South East Asia – Taiwan Insight

The Fashioning of Filipino Community in Taiwan: OFW Beauty Pageants in the Era of Social Media

6 April 2021 Editor

Written by Yi-Yu Lai. As an anthropologist who studies Indigenous movements in the Philippine highlands, my experiences of beauty pageants’ are not rare. The beauty pageant has been culturally entrenched in the Philippines and its diasporic communities for many decades. Because these contests are very popular with Filipinos, some Indigenous youth advocates use them as an instrument for cultural activism, empowering participants and attracting those who were previously indifferent to political issues. Nevertheless, the Filipino beauty pageants of Taiwan are quite different from those I previously experienced.

“Eating Spinach”：The Taiwanese Working in Philippines Gambling Industry. Part II

9 February 2021 Editor

Written By William Kung 孔德廉. Regarding the dramatic changes brought about by the “spinach industry,” Wang Weiren, an old overseas Chinese who has lived in the Philippines for 60 years, described it as “locusts crossing the border.” Although the gambling industry has helped drive obvious GDP growth in the Philippines, the economic gains have not been shared by the public at large. Instead, it has been concentrated in the hands of a few Chinese business owners. Not only that, a large number of Chinese ethnic groups in the industry are not prepared to integrate into the local area. Instead, they are reluctant to change their ways and prone to conflict with the locals. If China and the Philippines were ever to join forces to crack down on illegal businesses, the first thing to bear would be the Philippine economy, which is currently overly dependent on the gambling industry.

“Eating Spinach”：The Taiwanese Working in Philippines Gambling Industry. Part I

8 February 2021 Editor

Written By Willian Kung. Ten years ago, Many Chinese, Malaysians, and Indonesians left their hometowns and moved to the Philippines to chase the gold rush triggered by online gambling. In recent years, the latest wave has attracted many Taiwanese. According to statistics from the Philippine Immigration Bureau, in 2018, more than 200,000 Chinese workers applied for work visas, 90% related to online casinos. There are also many Taiwanese living in the Philippines. In 2016, the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines issued a message stating “recently, there has been an increasing number of Taiwanese people going to the Philippines to work in the gambling industry, please be wary that risks often outweigh the rewards. Many have had their passports detained.”

台灣「新二代」運動

5 February 2021 Editor

作者：鄒佳晶。二十世紀八〇年代開始，跨國婚姻、移民為全球化人口流動的現象，在多元、種族文化的環境下，間接影響台灣人口結構的改變，新移民、新二代人口總數的增加，成為台灣的第五大族群。同時，新二代的文化形象在這三十年間也經歷了轉變。起初，由於文化碰撞，以及過往的資訊不發達，媒體輿論也出現許多負面社會新聞版面，東南亞被形塑為落後、經濟不穩定、人口素質低落的國家，也實際影響台灣的整體社會氛圍對於婚姻移民產生刻板印象，政府將新移民、新二代視為「社會問題」，使新二代在不友善的環境中成長，2016年政府推行新南向政策，新移民、新二代的議題開始被重視，隨著政策的改變，新二代的身份從過去的弱勢變成社會優勢、資本，希望透過擁有雙語言、雙文化優勢擔任國民外交南向小尖兵的角色

The Activism of the “The New Second Generation”

5 February 2021 Editor

Written by Chia-Ching Tsou. Around 2016, following the Tasi government’s New Southbound Policy, the government suddenly focused on a particular group of Taiwanese — the so-called “the new second generation.” The new second-generation refers to a group of young Taiwanese, some of whose parents are immigrants from Southeast Asian countries following the era of cross-border marriages. The government saw “the new second-generation” as human capital with the advantage of dual culture and language. Thus, it was well-positioned to serve as the vanguard for the New Southbound Policy. However, the government’s framing of the new second-generation ignores and overlooks the new second generation’s life experience and perspective.

Going To Paradise: The Online Gambling Industry And Taiwanese POGOs Workers In The Philippines

4 February 2021 Editor

Written by Zihlun Huang. There is a pervasive ambivalent feeling working in online gambling for Taiwanese workers. On the one hand, Taiwanese POGOs workers have to take high-risk jobs in this industry, such as working conditions, legal issues, and unsafe environments. On the other hand, they enjoy their salary, social status, and lifestyle in the Philippines. Nevertheless, after all is said and done, one thing is true—they believe that they are heading toward paradise.

The Collaborative Potential of Alternative Food Movements Between Taiwan and the Philippines

3 February 2021 Editor

Written By Shun-nan Chiang. Taiwan and the Philippines have various points of connections regarding agricultural development. When I conducted my dissertation research on agriculture-nutrition linkages in the Philippines, I frequently encountered references to Taiwan in the Philippine agriculture sector. I was told by a Filipino geographer researching the Philippine agritourism policy that the government’s primary model was Taiwan’s farm tourism. Indeed, I soon discovered that a farm owner I met in a conference toured around Taiwan with a group of business owners to survey Taiwan’s farm tourism. The day I finished my fieldwork in the Philippines, I also met some governmental officers from Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture and other agencies. They have been collaborating on a project with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) since 2015.

Creating Alternative Futures Through Indigeneities: Between Taiwan and the Philippines: Part II.

2 February 2021 Editor

Written By Yi-Yu Lai. ince the early 1980s, the PCT (The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan) intentionally organized groups visiting several countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, because they attempted to strengthen and magnify their overseas missionary work in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, they not only collaborated with a Taiwanese pastor Jun-Nan Li (李俊男), who started to serve in the City of Cagayan de Oro since 1978, but also made contacts with the UCCP (United Church of Christ in the Philippines). At first, those Taiwanese people were all set to introduce their preaching works to the Filipinos during their first visit of 1983. However, they serendipitously found that the Philippine Indigenous resistance experiences might become a possible alternative to address their church land issue in Taiwan.

Creating Alternative Futures Through Indigeneities: Between Taiwan and the Philippines: Part I

1 February 2021 Editor

Written by Yi-Yu Lai. n the late summer of 1986, a small group of Indigenous people from the PCT (The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan) led a delegation through the Philippines’ Cordillera region. As a delegation that attempted to study minority rights, those people not merely approached Negrito, Bontoc, and Ifugao communities to learn local issues, but also visited several grassroots organizations such as the CPA (Cordillera Peoples Alliance). Although it was not the first time the PCT arranged the Philippines’ tour, their visit’s timing was noteworthy. While martial law was still imposed in Taiwan, people in the Philippines just overthrew the Marcos dictatorship through the People Power Revolution at the beginning of that year

Protecting the ‘Orphans’: Advocacy Networks and Labour Movements in Taiwan

11 January 2021 Editor

Written by Ratih Kabinawa. In an attempt to raise awareness about the lives of marginalised groups in Taiwan, the Taiwan Studies Programme at the University of Nottingham, U.K., organised a movie screening and discussion – Migrant Lives Matter: ‘Nine Shots’ – that showcased the dark side of migrant labour recruitment and employment in Taiwan. The film reveals some perspectives from different stakeholders, including labour advocacy networks, in addressing problems related to Taiwan’s labour migration system. Using the movie as a prompt, this article explores various advocacy networks and migrant labour movements in Taiwan. Why and how do these networks emerge and organise themselves? What are their motivations and activities? And how do these networks advocate for policy change and work to build solidarity to empower migrant workers?

Taiwan Must Work with Indonesia to Combat Risks of Human Trafficking for Migrant Workers

25 November 2020 Editor

Written by Bonny Ling. Since late-July 2020, a diplomatic row has embroiled the governments of Indonesia and Taiwan over who in principle should pay the cost of recruitment for low-skilled workers seeking jobs abroad. To date, the industry norm is that low-skilled migrant workers pay these fees of recruitment or placement to labour brokers in their home country, months before they begin their work and see their first pay. In order to secure a job abroad, many borrow heavily to pay for these recruitment costs upfront.

How Taiwan Wins the Hearts of Southeast Asian States

6 August 2020 Editor

Written by Ratih Kabinawa and Jie Chen. President Lee Teng-hui transformed ROC Taiwan’s foreign policy from a rigid “man and bandits don’t co-exist” mindset, a dictum which defined the Chiangs’ era, to one focusing on pragmatic diplomacy. This stance emphasised flexible ways to promote Taiwan’s international standing as its own legitimate sovereign state. President Lee used Taiwan’s achievement as a new democracy with impressive economic and technological prowess to win fresh international sympathy and support.

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