ABSTRACT
This chapter uses to review Taiwan's labor import policy, which was spawned by and, in turn, contributed to structural changes in the country's economy. The ensuing takeover of administration of Taiwan by the Nationalists led to structural changes in land reform, an economic policy of import substitution industrialization and today's status as an export giant. Taiwan has operated as an independent country and economy since the Nationalist Kuomingtang party fled the Chinese mainland and the revolution led by MaoTsetung in 1949. The country's Ministry of Economic Affairs, in supporting labor import policy, calculated that lower labor costs would translate into lower production costs and an increased global market shares. The process of globalizing labor necessarily involves the state. The demand for construction labor was increased by the two additional factors: Taipei's pre-existing urban density constrained the development of highway and transit systems either to underground locations or raised over mountainous terrain between factories and ports.
