Ministry’s offer of lower pay for locals sparks outrage

By Yang Yuan-ting and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Netizens accused the Ministry of Culture of treating Taiwanese as second-class citizens after the ministry ran an advertisement offering different salary rates for Taiwanese and foreign nationals for the same job.

The ministry recently posted an advertisement on the 1111 online job bank looking for a copy editor, with candidates required to have either a master’s degree or two years of work experience.

The job involves preparing all English drafts of their boss’ speeches, translating all their speeches and text, translating international news, interviewing and writing news reports and doing write-ups for distribution to other media outlets, the advertisement said.

Taiwanese applicants were asked to provide proof of English capability equivalent to the advanced level of the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT). The salary offered was NT$57,000.

As for foreign applicants, they were required to be fluent in Mandarin Chinese. The salary offered was almost double at NT$108,000.

The job is not open to dual citizens, the advertisement said.

Netizens expressed outrage over the different pay scale offered, saying that while Taiwanese would be working for their own country, they would be paid less than foreigners.

Some netizens posted comments such as the “Lives of people with Taiwanese passports are worthless” and “The discrimination of the Ministry of Culture [against Taiwanese] is ubiquitous.” Others said the ministry was partly responsible for why wages for Taiwanese were always lower than those for foreigners.

One netizen said that since Chinese are also foreigners, they would command double the salary of Taiwanese if they were hired.

The ministry is “utterly without shame” for making such an offer, some netizens wrote, calling on Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) to explain why government agencies were leading discrimination against Taiwanese.

Responding to the complaints, ministry official Peggy Chou (周蓓姬) said the advertisement was drafted based on the format used by the now-dissolved Government Information Office.

The ministry acknowledged that the advertisement was problematic and should not have listed different wages for Taiwanese and foreign nationals, adding that it has withdrawn the advertisement for review.

The ministry would in the future not set two standards on wages based on nationality, Chou said.