During an interview published on Youtube on March 1, Taiwanese Labor Minister Hsu Ming-chun (許銘) expressed the Taiwanese government’s preference and effort to recruit migrant workers from northern India rather than southern India due to similarities in skin color and diet between northern India and Taiwan.
Taiwan has recently signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Taiwan and India to increase the number of migrant workers coming to India to Taiwan. Taiwan has pursued attracting labor from multiple places as the government wants to diversify from where it sources migrant laborers; the majority of migrant workers in Taiwan come from only four countries: Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Finding other countries in Asia willing to cooperate with Taiwan has been a challenge due to China’s increasing influence in the region. India expressed interested in helping Taiwan make up the gaps in their labor force by providing migrant workers. Taiwan was encouraged by this request as it shows willingness to engage with the Taiwanese government and because Indian migrant workers have been found to be reliable on the job.
However, in this interview aired on March 1, Hsu stated that they would begin their recruiting from a region in northern India because “Their skin color and eating habits are similar to ours. Furthermore, most of them believe in Christianity."
Hsu’s statement was quick to receive negative feedback from the Indian population in Taiwan. Priya Purswany, an Indian translator who has worked in Taiwan for many years said “[We were] slightly shocked. We kinda knew that that might be the area where people might want to get migrant workers from. But we didn’t expect it to be said in such plain terms.... [In Taiwan,] people are not as sensitive to what is politically correct or these types of issues that are getting a lot of international attention.”
Purswany believes that the labor minister made these comments due to some concern that had been circulating online within Taiwan about the dangers of having people with different appearances and cultures coming into Taiwan. However, instead of guaranteeing the population that the government would ensure those coming into Taiwan were quality workers who would adhere to Taiwanese laws or educating the population about the benefits of a diverse society, Hsu rather succeeded in reinforcing conscious and unconscious hurtful narratives about differences in skin-tone.
The next week the Ministry of Labor apologized and backtracked what Minister Hsu said. The Ministry expressed “sincere apologies over this situation.” They also clarified that “Taiwan will welcome any Indian worker who meets conditions for recruitment and satisfies industry demand, regardless of their ethnic background,” and Hsu implied “absolutely no discriminatory connotation when she mentioned ‘similar skin color’ in the interview. ”
However, the Minister’s comment was picked up by many online who expressed racist sentiment and fear of too many migrant workers from different cultures coming to work in Taiwan. Others fear that the damage control being done by the ministry is primarily focused on ensuring that India does not walk away from the table rather than truly acknowledging the hurt felt by the Indian population. Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, which many feel is essential to its national security, is looking to make significant investment in India. Some reports state that Taiwan is looking to hire as many as 100,000 laborers from India to fill essential positions in factories, hospitals, and farms.
This is just one small example of the challenges and discrimination that migrant workers have to endure while living abroad. Developed countries reap the benefits that these individuals bring to their communities, yet still treat them as less than due to their skin tone, religious background, and country of origin.
Check out this and other articles in Issue 2 of The Jiwa Journal.
Comments