China-Bound for Jobs? The Influences of Social Connections and Ethnic Politics in Taiwan

Abstract

Taiwan has long been recognized as a labour-absorbing society, but today approximately 3 per cent of its population is working in China, an increasingly important destination for regional immigration. In this article we go beyond conventional immigration economics to examine how social connections and ethnic politics affect Taiwanese motivations to move to China for employment. Results from a national random-sample survey conducted in 2005 are used to analyse the willingness and potentiality of Taiwanese to work in China. The findings indicate that besides human capital factors, social networks and political/ethnic identity offer insights to understanding migrations among Taiwanese, as well as why the vast majority have so little interest in going China-bound.Taiwan is conventionally described as a labour absorbing society, 1 with the accumulated number of unskilled labourers entering from South-East Asia estimated at approximately 365,000 in 2008. 2 Today it is increasingly recognized as a labour sending society, with at least 3 per cent of its population of 23 million currently working in China 3in other words, the number of workers leaving Taiwan

“Foreign Brides” Meet Ethnic Politics in Taiwan

“…In our analysis, the managers and the professionals are collapsed into a “skilled professional class” as the former constitutes only 2.1% of the sample. Our classification outcomes show consistency with other waves of TSCS surveys (Tsai and Chang, 2010). The design of our class scheme reflects the major categories that the split labor market most concerns and should effectively tap potential differences among respondents from various employment positions (Scheepers, Gijsberts, and Coenders, 2002; Semyonov et al.…”

“…Exclusionism of this sort applies well to the Southeast Asians migrants. Yet, Formosan nationalism features a marked disposition to distrust Chinese‐related people or things – the Mainlanders, the Chinese Communist Party, cross‐strait investment, or “Made in China” products (Tsai and Chang, 2010), despite their common cultural heritage and genealogy. Likewise, a constructed national identity emerging among ethnic Taiwanese constitutes an element in a brewing antipathy and prejudice against Chinese immigrants.…”

“…Third, as the People’s Republic of China emerges as a regional and world power and continues to enforce the “one‐China” policy in which Taiwan is claimed to be part of China’s territory, it is conceived to be a serious threat to Taiwanese independence. As a result, a radicalized version of Taiwanese nationalism further promotes strong anti‐China attitudes , a position that actively discourages its supporters from relationships with goods or with people from across the Taiwan Strait (Tsai and Chang, 2010). 11 During 2000–2008, Taiwanese nationalism was reinforced by the DPP’s winning of two presidential elections, as well as by the Nationalist Party’s current policy shift toward developing closer ties with China.…”

“…Mainlanders are to some extent less represented in this wave of the TSCS survey, perhaps due to recent emigration of this group to China (Tsai and Chang, 2010). See also footnote 9.…”

Beyond Economic Interests: Attitudes toward Foreign Workers in Australia, the United States and East Asian Countries

“…Taiwanese respondents expressed the strongest support (70.0%) for restrictive policies aimed at foreign workers. The data reflect Taiwan's dramatic post-2005 shift from a net emigration to immigration country (Table 2) in the contexts of massive capital outflow to China and slower economic growth at home (Tsai & Chang 2010). Compared with the US and Australia, the generally higher percentages of people who are ‘undecided’ on immigration (neither agreeing nor disagreeing) in East Asia (except Taiwan), may reflect a relatively new phenomenon of immigration in the region; for many respondents, at this stage, their attitudes toward foreign workers are still ambivalent.…”