Mongolians in Taiwan

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Mongolians in Taiwan began migrating to the island in 2004. Authorities on Taiwan began laying the groundwork for the importation of migrant labourers from Mongolia as early as 2002, with the establishment of a Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar and implementation of a system for checking the criminal records of prospective migrants.^[1] The plan initially faced opposition; a former chairman of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission criticised it as "diplomatic pork barrel" and a covert attempt by the Democratic Progressive Party to push their platform of desinicisation by expanding bilateral ties with Mongolia, which the Republic of China government had previously considered to be Chinese territory and not an independent country.^[2] Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs finally gave their approval for the recruitment of Mongolian workers in January 2004. The initial response in Mongolia was strong, with Mongolia's Central Employment Office reporting that over 20,000 people had expressed interest in a professional skills and Chinese-language training course for workers headed to Taiwan. 7,000 people were eventually admitted to the programme; 90% of applicants were between 20 and 35 years of age, and 45% were female. One Mongolian official said that Taiwan offered better employment conditions for migrant workers than traditional destinations such as Japan, South Korea, or Eastern European countries, including higher wages (five times those offered in Mongolia) and the provision of health insurance.^[3] The first workers recruited under the programme, a group of eleven female nurses between the ages of 25 and 40, arrived in mid-May of 2004; the second batch was scheduled to arrive the following month.^[4]^[5] By September of that same year, a total of 77 Mongolians had come to Taiwan for work.^[6]