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.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
RSS