Officials plan to import labor from South Pacific

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on March 24, 2006. It reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of Labor Affairs in Taiwan are currently examining the feasibility of importing foreign laborers from countries in the South Pacific region. The focus will be on those countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Currently, most foreign workers in Taiwan came from Southeast Asia. So far Taiwan has imported some 320,000 workers and caregivers from the Southeast Asian countries alone.

Taiwan now has six diplomatic allies in the South Pacific region, including Nauru, Palau, the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Tuvalu. Various countries have expressed their interests in introducing laborers to Taiwan. Since Taiwan's local labor market is substantially larger than the amount of eligible workers from these South Pacific countries, it is estimated that the imported labor can be fully absorbed into the local market.

Meanwhile, according to officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan's allies in the Pacific region will be absent from an economic cooperation forum co-hosted by China.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is scheduled to visit Australia, Fiji and New Zealand in April 2006. After that, he will attend the first China-Pacific Islands Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum Ministerial Conference, which will take place in Fiji. The forum is supposed to focus on facilitating multifaceted cooperation in environmental protection, tourism, lawmaking, education, agriculture and fishery, and public health between China and the Pacific area.

To cultivate better relations with Fiji, China has provided US$1.17 million for the organization of the conference. It has also donated over US$13 million in financial aid so far in 2006.