The mistreatment of Chinese workers by the Taiwanese business community strengthens anti-Taiwan sentiment in China

As the founder of a labor organization, I have spent the past two decades studying working conditions in Taiwanese companies in China and interacting with many workers who have worked in Taiwan-funded factories. By observing their comments on social media and direct communications, I found that these Chinese employees, who have worked for Taiwanese companies, are more likely than other Chinese citizens to express dissatisfaction with Taiwan, especially on issues such as Taiwan’s independence.

This finding contradicts intergroup contact theory, which states that interactions between different groups can reduce discrimination. Instead, personal experiences and some academic evidence show that Chinese people who have direct contact with Taiwanese individuals are more likely to support the use of force under Beijing’s One China ideology. Furthermore, Chinese employees who have had contact with Taiwanese management tend to have stronger negative feelings toward Taiwanese people.

This article examines an often overlooked factor in this dynamic: how Chinese workers’ attitudes toward the Taiwanese people are exacerbating tensions in relations between the two countries.

The historical mistreatment of workers by Taiwanese companies

When Taiwanese companies first entered China in the 1980s, working conditions in factories were appalling. Workers often faced abuse, insults and even corporal punishment, such as being forced to run laps in factories as a form of discipline. In 1994, an incident at Yongqi Footwear, a Taiwanese company in Fuzhou, attracted attention when several female migrant workers complained about various abuses, including a female worker from Jiangxi who was locked in a dog cage after being beaten and insulted.

As China entered the 21st century and with the abolition of the temporary residence permit system in Shenzhen, conditions improved somewhat. Workers’ awareness of their rights increased, and with the widespread availability of the Internet and mobile phones, inhumane treatment began to decline. However, despite improvements in the 1980s, mistreatment of Chinese workers by Taiwanese companies is still widespread.

In 2010, multiple suicides among Foxconn employees in Shenzhen briefly received media attention, prompting the company to take emergency measures such as installing anti-suicide nets. However, these actions did not address the underlying problem of low-level worker exploitation. In 2020 the The Financial Times reports this about Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Pegatron’s violation of labor laws at its Kunshan factory, which unlawfully used student labor, leading Apple to suspend business with the factory. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Labor practices at Taiwan-funded factories, such as Pegatron in Kunshan, are not isolated incidents. Employees often face arbitrary wage deductions, fines for taking sick leave or vacation, corporal punishment and verbal abuse. When wages are finally paid out, employees often find their earnings significantly reduced by various deductions, leaving them without wages upon departure.

Factories also routinely employ large numbers of student workers, who often cannot tolerate the harsh working conditions. However, schools force these students to continue working by threatening to withhold their diplomas. Such behavior has become commonplace in Taiwanese factories.

It is important to note that similar working conditions occurred in Taiwan from the 1950s to the 1980s, during the Kuomintang (KMT) era. During that period, Taiwanese manufacturers produced goods for international brands, and the workers’ low-wage labor provided the basis for Taiwan’s economic miracle. The exploitation of rural workers and women eventually led to the rise of the independent labor movement in Taiwan in the 1980s. Although working conditions improved somewhat after Taiwan’s democratization, this labor model clearly did not disappear; instead it was transferred to mainland China.

The labor disputes during the KMT era have also contributed to Taiwan’s current ethnic divisions. Now, the mistreatment of Chinese workers by Taiwanese businessmen has become a focal point of anti-Taiwan sentiment on the Internet, especially regarding Taiwan’s independence.

An outlet for employee frustration

Today, on simplified Chinese Internet platforms, there are many complaints about Taiwanese businessmen and Taiwan’s independence, often raising accusations of discrimination, low wages and other issues. The phrase “Never work for a Taiwanese factory” has become a common piece of advice shared among workers. The anger over labor practices is affecting the way other issues related to Taiwan are viewed.

I have personally witnessed this feeling. In 2014, I helped more than thirty students working at the Shanghai Pegatron factory get part of their wages back. After keeping in touch with them, I discovered that some of them went on to become civil servants, businessmen or teachers. When then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022, I saw the same individuals sharing a large amount of anti-Taiwan rhetoric on social media.

One person’s profile slogan was: “Fight Taiwan and turn Taiwanese people into dogs.” When I asked him why he had such views, he referred to his experiences at the factory years before. He had endured long hours and personal humiliation to keep his job, and when he left the factory had not paid him his full wages. To him, Taiwanese businessmen represented the entire Taiwanese people, and the hardships he suffered made him long for Taiwan’s downfall.

Foxconn employs approximately 1 million Chinese workers annually, with a turnover rate of more than 100 percent. As a result, approximately 2 million people work at Foxconn every year. In 2008, scholars estimated that approximately 14 million Chinese workers were employed by Taiwanese companies, although there is no accurate data on the number of mainland employees working for Taiwanese companies annually.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Taiwan is mainland China’s fourth-largest trading partner. By 2022, Taiwanese companies had invested in approximately 127,000 projects in mainland China. Among the 100 largest Chinese exporters, there are 30 Taiwanese companies, all concentrated in labor-intensive industries. Over the past two decades, tens of millions of Chinese workers, or perhaps more, have worked in Taiwanese companies, many of them rural migrants or university students working during holidays. After graduating, many of these workers joined the middle class. Their experiences in Taiwanese companies have also influenced their families’ attitudes toward Taiwan.

Furthermore, Taiwanese companies and Chinese employees are the largest point of contact between China and Taiwan. What in this context appears to be a class antagonism between employees and employers is colored by geopolitics. The antagonism between these two groups deepens the divide between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

A 2019 survey of 1,729 people from nine Chinese cities conducted by Dr. Dongtao Qi of the National University of Singapore and his colleagues show this thought that 67.2 percent of Chinese nationals who had contact with Taiwanese but had no friends in Taiwan supported armed reunification, while only 52.6 percent of mainlanders who had no contact with Taiwanese supported reunification.

In October 2024, my colleagues interviewed 63 people who had worked in Taiwanese companies in an industrial area in Shenzhen. Of those, 23 expressed support for Taiwan’s armed reunification, while only nine spoke against it.

Labor disputes and nationalism

Companies from mainland China, Hong Kong and South Korea also abuse their employees. So why is there more anti-Taiwan sentiment among the Chinese public?

The answer lies in Taiwan’s unique historical status in China. Since the KMT’s withdrawal to Taiwan, the Chinese Communist Party has maintained a narrative centered on the idea of a unified Chinese nation, claiming that the mainland and Taiwan both belong to “one China”, with the People’s Republic of China the legitimate government is.

Employee dissatisfaction with mainland or Hong Kong companies is seen as a labor dispute that has nothing to do with national issues. Exploitation by Japanese and South Korean companies is seen as a foreign invasion. However, the Chinese government considers Taiwan part of China. In this narrative, then, Taiwan occupies an ambiguous position: it is neither considered a “foreign power,” nor is it fully seen as “one of us.” It is depicted as a part of China that refuses to recognize its place, while at the same time exploiting Chinese workers as ‘outsiders’. In this context, Chinese workers’ hatred of Taiwan is easily provoked.

Challenges and strategies

Could Chinese nationalist sentiment influence government behavior? China uses domestic anti-Taiwan sentiment to nibble on Taiwan’s territorial waters, and, as we saw with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nationalism can be exploited.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te recently questioned why Beijing is not demanding the return of historic Chinese territories from Russia, effectively countering the Chinese government’s political narrative about territorial integrity. However, labor issues are more complex than mere nationalist sentiments.

Chinese workers’ dissatisfaction stems not only from government propaganda, but also from their personal experiences working in Taiwanese companies, which fuels their resentment toward Taiwan. This resentment in turn influences the Chinese government’s policies toward Taiwan. While many Taiwanese view China as a foreign country and are indifferent to labor issues, Chinese often view Taiwanese businessmen as representatives of Taiwan, without distinguishing between them and the broader Taiwanese population.

However, Taiwan’s government and society can take steps to repair long-standing damage. For example, democratic countries around the world have made significant efforts to improve labor standards, such as France’s ‘Duty of Vigilance Law’, Germany’s ‘Supply Chain Due Diligence Act’ and the EU’s ‘Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive’. The Taiwanese government should follow suit by establishing legal standards to prevent Taiwanese companies from abusing foreign workers.