A survey of foreign nationals living in this country found that 88.8 percent think that Taiwanese are “friendly.”
The overall satisfaction for bilingual markings on product packaging, however, remained the lowest category in the survey, with just 19.5 percent of respondents saying they were satisfied.
National Immigration Agency (NIA) Director-General Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) said he was surprised that 74.8 percent of respondents said they “do not know about” or “had no comment” on the Information for Foreigners Web site and the International Community Service Hotline.
The hotline (0800-024-111) provides Chinese, English or Japanese language help for foreigners on issues such as visas, employment, taxation, health insurance and transportation.
Hsieh said the center received 53,072 calls last year, up from 30,712 in 2007, and the number was even higher this year.
“But apparently we need to do more to advertise the 24-hour service,” he said.
The survey polled white-collar foreign workers, with 1,076 valid samples received from a population of 18,532. The poll will serve as a reference for the government in reviewing its policies on attracting professional personnel.
Hsieh said there are about 960,000 foreigners and immigrants in the country, including manufacturing and construction workers, careworkers and people married to Taiwanese.
The survey found that foreigners’ overall satisfaction with the living environment has continued to increase, rising from 67.9 percent last year to 75.1 percent this year.
Many respondents said they found it difficult to understand rules and regulations governing foreign workers, and just 38.3 percent said they were satisfied.
Satisfaction levels for the friendliness of employees and coworkers were 78.5 percent and 87.1 percent respectively, while the satisfaction level for wages was 62.1 percent.
The overall satisfaction level with Taiwan’s cultural tolerance was 65.2 percent. In this category, 41.4 percent of respondents thought Taiwanese were unfamiliar with the culture of their home countries, 44.2 percent considered the English ability of Taiwanese to be average, while 72.1 percent said Taiwanese were accepting, tolerant and open to learning about different cultures.
In other survey news, the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission released the results yesterday of a nationwide poll on the digital divide. It has conducted such polls since 2001.
The commission found that 67.7 percent of respondents above the age of 12 and 78 percent of households have Internet access and the Internet population is close to 14 million.
This year, the significant increase in middle-aged and senior-citizen Internet users indicates that efforts by the government to narrow the digital divide have achieved some results, Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Minister Chu Chin-peng (朱景鵬) said.
Another key finding was that the Internet connection rate for households has stagnated at 24 percent for households with a monthly income of less than NT$20,000 and 96 percent for households with an income of more than NT$70,000.
The survey was conducted between July 13 and Aug. 21.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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