The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed approved a statute governing the development of Taoyuan International Airport Zone, which will create a free trade zone near the airport where businesses will enjoy preferential taxes and fewer labor restrictions.
The statute exempts foreign and domestic businesses that authorize companies in free trade ports to stock inventory or process materials for export from paying business income tax. If companies sell to domestic businesses, then the proportion of income exempt from tax would be 10 percent of the total amount exported.
It also stipulates that Aborigines make up at least 3 percent of the work force in companies in the free trade ports. Foreign labor would be governed by the Employment Services Act (就業服務法) and the Act for the Establishment and Management of Free Ports (自由貿易港區設置管理條例), with the exception that service sectors may not hire foreign labor or workers from China.
Since October, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has been pushing to exempt the airport zone from labor regulations in local free trade zones — such as a minimum wage, requirements that foreign workers be limited to 40 percent of a company's work force and that Aborigines make up at least 5 percent.
The draft statute comes at a sticky timing when unemployment rates have been climbing to record highs and the number of people on unpaid leave even higher. It has also drawn criticism from labor associations, protesting that more Taiwanese would lose their jobs if the government opens up to more foreign labor.
The Taoyuan International Airport currently employs 8,000 domestic workers, but once the draft statute is passed, foreign workers could take up as much as 40 percent of the work force and 3,200 domestic workers could lose their jobs, said Mao Chen-fei (毛振飛), chairman of the Confederation of Taoyuan Trade Unions.
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
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