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Bridal makeup
industry worried by service trade pact
By Huang Liang-chieh and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff
writer
Allowing Chinese investors to invest in the bridal makeup industry would cause
an unprecedented catastrophe for the industry and weaken its ability to be
self-sustaining in Taiwan and abroad, a bridal makeup development association in
Greater Kaohsiung said.
The industry is among those that would be affected by Taiwan¡¦s signing of a
service trade agreement with China on June 21 in Shanghai.
The industry¡¦s workers, known as ¡§bridal makeup secretaries¡¨ in Taiwan, travel
to brides¡¦ homes and other locations to apply make-up.
Association chairman Cheng Hsiao-chen (¾G¾å¬Ã) said President Ma Ying-jeou¡¦s (°¨^¤E)
administration¡¦s inking of the cross-strait service pact allowing Taiwanese to
set up their own businesses in China was ¡§meaningless.¡¨
Cheng said her industry ¡X along with others ¡X was dissatisfied with the
administration¡¦s decision to sign the agreement without first making certain of
provisionary measures to safeguard Taiwanese businesses.
According to Cheng, 90 percent of her association¡¦s members are private
companies that stay in business primarily by being at the forefront of fashion
and making certain they are competitive in terms of technical specialties.
The government should be aware of the risks its policies pose to the economy,
but the Ma administration does not seem bothered that Chinese companies may send
¡§poachers¡¨ to Taiwan under the guise of ¡§higher level administration staff,¡¨
Cheng said.
Under the agreement, an investment of more than US$300,000 would allow a Chinese
investor and two staff members to come to Taiwan. Vice Minister of Economic
Affairs Woody Duh (§ùµµx) has said that for every additional capital injection of
US$500,000, another person may be added to the investor¡¦s entourage, up to a
maximum of seven.
China¡¦s bridal makeup industry lags behind its Taiwanese counterpart, according
to Cheng, who pointed to the medals each nation received at an international
hair and cosmetics competition held in South Korea in May as proof ¡Xsix gold
medals and a bronze for Taiwan versus no medals for China.
¡§China is in great need of techniques to help its workers boost their skill
levels in the hair and beauty industry,¡¨ Cheng said.
The Chinese legal system is based more on the whims of the individual rather
than the rule of law, implying that China is not below commercial espionage to
get what it wants, Cheng said.
¡§The Ma administration needs to make certain that local industries and their
techniques and technologies are protected,¡¨ Cheng said.
¡§Unless the government is willing to include clauses ¡¥forbidding the employment
of Chinese technicians,¡¦ it should not be opening up the hair and beauty
industry to China,¡¨ she said.
Cheng added that Taiwanese face great risk when either working or doing business
in China and few Taiwanese hairdressers or beauticians are interested in working
there.
She said China still harbors considerable enmity for Taiwan and its government,
citing an incident last year at a competition in Indonesia that she and a group
of students attended.
As a member of the Asia Pacific Hair and Cosmetology Association, Taiwan had the
right to fly its national flag on stage at the event, but China protested, Cheng
said.
¡§It was due to the tireless work of diplomatic personnel in the Taipei Economic
and Trade Office in Indonesia that Taiwan¡¦s flag flew proudly that day,¡¨ she
said.
¡§The Ma administration should be more careful when dealing with policies that
bring Taiwan into contact with a still belligerent and hostile China,¡¨ Cheng
said.
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