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Taiwan's labour minister Hsu Ming-Chun triggered a controversy by stating that his country will recruit small batches of migrant workers from the Christian areas of India's northeast where looks and dietary habits are similar to those in Taiwan. On Monday night, Taiwan foreign ministry sought to distance itself from the labour minister's remarks, apologised and claimed all workers will be treated fairly.
While the first batch of Indian workers (from the northeast) will enter Taiwan in the next six to 12 months, the scheme will gradually cover recruits from other Indian states, according to Taiwanese officials.
For the first time, a recruiting country has stated its preference for certain Indian states to recruit manpower, said people aware of the matter. They said the comments were uncalled for and smacked of racism as no recruiting country should narrow down its preference on the basis of looks, dietary habits and religion.
Indians have been recruited by West Asian nations in millions over the past five decades and neither the recruiting countries nor the employers have stated their preference for any particular Indian state or dietary habits or religion, the people said.
The Gulf countries host Indians from across the country and Taiwan should be sensitised about the diversity of India in the backdrop of growing ties between the two countries, the people said. Singapore, which also hosts Indian workers, in both blue-collar and white-collar segments, has never restricted its recruitment to a particular state, they said.
India and Taiwan last month signed a migration and mobility agreement which will facilitate the employment of Indian workers in diverse sectors in the island nation.
