Amid allegations that prominent electronics manufacturer Young Fast Optoelectronics had been using Chinese labor, opposition lawmakers yesterday urged the government to crack down on companies using Chinese labor in Taiwan under false pretenses.
Permits for Young Fast’s workers were reportedly issued after the company said that the workers would be in Taiwan for professional training.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) said the case could be the tip of the iceberg, adding that the government “owed the public an answer.”
“Just how many more cases of companies illegally using Chinese workers under the cover of -professional exchanges will we find?” she asked in the legislature, adding that they were “taking jobs” away from Taiwanese workers.
“After all, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that he would definitely not allow workers from China to find jobs in Taiwan,” DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said, referring to an election pledge Ma made in 2008.
According to the latest statistics from the National Immigration Agency (NIA), the number of -professional exchanges from China has doubled since 2008. About 1,000 so-called professionals from China came to Taiwan in the first seven months of this year, compared with a total of 1,301 last year.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine reported yesterday that the practice was especially widespread among major electronics manufacturers that have a strong commercial presence in China. The magazine wrote that Kaohsiung-based Advanced Semiconductor Engineering had 366 Chinese workers visit Taiwan last year. Since 2008, 443 Chinese workers from AU Optronics also took part in the program.
While the Act Governing Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) forbids Chinese citizens from working in Taiwan, companies that fulfill certain criteria are allowed to apply in advance for teams of employees to visit Taiwan for professional development.
Visits are limited to four months per year and the participants are prohibited from engaging in “normal working behavior.”
Liao Wei-jen (廖為仁), the deputy director of the Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training at the Council of Labor Affairs, said violators would be fined between NT$200,000 (US$6,475) and NT$1 million and their Chinese workers would be deported.
He said the regulations meant the government “definitely has not opened up” to workers from China.
However, Chang Chi (張琪), deputy director-general at the NIA, the agency responsible for policing the program, admitted that spot checks were not conducted because of broad, and varying, definitions of what work entails. Instead, the NIA first conducts background checks on applicants. He added that the limited time Chinese workers were allowed to visit Taiwan along with the high cost of the program were “more than enough” to deter potential violations.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a