The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has two job vacancies for foreign nationals whose mother tongue is Vietnamese or Indonesian and who are experienced in editing and translation work.
According to a job advertisement, the recruitment will last until Tuesday next week.
The ministry is seeking one foreign editor who speaks Vietnamese and one who speaks Indonesian, each of whom will be offered a monthly salary of NT$65,380, the advert said.
Successful applicants must not hold Republic of China identification, must have at least graduated from a university, must have at least two years of experience in editing or translating and must also be fluent in Chinese and English, it said. They must also be familiar with Taiwan affairs.
The editors will be responsible for writing, editing, proofreading and translating important speeches, media interviews, press statements and statements to be released at news conferences, the ministry said.
The recruitment drive was launched in accordance with the government’s “new southbound policy,” according to which Taiwan is to reinforce its exchanges with ASEAN and increase international promotional operations, the ministry said.
The recruitment was criticized by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Li-chan (林麗蟬), who said it “deprived new immigrants and their children of employment opportunities,” according to a United Evening News report published on Monday.
Lin said that there are 123,000 Vietnamese and Indonesian spouses of Taiwanese already in the country, and, along with their children, would total 200,000 to 300,000 people.
Among the new immigrants, there are many who hold high academic qualifications and have worked hard to learn Mandarin, Lin said.
“Many Indonesian immigrants’ children hold degrees from universities in Taiwan, Indonesia or the US. They are domestic talent who truly have linguistic and cultural competitiveness, but somehow they are not within the scope of the ministry’s recruitment drive,” Lin said.
The two job vacancies are only open to foreigners, meaning that no Taiwanese even have the chance of a job interview, Lin said, describing the recruitment as showing the ministry’s lack of trust in the talent produced by the nation’s education system.
The ministry said that the recruitment is being carried out based on government-approved personnel recruitment regulations for the employment of foreign editors.
The government hires foreign editors who speak English, French, Spanish, German and Russian. The Vietnamese and Indonesian recruits are needed to help promote the “new southbound policy,” the ministry said.
The ministry already employs “domestic” editors, it said, adding that public recruitment would be launched if those positions become vacant.
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