A billboard put up by a candidate in the upcoming local body elections in Taiwan showing a turbaned man holding a ‘no entry’ sign has irked the small but growing Indian community on the island – and drawn a sharp rebuke from one of the country’s most senior officials.The hoardings were put up about a fortnight ago in Kaohsiung city by Lee Hung-yi, currently head of Gangming Ward in the city’s Siaogang district, who is contesting as an independent candidate in the city council elections in November. The photos circulated widely on Taiwanese social media.

.

When questioned by local media, Lee spoke candidly. He said that he is not against migrant workers in general, only Indian workers. The statement drew an immediate reaction from Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s longest-serving former foreign minister and current secretary general of the National Security Council – India’s equivalent of the National Security Advisor.I feel ashamed to see a local politician doing this to gain attention. I condemn such despicable conduct in a very welcoming society. “I will continue to work hard to strengthen Taiwan-India mutual cooperation,” Wu said. Despite the efforts, Li could not be reached for comment.Indians currently living in Taiwan – they number just over 7,000, according to the national immigration agency, making them the ninth-largest foreign resident group on the island – say the billboards are troubling but not entirely surprising. “This seems to be an extension of anti-India propaganda on popular social media platforms like TikTok and Threads in Taiwan, which is being promoted by some countries that work against India’s interests,” said Arpita Biswas, a marine science research scholar at National Taiwan University who has been living in the country for the past five years. He said Taiwanese society is largely welcoming, but hostility towards Indians exists in a small section and is being amplified online. “We see anti-India propaganda posts almost every day. They are largely driven by a lack of understanding about Indians and their culture due to limited contact between people,” he said.An engineer who has lived in Taiwan for four years, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that anti-India sentiment has so far been limited to social media rather than spreading into daily conversations. “We have not faced direct racism from anyone here. But we can definitely feel the undercurrent on social media, where Indians are targeted in racist posts by people with vested interests. “It seems like this candidate is trying to capitalize on that trend to attract younger voters.”

Media professional and documentary-maker Suvam Pal, who has been in Taiwan since 2022, traced the roots of the campaign to earlier reports that the Taiwan government was planning to recruit one lakh Indian workers to address the labor shortage. “A certain section of the country’s politicians campaigned against this move, creating a kind of fear psychosis as if Indian workers would descend the very next day and take over the country. That’s not going to happen – there are many checks and balances in the recruitment process,” Pal said.

Source link

• Facebook
• Share on X
• LinkedIn
• WhatsApp
• Email
• Copy Link