Foreign companies consider moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates
Companies consider moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates
- China’s new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm.
- Zimmerman, who declined to identify the companies or industries for confidentiality reasons, added: “The companies are still concerned that there may be some gray areas, such as whether a benign social media post or voting for a particular political party or candidate in Taiwan elections could be interpreted as engaging in pro-independence activities."
- As of 2022, about 177,000 Taiwanese were working in China, according to the most recent Taiwanese government survey. Taiwanese staff are employed by many multinationals in China, given their linguistic abilities and cultural familiarity with the country.
- Many more work for the myriad Taiwanese firms that operate in China and have, by the Taiwanese government’s estimate, invested more than US$200 billion since 1991, helping fuel China’s growth to become the world’s second-biggest economy.
- Some foreign firms operating in China have held meetings with employees on safety, said the two executives, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
