Practically. They invested in this huge facility in Kaohsiung…but now the “law” says French teachers can only teach French not cooking.
They jumped through all the hoops, signing up for buxiban ststus within a university…no cigar.
Isn’t this like against WTO or something?
Taiwan is clearly showing how NOT a country it is.
Next question, which son of a politician gets to take over the facilities, gratis, and start their own cooking school? or restaurant?
What about the other cooking schools around the island, though? There are many cooking schools with foreign chefs (Italian, Thai etc etc).
Ah but they do not have the size, scope and most of all NAME of the world known Cordon Bleu.
Probably the school opening in its place will be the Blue Knot.
I am getting really pissed with this habit of using “legal” ways to take out foreign competitors. Thousands of Taiwanese pay a gazillion euros to study in France at Cordon Bleu. Not allowing them to teach here and allow Taiwanese to save money and hence make this knowledge more accessible to more Taiwanese is really classist, disgustingly elitist and corrupt. But yeah, it is tbe foreigners` fault because it is “illegal”.
I bet those laws haven’t been changed since the 50s. 70s the most.
Just another reason not to buy property or invest in a business in Taiwan. Apart from being overpriced, the dangers with being non Taiwanese are clear.
This is ridiculous. I wonder what toes the Cordon Bleu guys might have stepped on to get the bureaucracy to spring into action like this? And I wonder how many phone calls it will take from the French Institute in Taipei to get this startlingly stupid decision overturned?
From the Taiwan side, the best I can say is that this is a curious way to try to grow a service oriented economy. Well done, Taiwan!
If anyone has any updates, do let us know.
Guy
Seems that things are just up to bueracratic whim here in Taiwan. No proper rule of law seems to exist in this country.
Does anyone have a link? (I’m too lazy to google.)
There’s a United Daily News article that appears to be reporting on that topic:
Here’s a Liberty Times article that seems to be similar in content:
news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/breakingnews/1604476
TVBS:
news.tvbs.com.tw/life/news-640119/
Formosa TV:
If I translate the first link using Google translate (no way I can read all of that in Chinese), it sounds like they have a cram-school license and they’re not allowed to teach “skills” because safety regulations are very different.
The second link doesn’t mention much about this, it just explains that “French teachers can only teach French”.
They both mention that maybe the new, hopefully less retarded, government will try to issue some quick fix to this.
Thanks, Ibis2k12.
For what ?_? I just opened Google translate and tried to figure out what was going on 
I don’t even know if I got it right.
[quote=“Ibis2k12”]If I translate the first link using Google translate (no way I can read all of that in Chinese), it sounds like they have a cram-school license and they’re not allowed to teach “skills” because safety regulations are very different.
The second link doesn’t mention much about this, it just explains that “French teachers can only teach French”.
They both mention that maybe the new, hopefully less retarded, government will try to issue some quick fix to this.[/quote]
They were told to do that. And that they had to make an alliance with a local university -which they did. They jumped all the hoops as “legally” told. That is why they build the million ntd facility. Surprise when they were about to open.
Ah, I missed that part!
Silly French people coming to Taiwan trying to follow law and regulations, what were they thinking?
Sounds like they tried to cut corners, but it didn’t work.
Indeed. Problem is they set up shop in Hong Kong, no problem. I think even in China. Why Taiwan so fussy? Who gave them the wrong advice? Can this be fixed before it ruins Taiwan’s reputation?
Well, this could be the legal base to show that Taiwan is clearly independent from China.
[quote] Can this be fixed before it ruins Taiwan’s reputation?
[/quote]
I’m not sure it would. If they didn’t follow the law in getting this set up, whose fault is that? Maybe they have a valid beef if they were able to get a license, I don’t know. Depends on what they claimed and what was accepted.
[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote] Can this be fixed before it ruins Taiwan’s reputation?
[/quote]
I’m not sure it would. If they didn’t follow the law in getting this set up, whose fault is that? Maybe they have a valid beef if they were able to get a license, I don’t know. Depends on what they claimed and what was accepted.[/quote]
Problem is that the rules are set so in such a grey area that they can pull the rug any time. That is my beef. Someone advised them to do things this way and it was not a foreigner thing. Someone set them up. Someone will benefit from their efforts, or rather, their failure. Someone was probably not paid to look the other way and the French business cannot set up because someone did not get their cut/their cut was not enough.
It goes back to “you are a foreigner, you cannot set up shop independently/reside here/become Taiwanese” kind of BS, pardon my French. Yes you can. There is a legal way… unless someone slams another book on you and tells you no, it isn’t.
With this corruption they are discouraging investment in new ventures and new work venues for Taiwanese, aside from removing accessible opportunities for improvement in skills and job opportunities for Taiwanese.
[quote=“Icon”]Problem is that the rules are set so in such a grey area that they can pull the rug any time. That is my beef. Someone advised them to do things this way and it was not a foreigner thing. Someone set them up. Someone will benefit from their efforts, or rather, their failure. Someone was probably not paid to look the other way and the French business cannot set up because someone did not get their cut/their cut was not enough.
It goes back to “you are a foreigner, you cannot set up shop independently/reside here/become Taiwanese” kind of BS, pardon my French. Yes you can. There is a legal way… unless someone slams another book on you and tells you no, it isn’t.
With this corruption they are discouraging investment in new ventures and new work venues for Taiwanese, aside from removing accessible opportunities for improvement in skills and job opportunities for Taiwanese.[/quote]
What gray areas are you referring to? The problem as reported in the above articles is that they can’t get work permits for foreign teachers of anything other than languages, not because of gray areas but because of the protectionism in the Employment Service Act. They’re lobbying the government to change the system, but in the meantime they’re stuck in the same situation any foreigner who wants to work outside the box faces – “wait five rigid years for an APRC or get married” – and we’re only hearing about it because of their brand name.
I absolutely agree that the system for employing foreigners in Taiwan is too rigid, but the government is following the law here. “Rule of stupid law” is still rule of law. 