The perception of tolerance and acceptance that foreigners have experienced in Taiwan in their living, working and cultural environment has not changed significantly in the past two years, a government survey suggested yesterday.
The survey, conducted by the Cabinet’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, showed that approximately 74.4 percent of foreign nationals surveyed were satisfied with the level of tolerance and acceptance they had experienced in Taiwan’s living, working and cultural environments, down slightly from a year earlier when the percentage stood at 75.1 percent.
Titled “2010 International Living Environment Satisfaction Survey,” the survey covered four main categories: strengthening immigration counseling assistance, broadening and attracting economic migrants, building a society of diverse cultures and indicators for an international living environment.
The survey showed respondents gave Taiwan’s overall living and cultural environment a high satisfaction rating of 80.5 percent, with “everyday shopping convenience” and “convenience in connecting with one’s home country” receiving the highest satisfaction ratings at 82.4 percent and 83.2 percent respectively.
The satisfaction level with Taiwan’s work environment was 76.4 percent, while the main reason for choosing to work in the country was “the desire to get to know Taiwan’s culture,” cited by about 41.2 percent of the respondents.
About 60.1 percent of the respondents were satisfied with their wages in Taiwan, while 78.2 percent, 88.4 percent and 61.2 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the friendliness of employers, the friendliness of co-workers and communication in the workplace respectively.
The satisfaction level with the benefits provided by companies was 53.6 percent, while the satisfaction level for Taiwan’s tax system for foreign workers was 44.2 percent.
The overall satisfaction level with Taiwan’s cultural tolerance was 64.8 percent.
However, 35.4 percent of respondents thought that Taiwanese people were not familiar with the cultures of their home countries, while 44.3 percent considered the English-language skills of Taiwanese to be average.
About 76.2 percent believed that Taiwanese were accepting, tolerant and open to learning about different cultures.
When it came to the topic of cultural integration in Taiwan, most respondents used English (40.9 percent) and Mandarin (35.0 percent) as their main languages of communication in their daily lives and at work.
The greatest percentage of respondents, about 38.5 percent, described the frequency of their social meetings with Taiwanese friends as “occasional,” followed by 24.1 percent who frequently socialized with Taiwanese. A total of 43.5 percent said they had an “average” knowledge of Taiwan’s culture, while 42.6 percent said they had a “good” knowledge.
The survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews between Aug. 1 and Sept. 15.
A total of 1,073 effective samples were collected, with a margin of error of 3 percent.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RSS