not including those "working from home" --- a.k.a WFH
Quote:
Originally Posted by budhusa
"one of about 15 admitted they were forced to work overtime beyond the legal limit."
one of "about 15"??? haha...big deal...
...i'm self-employed, but a number of my friends who work at regular companies are forced to work overtime regularly while not getting paid jack shit extra...its called deadlines...
it is the deal between foxconn and the family. so i don't get why you are so upset about it. btw, how do you know the macbook for his girlfriend?
anyway, local government can file criminal investigation into this. i don't think even US judicial system disallows such a deal btw 2 potential litigation parties out of the court.
where did you get the impression that workers are whipped here or executed there in china?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Olternaut
$44,000 to the family? A freaking macbook for the girlfriend? This is nightmarishly evil disgusting stuff people.
It would be interesting to see if the countries around the world would be still pressured to do business with China if China dropped the act and started mistreating their employees openly.
Some whippings here, some public execution of workers on the job there....you know...to keep them in line and get productivity back up.
I'll bet some politicians would voice outrage.......but nothing is done about it.
interesting... last time i checked that taiwan is supposedly a democratic society with the highest respect on human rights and values. it is ironic...
Quote:
Originally Posted by idannyb
Hon Hai Precision is the Foxconn subsidiary that manufacturers iPhones. While Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision) is a Taiwan-based company, they build Apple products at their massive facilities (plant, stores, restaurants, dormitories) in Shenzhen, China.
As my brother used to say, "If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas." This sort of press is just the price of doing business in China. It is naive to think that work conditions and human rights would be the same in a factory in China as it is in America. That is why companies do business there in the first place. If Apple wanted to make sure that all employees were treated with respect and dignity with a decent wage for work ratio, they would build the products in America. This is the result of saving money at any cost.
This is the inevitable conclusion of lying down with a totalitarian state. Just ask Google.
To be honest we are all partially to blame.
Whether it is cheap electronic good, food, petrol..... your maid..
For example, in the US/UK the minorities do many of the jobs locals would not rather do.. be that cleaning, construction, restaurants, bathroom attendant..
But in the end it is a wage and many of them scrimp and save to better themselves.
This is the same in Asia.. be it tuna from the Philippines, chicken meat or rice from Thailand etc.. on a relative scale they are only being paid several dollars a day, but in many cases these factories are cleaner, safer and healthier than staying in their village and being malnourished.
Recently there was a reality/documentary in the UK called Blood, Sweat and Takeaways which pitched a bunch of young adults into Asia to see how your food is produced in some of these factories. They all said the same thing... poor conditions, hard work.. etc.. but then they were placed in the position to live on a rice farm.. that was tougher, a lot tougher, living day to day.
So, without appreciating where some of these people have come from you cannot say how bad it is actually for them. I know it may not meet some of the Western standards (that even we cannot adhere to).. but in reality these countries are dragging themselves out of 2nd/3rd world status.
In the west, it took us decades - and we want them to do this in a matter of years??
You're joking, right? It has to be some sort of limitation in my own capabilities to sense humor, because this question doesn't make sense otherwise. We may have a "one China" policy, but our education isn't in such decay that you wouldn't know that Taiwan and China are essentially two very different countries, yes?
Could also pit life expectancy of one against the other, traditional versus simplified characters, median age, average education and so on.
When you respond could you use pictures and small words to explain the joke to me? Explain it to me as if I were six. Thanks.
P.S. Someone made an excellent point earlier about most of Foxconn's factories being in China, still, Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, Taiwan is a democracy and to not take that into consideration is just silly.
You're joking, right? It has to be some sort of limitation in my own capabilities to sense humor, because this question doesn't make sense otherwise. We may have a "one China" policy, but our education isn't in such decay that you wouldn't know that Taiwan and China are essentially two very different countries, yes?
Could also pit life expectancy of one against the other, traditional versus simplified characters, median age, average education and so on.
When you respond could you use pictures and small words to explain the joke to me? Explain it to me as if I were six. Thanks.
sorry about it question... i thought taiwan was a colony of japan.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wraithofwonder
P.S. Someone made an excellent point earlier about most of Foxconn's factories being in China, still, Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, Taiwan is a democracy and to not take that into consideration is just silly.
darn it, you are so right. i just can not understand how come a company from a democratic region could commit such horrendous act to its employee. maybe they think they are just much better than those meager and worthless chinese.
if one can say "internet" 3 times, then s/he would be the most knowledgeable person in the whole world?
so you do use wiki on the internet... do you know there are so many disputes on the wiki items, inputed by different persons? take this accident for example. if you write an item on this event, i bet your version would be different from mine. do you know what this implies? whose version can you trust or rely on? yes, wiki is good if you want to know some questions like "how many feet a meter is".
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoctorBenway
There's a site called Wikipedia - it's on the internets. Can you say "internet"?
if one can say "internet" 3 times, then s/he would be the most knowledgeable person in the whole world?
so you do use wiki on the internet... do you know there are so many disputes on the wiki items, inputed by different persons? take this accident for example. if you write an item on this event, i bet your version would be different from mine. do you know what this implies? whose version can you trust or rely on? yes, wiki is good if you want to know some questions like "how many feet a meter is".
Wikipedia is decent enough of a resource to point out that they're two completely different countries. Or did you still want to split hairs on how completely horrible you are on basic geography.
Let me guess - you've wearing a REALLY large belt buckle right now.
fair enough... so you like the geography on wiki... ok, let us read the wiki page on taiwain and in case you and i don't look on the same page, here is my quote:
========
Since the end of the World War II in 1945, the island group has been under the administration of the Republic of China, which was then the de facto government of all China.[3] The island group is, however, claimed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), which was established in 1949 on mainland China, displaced the ROC, and considers itself the successor state to the ROC[4] with the exception of Mongolia. Since the 1970s, ROC itself (which has been located only in Taiwan) is commonly known as "Taiwan".
========
does this paragraph ring any bell on your geographic genius mind? if needed, i could provide more info on this topic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoctorBenway
Wikipedia is decent enough of a resource to point out that they're two completely different countries. Or did you still want to split hairs on how completely horrible you are on basic geography.
Let me guess - you've wearing a REALLY large belt buckle right now.
"Sun worked in Foxconn's Shenzhen production site, the company's largest, which employs more than 270,000 workers."
Wikipedia:
Shenzhen (Chinese: 深圳市; pinyin: Shēn zhèn shì; IPA: [ʂéntʂên]) is a city of sub-provincial administrative status in southern China's Guangdong province.
It's amusing when people don't know the difference between China and Taiwan.
hint: Foxconn is in Taiwan - not mainland China. Every single post about Chinese workers and the govt - is about as relevant as talking about freaking UGANDA in this instance. Can you find Taiwan on a map? It's another country with it's own govt "and stuff"
Many of Foxconn's major factories are in Shenzhen China. Google is your friend.
Unions need to die a vicious death. They have been one of the biggest parties in the downward spiral of the economic system in this country.
Greed, entitlement & self justification - not to mention the MAIN REASON U.S. jobs have been exported to other countries. Hell, what did we expect?
Sorry to burst your bubble but the MAIN reason U.S. jobs have been exported to 3rd world countries is GREED ... pure and simple ... ask yourself this ... has the price of these goods and services been lowered to the U.S. consumer to reflect lower production costs ? ... hint ( think Nike )
Big business will always do whatever we ALLOW them to do, as long as it makes them more $$$$
Greed in the financial world caused the economic collapse, not union workers. Yes, there are SOME ill advised and greedy unions but I'll wager that management greed is a lot more prevalent in our "free capitalistic " society. Remember, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As long as we , as a society, continue to blame the easy targets, the ones that don't have much power to hide behind, we will continue to be a nation of consumers, not producers. What unions TRY to do is even out the power base so that management can't run amuck ... inmho a worthwhile goal. As SJ would say ... one more thing ... check out the countries with the highest standard of living ... almost always the ones with a high union representation.
Sorry to burst your bubble but the MAIN reason U.S. jobs have been exported to 3rd world countries is GREED ... pure and simple ... ask yourself this ... has the price of these goods and services been lowered to the U.S. consumer to reflect lower production costs ? ... hint ( think Nike )
Big business will always do whatever we ALLOW them to do, as long as it makes them more $$$$
Greed in the financial world caused the economic collapse, not union workers. Yes, there are SOME ill advised and greedy unions but I'll wager that management greed is a lot more prevalent in our "free capitalistic " society. Remember, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As long as we , as a society, continue to blame the easy targets, the ones that don't have much power to hide behind, we will continue to be a nation of consumers, not producers. What unions TRY to do is even out the power base so that management can't run amuck ... inmho a worthwhile goal. As SJ would say ... one more thing ... check out the countries with the highest standard of living ... almost always the ones with a high union representation.
Yes it is greed...
But you cannot ignore the Unions. Look at the auto works, their pensions were obscene. I am all for getting paid well, but getting 70-100k a year ie effectively your annual wage when you retire.. (effectively adding $1.5-2k on to the purchase prie of every new US auto)..
Now thats greed.
And,.. we are all guilty. We want the inthing.. cheap goods.. if those union workers are charging so much, where do you think these items are goingt o be made then?
But you cannot ignore the Unions. Look at the auto works, their pensions were obscene. I am all for getting paid well, but getting 70-100k a year ie effectively your annual wage when you retire.. (effectively adding $1.5-2k on to the purchase prie of every new US auto)..
Now thats greed.
And,.. we are all guilty. We want the inthing.. cheap goods.. if those union workers are charging so much, where do you think these items are goingt o be made then?
I read a good article (End of the Road by Ben Austen, Harper's, 8/09) that included your anti-union statistic the other day:
"GM?s competitive disadvantage has most often been illustrated by the $50 billion it owes its retirees in health care and other benefits, a fixed cost that, critics of unions like to argue, adds an additional $1,600 to the price of every vehicle produced. But this statistic is misleading: the staggering inefficiencies of American auto companies go far beyond any gains that once were won by labor. For the past two decades, the three car manufacturers have spent less than their foreign rivals on the development of new fuel-efficient cars, focusing instead on ever-bigger SUVs and light trucks. GM?s failure to successfully manage costs?as well as its own size?can be seen in its 13,650 U.S. dealerships, with each one, even in 2007, selling an average of only 280 cars; Toyota, by contrast, had 1,450 U.S. dealerships selling 1,800 cars apiece."
I was reminded of Francis Bacon's words (quoted by John Allen Paulos in Irreligious) pointing out the human tendency that would come to be known as 'confirmation bias':
"The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion . . . draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be a greater number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects and despises."
Foxconn seems to have very little respect for its employees, and with China's record on trying to maintain "public image" over "true integrity", there seems to be very little that Foxconn WOULDN'T say. I personally find anything that Foxconn says to be hard to believe in fullness.
Anything Foxconn says will be tainted with business interest, not integrity. Their business is based on Apple's buying from them, and thats based on public image and integrity. If they lose that, people may not be happy with Apple, and Apple may be FORCED to change. We don't see what happens in the factories. That means they can say whatever they like, and not let anyone actually SEE what's going on.
Chinese "honesty" doesn't really convince me - from the Government, or from their businesses. They are both of a country and culture where they say one thing, and do something totally different.
You mean kinda like American Politicians in this country?
This is reprehensible, truly despicable that they would still try to smear the guy even after they had driven him to suicide; even after admitting liability by paying off his family (no matter how pathetic the pay-off was). However, least we American get too pious about it, we should remember that our own FBI did this to a gentle scientist named Bruce Ivans, using no more evidence than FoxConn did, and continues to this day to smear his name despite a total lack of evidence linking him to the crime. Apple definitely should take some responsibility for this, and other abuses, that have and are taking place at FoxConn, but we Americans can easily also stop buying those products, any products made in China for that matter, and even more to the point, hold our own government accountable for practicing the same behavior (and this Administration is just as guilty as the last; it has been six months and none of this modus has changed).
maybe they think they are just much better than those meager and worthless chinese.
Although a growing number would self identify as Taiwanese, last I knew, most of them consider themselves to be Chinese - if not most now, it would still be a good number. Mandarin Chinese is the official language of Taiwan.
If anything, the situation is probably more about a large corporation thinking they can hide the treatment of their employees rather than the government or people of where the corporation's headquarters is. I mean, when haven't we seen that?
_________
Soundproof rooms, undocumented workers and long hours is how I produce much of the crap I post here. You really think I have this much time? :P
Comments
"one of about 15 admitted they were forced to work overtime beyond the legal limit."
one of "about 15"??? haha...big deal...
...i'm self-employed, but a number of my friends who work at regular companies are forced to work overtime regularly while not getting paid jack shit extra...its called deadlines...
anyway, local government can file criminal investigation into this. i don't think even US judicial system disallows such a deal btw 2 potential litigation parties out of the court.
where did you get the impression that workers are whipped here or executed there in china?
$44,000 to the family? A freaking macbook for the girlfriend? This is nightmarishly evil disgusting stuff people.
It would be interesting to see if the countries around the world would be still pressured to do business with China if China dropped the act and started mistreating their employees openly.
Some whippings here, some public execution of workers on the job there....you know...to keep them in line and get productivity back up.
I'll bet some politicians would voice outrage.......but nothing is done about it.
Hon Hai Precision is the Foxconn subsidiary that manufacturers iPhones. While Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision) is a Taiwan-based company, they build Apple products at their massive facilities (plant, stores, restaurants, dormitories) in Shenzhen, China.
http://iphonasia.com/?p=2874
Foxconn seems to be digging themselves deeper. They might as well say something like "iphone is serious business" and move on.
Yeah DoctorBenway, please educate us on the key differences between Chinese workers vs Taiwanese workers, their rights, and their work conditions.
There's a site called Wikipedia - it's on the internets. Can you say "internet"?
VERY GOOD!
As my brother used to say, "If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas." This sort of press is just the price of doing business in China. It is naive to think that work conditions and human rights would be the same in a factory in China as it is in America. That is why companies do business there in the first place. If Apple wanted to make sure that all employees were treated with respect and dignity with a decent wage for work ratio, they would build the products in America. This is the result of saving money at any cost.
This is the inevitable conclusion of lying down with a totalitarian state. Just ask Google.
To be honest we are all partially to blame.
Whether it is cheap electronic good, food, petrol..... your maid..
For example, in the US/UK the minorities do many of the jobs locals would not rather do.. be that cleaning, construction, restaurants, bathroom attendant..
But in the end it is a wage and many of them scrimp and save to better themselves.
This is the same in Asia.. be it tuna from the Philippines, chicken meat or rice from Thailand etc.. on a relative scale they are only being paid several dollars a day, but in many cases these factories are cleaner, safer and healthier than staying in their village and being malnourished.
Recently there was a reality/documentary in the UK called Blood, Sweat and Takeaways which pitched a bunch of young adults into Asia to see how your food is produced in some of these factories. They all said the same thing... poor conditions, hard work.. etc.. but then they were placed in the position to live on a rice farm.. that was tougher, a lot tougher, living day to day.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...akeaways_Tuna/
So, without appreciating where some of these people have come from you cannot say how bad it is actually for them. I know it may not meet some of the Western standards (that even we cannot adhere to).. but in reality these countries are dragging themselves out of 2nd/3rd world status.
In the west, it took us decades - and we want them to do this in a matter of years??
so what are the differences?
You're joking, right? It has to be some sort of limitation in my own capabilities to sense humor, because this question doesn't make sense otherwise. We may have a "one China" policy, but our education isn't in such decay that you wouldn't know that Taiwan and China are essentially two very different countries, yes?
The Republic of China a.k.a. Taiwan:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/tw.html
Per capita GDP: $31,900.00 USD
The People's Republic of China a.k.a. China:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/ch.html
Per capita GDP: $6,000.00 USD
Could also pit life expectancy of one against the other, traditional versus simplified characters, median age, average education and so on.
When you respond could you use pictures and small words to explain the joke to me? Explain it to me as if I were six. Thanks.
P.S. Someone made an excellent point earlier about most of Foxconn's factories being in China, still, Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, Taiwan is a democracy and to not take that into consideration is just silly.
You're joking, right? It has to be some sort of limitation in my own capabilities to sense humor, because this question doesn't make sense otherwise. We may have a "one China" policy, but our education isn't in such decay that you wouldn't know that Taiwan and China are essentially two very different countries, yes?
no, i was not joking.
The Republic of China a.k.a. Taiwan:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/tw.html
Per capita GDP: $31,900.00 USD
The People's Republic of China a.k.a. China:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/ch.html
Per capita GDP: $6,000.00 USD
Could also pit life expectancy of one against the other, traditional versus simplified characters, median age, average education and so on.
When you respond could you use pictures and small words to explain the joke to me? Explain it to me as if I were six. Thanks.
sorry about it question... i thought taiwan was a colony of japan.
P.S. Someone made an excellent point earlier about most of Foxconn's factories being in China, still, Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, Taiwan is a democracy and to not take that into consideration is just silly.
darn it, you are so right. i just can not understand how come a company from a democratic region could commit such horrendous act to its employee. maybe they think they are just much better than those meager and worthless chinese.
so you do use wiki on the internet... do you know there are so many disputes on the wiki items, inputed by different persons? take this accident for example. if you write an item on this event, i bet your version would be different from mine. do you know what this implies? whose version can you trust or rely on? yes, wiki is good if you want to know some questions like "how many feet a meter is".
There's a site called Wikipedia - it's on the internets. Can you say "internet"?
VERY GOOD!
if one can say "internet" 3 times, then s/he would be the most knowledgeable person in the whole world?
so you do use wiki on the internet... do you know there are so many disputes on the wiki items, inputed by different persons? take this accident for example. if you write an item on this event, i bet your version would be different from mine. do you know what this implies? whose version can you trust or rely on? yes, wiki is good if you want to know some questions like "how many feet a meter is".
Wikipedia is decent enough of a resource to point out that they're two completely different countries. Or did you still want to split hairs on how completely horrible you are on basic geography.
Let me guess - you've wearing a REALLY large belt buckle right now.
========
Since the end of the World War II in 1945, the island group has been under the administration of the Republic of China, which was then the de facto government of all China.[3] The island group is, however, claimed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), which was established in 1949 on mainland China, displaced the ROC, and considers itself the successor state to the ROC[4] with the exception of Mongolia. Since the 1970s, ROC itself (which has been located only in Taiwan) is commonly known as "Taiwan".
========
does this paragraph ring any bell on your geographic genius mind? if needed, i could provide more info on this topic.
Wikipedia is decent enough of a resource to point out that they're two completely different countries. Or did you still want to split hairs on how completely horrible you are on basic geography.
Let me guess - you've wearing a REALLY large belt buckle right now.
"Sun worked in Foxconn's Shenzhen production site, the company's largest, which employs more than 270,000 workers."
Wikipedia:
Shenzhen (Chinese: 深圳市; pinyin: Shēn zhèn shì; IPA: [ʂéntʂên]) is a city of sub-provincial administrative status in southern China's Guangdong province.
---
The internets
It's amusing when people don't know the difference between China and Taiwan.
hint: Foxconn is in Taiwan - not mainland China. Every single post about Chinese workers and the govt - is about as relevant as talking about freaking UGANDA in this instance. Can you find Taiwan on a map? It's another country with it's own govt "and stuff"
Many of Foxconn's major factories are in Shenzhen China. Google is your friend.
Unions need to die a vicious death. They have been one of the biggest parties in the downward spiral of the economic system in this country.
Greed, entitlement & self justification - not to mention the MAIN REASON U.S. jobs have been exported to other countries. Hell, what did we expect?
Sorry to burst your bubble but the MAIN reason U.S. jobs have been exported to 3rd world countries is GREED ... pure and simple ... ask yourself this ... has the price of these goods and services been lowered to the U.S. consumer to reflect lower production costs ? ... hint ( think Nike )
Big business will always do whatever we ALLOW them to do, as long as it makes them more $$$$
Greed in the financial world caused the economic collapse, not union workers. Yes, there are SOME ill advised and greedy unions but I'll wager that management greed is a lot more prevalent in our "free capitalistic " society. Remember, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As long as we , as a society, continue to blame the easy targets, the ones that don't have much power to hide behind, we will continue to be a nation of consumers, not producers. What unions TRY to do is even out the power base so that management can't run amuck ... inmho a worthwhile goal. As SJ would say ... one more thing ... check out the countries with the highest standard of living ... almost always the ones with a high union representation.
Sorry to burst your bubble but the MAIN reason U.S. jobs have been exported to 3rd world countries is GREED ... pure and simple ... ask yourself this ... has the price of these goods and services been lowered to the U.S. consumer to reflect lower production costs ? ... hint ( think Nike )
Big business will always do whatever we ALLOW them to do, as long as it makes them more $$$$
Greed in the financial world caused the economic collapse, not union workers. Yes, there are SOME ill advised and greedy unions but I'll wager that management greed is a lot more prevalent in our "free capitalistic " society. Remember, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As long as we , as a society, continue to blame the easy targets, the ones that don't have much power to hide behind, we will continue to be a nation of consumers, not producers. What unions TRY to do is even out the power base so that management can't run amuck ... inmho a worthwhile goal. As SJ would say ... one more thing ... check out the countries with the highest standard of living ... almost always the ones with a high union representation.
Yes it is greed...
But you cannot ignore the Unions. Look at the auto works, their pensions were obscene. I am all for getting paid well, but getting 70-100k a year ie effectively your annual wage when you retire.. (effectively adding $1.5-2k on to the purchase prie of every new US auto)..
Now thats greed.
And,.. we are all guilty. We want the inthing.. cheap goods.. if those union workers are charging so much, where do you think these items are goingt o be made then?
Yes it is greed...
But you cannot ignore the Unions. Look at the auto works, their pensions were obscene. I am all for getting paid well, but getting 70-100k a year ie effectively your annual wage when you retire.. (effectively adding $1.5-2k on to the purchase prie of every new US auto)..
Now thats greed.
And,.. we are all guilty. We want the inthing.. cheap goods.. if those union workers are charging so much, where do you think these items are goingt o be made then?
I read a good article (End of the Road by Ben Austen, Harper's, 8/09) that included your anti-union statistic the other day:
"GM?s competitive disadvantage has most often been illustrated by the $50 billion it owes its retirees in health care and other benefits, a fixed cost that, critics of unions like to argue, adds an additional $1,600 to the price of every vehicle produced. But this statistic is misleading: the staggering inefficiencies of American auto companies go far beyond any gains that once were won by labor. For the past two decades, the three car manufacturers have spent less than their foreign rivals on the development of new fuel-efficient cars, focusing instead on ever-bigger SUVs and light trucks. GM?s failure to successfully manage costs?as well as its own size?can be seen in its 13,650 U.S. dealerships, with each one, even in 2007, selling an average of only 280 cars; Toyota, by contrast, had 1,450 U.S. dealerships selling 1,800 cars apiece."
There are a lot of other statistics in that article that I found to be at least as valuable as yours. It's here: http://harpers.org/archive/2009/08/0082595
I was reminded of Francis Bacon's words (quoted by John Allen Paulos in Irreligious) pointing out the human tendency that would come to be known as 'confirmation bias':
"The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion . . . draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be a greater number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects and despises."
This is... very worrying.
Foxconn seems to have very little respect for its employees, and with China's record on trying to maintain "public image" over "true integrity", there seems to be very little that Foxconn WOULDN'T say. I personally find anything that Foxconn says to be hard to believe in fullness.
Anything Foxconn says will be tainted with business interest, not integrity. Their business is based on Apple's buying from them, and thats based on public image and integrity. If they lose that, people may not be happy with Apple, and Apple may be FORCED to change. We don't see what happens in the factories. That means they can say whatever they like, and not let anyone actually SEE what's going on.
Chinese "honesty" doesn't really convince me - from the Government, or from their businesses. They are both of a country and culture where they say one thing, and do something totally different.
You mean kinda like American Politicians in this country?
maybe they think they are just much better than those meager and worthless chinese.
Although a growing number would self identify as Taiwanese, last I knew, most of them consider themselves to be Chinese - if not most now, it would still be a good number. Mandarin Chinese is the official language of Taiwan.
If anything, the situation is probably more about a large corporation thinking they can hide the treatment of their employees rather than the government or people of where the corporation's headquarters is. I mean, when haven't we seen that?
_________
Soundproof rooms, undocumented workers and long hours is how I produce much of the crap I post here. You really think I have this much time? :P