Taiwan bans recruitment for jobs in China to prevent talent poaching
Apr 30, 2021
Taipei [Taiwan], April 30 : Amid rising tensions with Beijing, Taiwan has told staffing companies to remove all listings for jobs in China as a preventive measure to avert the poaching of vital tech talent to the mainland.
Taiwan's Labor Ministry in a notice said that all Taiwanese and foreign staffing companies on the island as a general rule may no longer post openings for jobs located in China, Nikkei Asia reported. According to the notice, the ban places emphasis on critical industries such as integrated circuits and semiconductors.
"Due to geopolitical tension between the US and China, China's semiconductor development has suffered some setbacks and as a result China has become more aggressive in poaching and targeting top Taiwanese chip talent to help build a self-sufficient supply chain," the ministry said in the notice.
The notice also stated that recruitment platforms are banned from helping or representing any company to hire individuals for work in China. Violators face fines from the ministry.
"If the recruitment involves semiconductors and integrated circuits, the penalty will be even higher," the notice said.
Several job recruiting websites in the country including 104, 1111 and yes123 confirmed Thursday they have received the notice, Taiwan Focus reported.
Chen Shih-chang, a labor ministry official said that in the past, these regulations were not strictly enforced in an effort to promote industrial exchanges between the two sides.
According to Chen, things have changed in recent months, Beijing has intensified its efforts to recruit Taiwanese talent into its semiconductor sector and other industries of strategic importance which could pose a competitive threat to Taiwan's industries.
Last month, Taiwanese authorities had raided the offices of two companies, accusing them of breaking the law by poaching local chip talent for a mainland Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) chip maker.
According to the South China Morning Post, the raid was conducted at the offices of WiseCore Technology and IC Link, recruitment companies that have headhunted hundreds of chip experts over the past three years through a joint venture with a mainland Chinese chipmaker.
China is aware of the importance of local talent cultivation, but the "fastest way to achieve self-reliance" in its domestic supply chain is to "vigorously poach talented people from Taiwan", a research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research said last month.
