Local labor rights groups staged a demonstration in Taipei yesterday against what they said was the illegal import of Chinese workers by electronics manufacturers in Taiwan.
According to the groups, Chinese workers were brought to Taiwan under the guise of being highly skilled professionals, who are -legally allowed to stay in Taiwan for extended periods, but were discovered working in factories operated by Young Fast Optoelectronics Co, ASE Group and AU Optronics Corp.
Chu Cheng-chi (朱政麒), a spokesman for the protesters, said such illegal activities could be behind the sharp increase in Chinese businesspeople and highly skilled professionals visiting Taiwan in recent years.
Citing statistics from the -National Immigration Agency, Chu said 180,000 applications by Chinese businesspeople and professionals to visit Taiwan were approved last year, up from 90,000 the previous year. As of August, more than 160,000 such applications had been -approved, with the total number expected to top 200,000 by the end of this year, Chu said.
He said the situation, if proven true, would run counter to the government’s promise “not to open Taiwan to Chinese laborers,” and he demanded that the agency and the Council of Labor Affairs investigate the matter.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine reported on Wednesday that the practice was especially widespread among major electronics manufacturers that have a strong commercial presence in China. The allegations have prompted opposition lawmakers to urge the -government to crack down on -companies using Chinese labor in Taiwan under false pretenses.
Speaking in an interpellation on the legislative floor on Friday, Council of Labor Affairs Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) said that the council had never issued any work permits to citizens of the People’s Republic of China, as stipulated by 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).
According to Article 95 of the act, introducing workers from China into Taiwan would require approval by the Legislative Yuan, Wang said.
Addressing the issue at the same session, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) suggested that companies or organizations inviting Chinese citizens to Taiwan for training should have them wear special vests to prevent people from “trying to pass fish eyes for pearls.”
He added that Taiwan would not allow Chinese citizens to enter Taiwan for employment under the guise of receiving training or attending courses.
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