印度計劃在中國緊張局勢醞釀之際簽署台灣勞動力供應協議

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

India Plans Taiwan Labor Supply Pact While China Tensions Brew

Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Shruti Srivastava and Betty Hou

Fri, November 10, 2023 at 2:38 p.m. GMT+8

(Bloomberg) -- India is forging closer economic ties with Taiwan with a plan to send tens of thousands of workers to the island as early as next month, according to senior officials familiar with the matter, potentially angering neighbor China.

Taiwan could hire as many as 100,000 Indians to work at factories, farms and hospitals, the officials said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private. The two sides are expected to sign an employment mobility agreement by as early as December, the people said.

Taiwan’s aging society means it needs more workers, while in India, the economy isn’t growing fast enough to create enough jobs for the millions of young people who enter the labor market every year. Taiwan is projected to become a “super aged” society by 2025 with elderly people forecast to make up for more than a fifth of the population.

However, the employment deal is likely to ramp up geopolitical tensions with China, which opposes any official exchange with Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own. China is separated from Taiwan by a narrow body of water and shares a Himalayan border with India. It’s also been India’s top source of imports for the past two decades.

A pact with Taiwan does not suggest India is discarding the “One China Policy” — a position that recognizes the island as being a part of China. However, New Delhi has not reiterated that position in public documents and has instead fostered an active unofficial relationship with Taiwan.

The India-Taiwan jobs pact is now in the final stages of negotiation, Arindam Bagchi, a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters on Thursday. Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor didn’t specifically comment on the India deal when contacted by Bloomberg News, but said it welcomes cooperation with countries that could provide it with workers.

A mechanism to certify the health of Indian workers willing to move to Taiwan is still being worked out, people familiar with the discussions said.

In Taiwan, where the unemployment rate dropped to the lowest levels since 2000, the government needs workers to keep the $790 billion economy going. Taiwan is offering the Indian workers pay parity with locals and insurance policies to sweeten the deal, unlike other countries that New Delhi has struck agreements with, the people said.

In India, which overtook China to become the world’s most populous country this year, the government is pushing employment pacts with developed countries facing aging workforces.

So far, India’s government has signed agreements with 13 countries, including Japan, France and the UK, and is discussing similar arrangements with the Netherlands, Greece, Denmark and Switzerland, the people said.

Ties between India and China have been tense since a border clash in 2020, the worst-ever in four decades. Both countries have moved thousands of soldiers, artillery guns and tanks to the Himalayan region since then. Diplomatic talks have made little progress with China releasing a new map in August claiming some India-controlled territories.

Three former Indian military chiefs, who stepped down last year, visited Taiwan for a security conference this year — a trip that drew objections from Beijing. Taiwan and India also have an investment promotion pact inked in 2018.

Translation

（彭博）— 據知情高級官員透露，印度正在與台灣建立更緊密的經濟聯繫，併計劃最早下個月向台灣派遣數萬名工人，這可能會激怒鄰國中國。

官員表示，台灣可以僱用多達 10 萬印度人到工廠、農場和醫院工作。由於討論是私下進行，因此要求匿名。 知情人士稱，預計雙方最早將於 12 月簽署就業流動協議。

台灣的老化社會意味著需要更多的工人，而印度的經濟成長速度不夠快，無法為每年進入勞動市場的數百萬年輕人創造足夠的就業機會。 預計到 2025 年，台灣將成為「超級老化」社會，老年人將佔總人口的五分之一以上。

然而，這項就業協議可能會加劇與中國的地緣政治緊張局勢，中國反對與台灣進行任何官方交流，台灣則是一個北京聲稱擁有主權的自治島嶼。 中國與台灣僅一水之隔，與印度接壤喜馬拉雅山。 過去二十年來，它也是印度最大的進口來源。

與台灣達成協議並不意味著印度放棄「一個中國政策」 - 這項政策承認台灣是中國的一部分。 然而，新德里並未在公開文件中重申這一立場，而是與台灣建立了積極的非官方關係。

印度外交部發言人 Arindam Bagchi 週四對記者表示，印度與台灣的就業協議目前正處於談判的最後階段。 在接受彭博新聞社採訪時，台灣勞工部沒有具體評論印度協議，但表示歡迎與能夠向其提供工人的國家合作。

知情人士稱，一項用於證明願意前往台灣的印度工人健康狀況的機制仍在製定中。

在台灣，失業率降至 2000 年以來的最低水平，政府需要工人來維持 7,900 億美元的經濟運作。 知情人士稱，台灣向印度工人提供與當地人同等的工資和保險政策，以增加交易的吸引力，這與新德里其他國家已達成的協議不同。

印度今年超越中國成為世界上人口最多的國家，政府正在推動與面臨勞動力老化問題的已開發國家簽訂就業協議。

知情人士稱，到目前為止，印度政府已與日本、法國和英國等 13 個國家簽署了協議，並正在與荷蘭、希臘、丹麥和瑞士討論類似的安排。

自2020年發生四十年來最嚴重的邊境衝突以來，印度和中國之間的關係一直緊張。 此後，兩國已向喜馬拉雅地區派遣了數千名士兵、大砲和坦克。 外交談判幾乎沒有任何進展，中國八月發布了一份新地圖，聲稱對一些印度控制的領土擁有主權。

去年卸任的三名前印度軍事首長今年訪問台灣參加安全會議，但這次訪問遭到了北京的反對。 台灣和印度也於 2018 年簽署了投資促進協議。

So, India is developing closer economic ties with Taiwan with a plan to send tens of thousands of workers to the island that would potentially anger China. Taiwan may hire as many as 100,000 Indians to work at factories, farms, and hospitals. In the eyes of China, India probably is a trouble maker.