satisfaction level for wages was 62.1 percent.
The overall satisfaction level with Taiwan’s cultural tolerance was 65.2 percent. In this category, 41.4 percent of respondents thought Taiwanese were unfamiliar with the culture of their home countries, 44.2 percent considered the English ability of Taiwanese to be average, while 72.1 percent said Taiwanese were accepting, tolerant and open to learning about different cultures.
In other survey news, the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission released the results yesterday of a nationwide poll on the digital divide. It has conducted such polls since 2001.
The commission found that 67.7 percent of respondents above the age of 12 and 78 percent of households have Internet access and the Internet population is close to 14 million.
This year, the significant increase in middle-aged and senior-citizen Internet users indicates that efforts by the government to narrow the digital divide have achieved some results, Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Minister Chu Chin-peng (朱景鵬) said.
Another key finding was that the Internet connection rate for households has stagnated at 24 percent for households with a monthly income of less than NT$20,000 and 96 percent for households with an income of more than NT$70,000.
The survey was conducted between July 13 and Aug. 21.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
RSS