A forum in Taipei yesterday urged the government to adopt supplementary measures to protect the interests of Taiwanese workers following the signing of a cross-strait trade pact that will allow more Chinese professionals to work in Taiwan.
Liu Chin-hsin (劉進興), convener of Taiwan Thinktank’s social and humanities group, said the government should introduce measures requiring companies to hire a fixed number of local workers before recruiting Chinese managers or other professionals.
Liu said he also wanted the government to introduce regulations permitting Chinese professionals to stay the same length of time as Chinese nationals engaged in business.
Although current laws stipulate that Chinese visiting Taiwan for business purposes can stay no longer than three months per visit, there are no regulations on how long they can stay each year. Most Chinese professionals participating in professional activities can stay no more than four months each year, though certain categories of professionals are allowed to stay for a maximum of one year per visit.
Liu also called on the government to apply regulations governing foreign nationals engaged in professional work or business activities to Chinese nationals. Foreign nationals engaged in business must obtain a work permit from the Council of Labor Affairs and receive a monthly wage of no less than NT$47,971. These rules do not apply to their Chinese counterparts.
Finally, Liu proposed the government set a minimum turnover for Chinese companies and strictly review their annual performance to avoid an influx of “hot money” or market speculators.
Liu made the calls during a forum sponsored by Taiwan Thinktank to discuss the impact of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China on domestic employment.
Chang Kuo-cheng (張國城), a Taiwan Thinktank adviser, said the ECFA ushered in a “new three links” with China, facilitating the free flow of manpower, commodities and capital.
Although President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) vowed to ban the entry of more Chinese workers, Chang said the administration has since amended executive orders to allow more Chinese white-collar workers into the country, which will inevitably take away jobs from Taiwanese workers.
Chang Feng-yi (張烽益), executive director of the Taiwan Labor and Social Policy Research Association, said the number of Chinese professionals and Chinese nationals engaged in business activities in Taiwan rose 182 percent from 54,936 in 2007 to 155,137 last year thanks to the revised regulations.
Chang said the revisions were the administration’s attempt to “bury its head in the sand” and created a bridgehead for the entry of more Chinese workers. After the trade pact was signed, Chang said he suspected more Chinese companies would come to Taiwan and bring more Chinese white-collar workers with them.
Comparing the ECFA to Hong Kong’s Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), Wang To-far (王塗發), a professor of economics at National Taipei University, said his study showed the CEPA produced more problems than benefits.
The CEPA resulted in a second wave of industrial migration to China, undermining the manufacturing sector which was almost hollowed out, he said.
The Hong Kong-China pact also made the territory more economically reliant on China, and exacerbated poverty and the gap between rich and poor, he added.
Wang said he suspected the ECFA would have a similar impact on Taiwan, adding that unemployment would rise and the gap between rich and poor widen.
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