President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday.
Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit.
Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said.
Photo: CNA
Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said.
Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would help implement part of the plan by establishing education-to-employment pipelines stretching back to Taiwan, he said.
The firms would offer grants to attract high-achieving young people to study and work in Taiwan, he said.
After being professionally trained, they would return to their country of origin to work for the Taiwanese firm’s local branch, Kuo said.
Meanwhile, foreign-based companies building data centers in Taiwan would be required to employ a half-and-half workforce made up of foreign and local engineers to boost the nation’s indigenous research and development capabilities, he said.
These measures are necessary because population decline is expected to reduce the domestic supply of elite workers needed by the high-end manufacturing industries crucial to the nation’s economy, Kuo said.
Importing workers would not negatively affect Taiwan’s job market, as the foreign workers would be employed to deal with a labor shortage in Taiwan’s industries, he said.
The Ministry of the Interior is reviewing immigration and tax laws to see if changes can be made to facilitate recruitment for Taiwanese semiconductor, medical care and biopharmaceutical firms, Kuo said.
The nation’s technical leadership in these fields could help to recruit foreign talent, he added.
Kuo said he visited the US state, commerce and treasury departments to communicate the importance of eliminating double taxation with the US, he said.
The delegation emphasized that the issue is a stumbling block for Taiwanese small and medium-sized businesses planning to invest in the US, Kuo said.
US officials were urged to draft a bill to deal with that problem, he said, adding that the officials expressed optimism that the US Congress would swiftly pass related legislation awaiting review in the US Senate.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS