Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

China on the brink of huge social changes

Paul Lin 林保華

Looking at the employee suicides at Hon Hai-owned Foxconn Technology Group’s plant in Shenzhen, China, as a mere labor dispute is superficial. It is easy to see that Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) is a visionary entrepreneur from his response to the events. In one week, he raised workers’ salaries twice — a total of 122 percent.

The raise satisfied workers, stunned competitors and forced the Chinese government to consider the long-term impacts of the decision on China’s development.

Chen’s son withdraws from DPP

Taipei Times

Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son yesterday withdrew from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and announced he would run for Greater Kaohsiung city councilor as an independent.

Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) declared his intention to run in the year-end elections earlier in the week. His formal announcement yesterday came in the wake of the Taiwan High Court’s ruling on Friday rejecting Chen Shui-bian’s appeal of his conviction on corruption, forgery and money laundering charges. However, sentences and fines were reduced in the second trial for Chen Shui-bian, his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) and six other defendants including Chen Chih-chung.

When USSR Disintegration Meets Japan's Lost Decade

Leo Wang

In one word – China.

The recent international media's reporting on suicides and labor unrest at the 400,000 employee Foxconn factory near Shenzhen got me thinking. Here are some gathered notes and musings:

Foxconn raises could change China

Taipei Times Editorial

Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) has announced two salary raises in a week for its Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, resulting in a total raise of 122 percent. The event has shaken the Taiwanese stock market, shocked Taiwanese businesspeople along the southern China coast and changed the environment for China’s export-oriented processing industry. Many Taiwanese investors and other foreign businesspeople now worry that the era when China was a low-cost paradise has come to an end with Hon Hai’s massive salary increases.

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