TRUNG SON, Vietnam — It seemed as if this village in northern Vietnam had struck gold when a Chinese and a Japanese company arrived to jointly build a coal-fired power plant. Thousands of jobs would start flowing in, or so the residents hoped.
Four years later, the Haiphong Thermal Power Plant is nearing completion. But only a few hundred Vietnamese ever got jobs. Most of the workers were Chinese, about 1,500 at the peak. Hundreds of them are still here, toiling by day on the dusty construction site and cloistered at night in dingy dormitories.
“The Chinese workers overwhelm the Vietnamese workers here,” said Nguyen Thai Bang, 29, a Vietnamese electrician.
China, famous for its export of cheap goods, is increasingly known for shipping out cheap labor. These global migrants often work in factories or on Chinese-run construction and engineering projects, though the range of jobs is astonishing: from planting flowers in the Netherlands to doing secretarial tasks in Singapore to herding cows in Mongolia — even delivering newspapers in the Middle East.
But a backlash against them has grown. Across Asia and Africa, episodes of protest and violence against Chinese workers have flared. Vietnam and India are among the nations that have moved to impose new labor rules for foreign companies and restrict the number of Chinese workers allowed to enter, straining relations with Beijing.
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They’re exporting the resources of which they have excess. I can’t say as I blame them.
I can. They are trying to buy into Canada and as part of the deal they want to export their workers. We do not know that they are well trained and safe enough to meet our requirements and when you consider all the lawyers we have lined up planning on using our Constitution as they envision their lawsuits I have a few questions.
This post is just to get people thinking.
Well, the quality of chinese products certainly hasnt improved.
One.Child.Per.Family + Free.Abortions = Lots and lots of males and No Women. Ah, Nature’s pesky Law of Unintended Consequences driving the bride price up and up.
Canada is pretty safe, Jack. The unions would never allow imported labour unless it’s season or other jobs which aren’t worth their time to dominate.
UV is on the money… as is Lindsay… Maybe they’re not actually exporting labour? They’re looking for brides?