New Delhi: After remarks surfaced from Taiwan’s labour minister suggesting that initial manpower from India would be recruited from the north-eastern states due to similarities in “skin colour,” dietary habits, and religion, the Taiwan foreign ministry expresses “sincere apologies” after criticism.
On February 29, Hsu Ming-chun, Taiwan’s minister of labour went to an online program on YouTube where she was questioned about the recently signed labour mobility agreement with India.
Hsu stated that the foreign office had identified workers from the Northeastern states as suitable candidates for the initial phase, emphasizing that only a small number would be introduced initially.
Explaining the reason for preferring Indians from the north-eastern states, the minister said, “Their skin colour and eating habits are similar to ours. Furthermore, most of them believe in Christianity.”
While the interview was published on March 1, the minister’s controversial remarks came to the attention of social media only over the weekend.
Attempting to control the damage, Taiwan’s foreign ministry issued an apology on Monday (Mar 4).
“Recently, in discussions with relevant sectors in Taiwan’s society, certain government agencies have made remarks that were not entirely appropriate. This has led to criticism among Taiwan’s society, Indian friends, and other international stakeholders. The government expresses sincere apologies over this situation. It will earnestly review its actions and make needed improvements going forward,” said the statement.
Stating that Taiwan “cherishes” India’s diversity in culture, It also noted that Taiwanese society had a wide array of views. “The Taiwan government also hopes that the people of Taiwan will support the country’s efforts to engage with the world, further advance substantive interactions with partners in the Indo-Pacific region, and thereby bolster reciprocal and mutually beneficial exchanges,” it said.
There has been no official reaction from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, till now.
The faux pas took place two weeks after Taiwan and India signed a labour mobility agreement, which would allow the island to import Indian workers to ease its severe manpower shortage.
The agreement was signed against the background of an online backlash that was triggered by a Bloomberg report that 100,000 Indian workers could apply for jobs in Taiwan.
It led to an explosion of protests on social media in Taiwan, with many expressing concerns that there would be an increase in crime rate and women’s safety would be compromised due to influx of worker.
At that time, Taiwan was in the middle of electioneering in November 2023, so it quickly became politicised. The opposition Nationalist Party’s candidate Hou Yu-ih questioned the need to take a decision on bringing in 100,000 workers when the island was focussed on elections.
Taiwan’s Labour ministry issued at least three clarifications over November and December that the persistent claims that the island was going to open its doors to 100,000 workers from India was false news. Meanwhile, the foreign ministry blamed China for deploying bots to “destroy ties between Taiwan and India”.
In the January polls, DPP returned to power for the third consecutive time, with President Lai Ching-te winning 40 percent of the votes.
A month later, the heads of the de-facto embassies in Taipei and New Delhi signed the memorandum of understanding to facilitate the employment of Indians in a series of industries in Taiwan.
Immediately, there was a barrage of criticism from opposition politicians that the government had misled with its earlier denials about importing Indian labour. The chair of opposition Taiwan People’s Party Ko Wen-je said that import of Indian workers had to be properly controlled, noting that the issue of fugitive workers was already a matter of “national security”.
As per the local law, the MoU will have to be reviewed by the Parliament known as Legislative Yuan, where the opposition Kuomintang has more lawmakers than DPP. Therefore, the government has to also woo other political parties to get approval for its legislative agenda.
The controversy came when India and Taiwan were trying to forge a closer ties on the economic front, even as both sides kept a wary eye at China. Last Thursday, India government approved the country’s first semiconductor manufacturing unit, a joint venture between the Tata conglomerate and Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp with an investment of $11 billion.
India follows a one-China policy, but it has not been articulated in any official diplomatic documents since 2009.
In 1995, New Delhi established the India-Taipei Association (ITA) in Taipei with the aim of facilitating business, tourism, and cultural exchanges. Concurrently, Taiwan established the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC) in Delhi during the same year.
New Delhi had typically refrained from commenting on cross-strait tensions. However, the freezing of ties with Beijing due to the border stand-off in eastern Ladakh likely prompted India to express its views for the first time in August 2022.
During the period of Chinese sabre-rattling following the visit of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, India urged all parties to “exercise of restraint, avoidance of unilateral actions to change the status quo, de-escalation of tensions and efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region”.
In the controversial interview, the minister had claimed that Taiwan had not added any new sources for workers for last 20 years, with legal migrants coming from only four countries, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The island currently hosts over 800,000 foreign workers.
With a rapidly aging population, Taiwan has been actively looking to bring in more foreign workers.
The minister claimed that China had approached Myanmar, Cambodia, and Bangladesh for bringing workers, but all three countries had demurred under pressure from China.
Taiwan, which was looking to diversify its sourcing of manpower from just four countries, would also have looked at the strategic value of getting Indian labour to work in the island.
Sana Hashmi, who is a fellow at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation in Taipei City, felt that the comments by the minister “may have stemmed from anxieties over opposition from certain sections regarding the pact”.
“Also, lack of familiarity with India plays a role here. It’s just another wake up call for Taiwan to understand India better,” the Indian scholar told The Wire.
Hashmi also noted that while the circumstances behind the comments remain unclear, “it’s evident that they do not represent the majority view and do not align with the government’s policy on India, which has been actively working to strengthen ties with India”.
Speaking to The Wire, Namrata Hasija, a research fellow at the Delhi-based Centre for China Analysis and Strategy said that if such statements kept coming, it would harm the relationship.
“They (Taiwan) should sensitise their ministers to India and they should understand that both countries have come a long way,” said Hasija, whose area of interest is India-Taiwan relations.
She highlighted the evolution from India and Taiwan not being prominently featured in each other’s foreign policy agendas to President Tsai Ing-wen actively mentioning India in her speeches, the Ministry of External Affairs issuing statements on a train accident and BJP lawmakers attending a presidential inauguration.
“But, if ministers, politicians and bureaucrats are not sensitized towards India… They don’t know India and they don’t understand how diverse India is, then such such hiccups will keep coming in and there will be a negative image about Taiwan here. Why give fodder to people who are trying to dismantle the relationship?” said Hasija, who is also a member of the advisory committee set up by Taiwan’s ministry of labour to look at labour issues with India.
The advisory committee had also discussed the minister’s remarks at their online meeting last week, where experts had pointed out the adverse consequences of her words.
When contacted by The Wire, the TECC in Delhi had issued a statement that while Taiwan would decide the number of Indian workers, India would recruit and provide training as per requirements. It also asserted that Indian workers will not be differentiated “based on race, skin colour or ethnicity as long as they meet the recruitment requirements”.
“Taiwan’s Ministry of Labour has recently held a consultation meeting with experts and scholars from both Taiwan and India regarding the labor mobility MOU and has taken note of India’s concerns,” said the TECC statement.
