Labor groups want to talk to Beijing directly about increased capital flows from Taiwan to China, saying Taiwan's government has been too slow to act on the issue.
A delegation made up of labor groups plan to demonstrate outside the Hong Kong branch of the Xinhua News Agency (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The Hong Kong protest is aimed at drawing attention to labor issues in the event that cross-strait talks resume.
The groups want Taiwan's government to do more to protect the rights of workers who are left jobless when their employer moves factories to China, said Wu Yung-yi (
But the government has often said that it is powerless to prevent companies from shifting their manufacturing base to China, Wu said.
Organizers would not say exactly what their mission to Hong Kong would be, except that they hoped to call attention to the impact capital flight has on Taiwan workers.
"With this trip, we're hoping Chinese authorities will understand Taiwan laborers' misfortune and see what [Chinese authorities] can do for us," Wu said.
The labor groups announced the Hong Kong trip yesterday outside the Council of Labor Affairs.
Since 1988, Taiwan labor groups have staged a united demonstration in the autumn of every year -- except last year, when it was canceled due to the 921 earthquake.
This year's march, however, was postponed because of an overlap with a planned anti-nuclear march. The groups decided to push it back until March 18 next year, the anniversary of President Chen Shui-bian's
In the past few years, the main objective of the autumn march has always been "against [company] closures, against joblessness."
Through the marches, laborers have successfully won measures to include unemployment insurance in the government's social security policy.
Labor groups said, though, that they could do little to prevent Taiwan employers from moving their businesses to China.
In response to the growing phenomenon, the groups decided to extend the domestic event across the Strait this year. According to the groups, they had wanted to go to Beijing to demonstrate, but were refused permission by Chinese authorities.
On Nov. 12, the groups will hold a symbolic ritual outside the Presidential Office. Soon after that, the delegation will leave for Hong Kong.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS