According to data from the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics, a total of 350,100 foreign laborers were working in Taiwan as of the end of June 2007. This is 4.1 percent higher than the figure recorded in the same period last year. The tallies indicated that 176,000 foreign workers were employed in the manufacturing sector, while 161,000 were in the social and individual services sectors, including 158,000 health care assistants and 2,544 household workers. By nationality, the largest group of foreign migrant workers in Taiwan is from Indonesia at 103,000, followed by 90,000 from Thailand and 88,000 from the Philippines.
A fire broke out at the foreign workers' dormitory of the CTCI Corp. in Kuanyin, Taoyuan Country in northern Taiwan on 1 September. There were no reported casualties among the foreign construction workers living in the dormitory. Most of them were at work when the fire broke out while those who were at the premises at that time managed to flee.
Data released by the Taipei local government on 6 September revealed that nearly one in five marriages registered in the city in the first half of this year involved a non-Taiwanese spouse. Some 1,628 of the 8,207 marriages registered in the capital city between January and June, involved a foreign spouse, usually a Chinese citizen. As of the end of June, Taipei recorded a total of 3,028 "new immigrants," a term referring to the foreign and Chinese spouses of Taiwanese residents in the city.
Hundreds of foreign spouses demonstrated in front of the Executive Yuan on 9 September to demand a scrapping of government regulations requiring them to meet minimum financial qualifications when applying for Taiwanese citizenship. The group said the requirement is discriminatory and violates their human rights. They also raised doubts about Taiwan's eligibility for membership in the United Nations given the country's record of discrimination against immigrants.
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) chairperson Chen Ming-tong announced government plans to review regulations regarding the employment of the Chinese spouses of Taiwanese nationals and adjust them, if necessary, in order to make the existing system "more inclusive." According to Chen, the move is part of government efforts to come up with a more comprehensive policy to protect the working rights of immigrants. He made the statement at a Chinese spouses' festival in Taichung on 8 September. Currently, there are about 257,800 Chinese spouses married to nationals in Taiwan.
Sources: Sofia Wu, "Intermarriages on the rise in Taipei," Taiwan Headlines, 6 September 2007; "One out of five marriages involve non-Taiwanese," Taiwan Headlines, 7 September 2007; "Over 350,000 foreign laborers in Taiwan – statistics," Taiwan Headlines, 8 September 2007; Y.L. Kao, "Government to review Chinese spouses employment regulations," Taiwan Headlines, 9 September 2007; Shih Hsiu-chuan, "Rules on foreign spouses must change, groups say," Taipei Times, 10 September 2007; "MAC set to review regulations for PRC spouses' employment," Taiwan Headlines, 10 September 2007; "Rules on foreign spouses must change, groups say," Taiwan Headlines, 10 September 2007; "No casualties in foreign laborer dorm fire," The China Post, 11 September 2007