The impact of the state on workers' conditions - Comparing Taiwanese factories in China and Vietnam

As Asia has become the fastest industrializing region in the world and as labour rights have become a controversial issue in the worlds trade agenda, the industrial relations of Asian factories that produce labourintensive goods for the global export market have come under scrutiny. Many of these factories have Taiwanese, Korean and Hong Kong owners, who hail from the so-called Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs). Today, these firms occupy a special place in the global production chain. Unlike many transnational corporations of the developed world that no longer manufacture goods but instead buy from offshore suppliers, these Asian corporations are the front-line producers in poorer foreign countries