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Workers from South-East Asia demonstrated Sunday (December 8th) in Taiwan's capital, Taipei (image) REUTERS / Tyrone Siu

In Taiwan, more than 700,000 Southeast Asian immigrants hold the lowest-skilled jobs in the economy. As in Singapore or Hong Kong, the working and living conditions of these people are regularly denounced by the associations and by the workers themselves. A demonstration was held in Taipei this Sunday, December 8.

With our correspondent in Taipei, Adrien Simorre

These foreign workers are calling on the Taiwanese government to " abolish the brokers system ". In their viewfinder, the private agencies they depend on to be employed in Taiwan.

Nguyen came from Vietnam. He works twelve hours a day in a factory. On his cheek, a monster is drawn. He symbolizes the agency that brought him to Taiwan. " I have to pay a fee each month to my agency, but it does not do anything for me. When I have health problems, nobody cares for me, no one takes me to the hospital. "

For 30 years, Taiwan has been employing a low-skilled workforce in the most ungrateful sectors of its economy. On the front lines, domestic employees, excluded from the Labor Code. Like Francia, 41, from the Philippines. " We are at the service of their family, their country. So why does the Labor Code not apply to us? It's like we're not workers, but we're workers! "

In Taiwan, political debates are monopolized by the relationship between Taiwan and China, to the detriment of social issues. At least that's what Huang, a 28-year-old Taiwanese, thinks. " I feel that Taiwanese are not so interested in labor law ... But for me, these issues are more important than Taiwan's relationship with China ."

In Taiwan, the government is moving slowly on this issue. The progress is slim. " We must take into account the law of the market, " explained last year the Ministry of Labor.