Taiwanese election candidate Lee Hungyi’s billboard depicting man in turban, inverted with Indian flag, sparks backlash | Today’s news
Kaohsiung City Council independent candidate Lee Hung-yi’s campaign billboard has drawn strong opposition.
The poster reportedly showed a man wearing a turban next to an upside-down Indian flag under a no-go sign, expressing his disapproval of Taiwan’s policy of hiring Indian migrant workers.
What happened?
According to reports by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) and Taiwan News, candidate Lee Hung-yi, ward administrator of Kaohsiung City’s Siaogang District and an independent candidate in the upcoming city council polls, displayed a billboard with the “no” symbol over an Indian flag along with an image of a man wearing a turban.
In an interview with Taiwanese media outlet CNA, Lee Hung-yi defended the billboard, saying he was not against migrant workers in general. However, he said he objected to Taiwan’s policy of accepting more workers from India, saying the plan lacked adequate management mechanisms and support systems. He reportedly mentioned that the report was meant to convey his objection to Taiwan’s plan to hire migrant workers from India.
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“Taiwanese people don’t like Indians very much. One political candidate in Kaohsiung is promising to ban Indian immigration,” wrote Miles Cheong, a popular Malaysian journalist and writer on X, when he shared a clip from a Taiwanese news channel where the journalist claimed that the country’s Indian-born residents worried them, according to the Times Of India.
Billboard drew criticism for alleged racial discrimination and sparked debate over immigration policy in Taiwan. The main opposition party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), also raised concerns, warning that “runaway” Indian migrant workers could “endanger the safety of women” in the country.
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An Indian resident of Taiwan called the billboard “blatant and direct racial discrimination” in a social media post cited by CNA. The individual said that while differing views on migrant worker policy are understandable, “to put it that way doesn’t really seem right”.
The post further suggested that the campaign appeared to use physical appearance and cultural symbols to incite resentment against a particular community.
“There are roughly 7,000 Indians here – almost all in high-tech manufacturing like Realtek, Foxconn, TSMC (in Taiwan). India is setting up semicon and many chip startups are willing to absorb them if they decide to come back. Good thing for India,” wrote a user on X.
Memorandum of Understanding between India and Taiwan in 2024
In 2024, Taiwan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India to bring in migrant workers, although the agreement faced criticism in some parts of Taiwanese society.
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Last month, Taiwan’s labor minister Hung Sun-han told lawmakers that the first batch of about 1,000 workers from India could arrive as early as this year. He added that administrative checks, medical examinations and document verification are still being completed between Taipei and New Delhi.
The labor mobility deal has faced opposition from parts of Taiwan’s political establishment, particularly the Kuomintang (KMT), although it had previously won support during earlier parliamentary debates.
Experts quoted by Firstpost suggested that the criticism is largely driven by electoral politics rather than indicating any significant deterioration in India-Taiwan relations.
Anushka Saxena noted that the main challenge in India-Taiwan relations continues to be the “slow pace of cooperation” rather than isolated political objections. She reportedly noted that while frameworks and agreements already exist in areas such as maritime cooperation, cyber engagement and investment, their implementation is still hampered by administrative and bureaucratic delays.
