The Ministry of Labor has sent an official notice to several online job banks, saying that it is stepping up the enforcement of laws that prohibit them from helping Chinese employers recruit employees in Taiwan by placing job ads on their platforms.
Several job recruiting Web sites, including 104 Job Bank, 1111 and yes123, on Thursday confirmed that they had received the notice.
Yes123 said it has removed about 200 job openings in China from its Web site, most of which were in the preschool education sector.
The ministry’s notice stated that the development of China’s semiconductor industry has been adversely affected by the US-China technology war, so Beijing has resorted to stealing technology and poaching talent from Taiwan to build its own semiconductor supply chain, 104 Job Bank said.
As a result, experienced professionals working in Taiwan’s semiconductor sector have become a target for Chinese chip companies looking to secure talent, it said.
However, it is already illegal to advertise China job openings in Taiwan, with “advertisement” referring to the publication of job vacancy data, said Chen Shih-chang (陳世昌), a section head at the ministry’s Workforce Development Agency.
Only Taiwanese enterprises permitted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to invest in China are allowed to advertise China job vacancies in Taiwan, Chen said.
In addition, Taiwanese regulations prohibit headhunters from acting as brokers for individuals to work in China, he said.
In the past, these regulations were not strictly enforced in an effort to promote industrial exchanges between the two sides, he said.
However, China has over the past few months intensified its efforts to recruit Taiwanese professionals in the semiconductor and other strategic sectors, which could pose a competitive threat to Taiwanese industries, he said.
As a result, an inter-ministerial resolution was passed to strictly enforce regulations in this area, Chen added.
The ministry has sent a notice to recruitment firms asking them to check the listing of job vacancies on their Web sites, Workforce Development Agency Director-General Shih Chen-yang (施貞仰) said.
Those found illegally advertising vacancies in China can be fined between NT$100,000 and NT$500,000 (US$3,578 and US$17,889), while those serving as job brokers can be fined between NT$50,000 and NT$5 million, Shih added.
The Mainland Affairs Council on Thursday said that the ministy’s move is aimed at protecting national security and interests.
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