After working for six months at a construction site on Saipan Island, and then being trapped on the island for an additional one month, 92 Chinese workers finally headed back to China on May 9, bolstered by the promise that they would receive their delayed wages.

The workers, most of who come from China’s northeastern provinces, said they had been offered a job on the island, which is a commonwealth of the United States, for 300 RMB per day. However, their wages were then delayed and unreasonable deductions made from their paychecks.

“We were recruited to work at the construction site by a local employment agency. After paying a 10,000-RMB brokerage fee, we were sent to Saipan Island last November, where we found out that the salary had been reduced to 200 RMB per day. The agency even withheld a month’s worth of wages,” one of the workers told Thepaper.cn. The man added that instead of arranging work visas for them, the agency only offered them tourist visas, which are cheaper and easier to obtain.

In response to the workers’ claims, Gold Mantis Construction Decoration Co. Ltd., the Chinese company responsible for the construction project, told Thepaper.cn that they were also a victim of the employment agency, as they were unaware of the workers’ situation.

“The employment agency we hired is run by a Chinese American named Kong Xianghu, who accepted our money without distributing it to the workers. We have no idea why the agency did not arrange work visas for the laborers,” a spokesperson of the company told Thepaper.cn.

This is not the first time Chinese workers have been trapped in such a situation. As more and more Chinese companies join the cause of the Belt and Road Initiative and do business abroad, Chinese workers are increasingly sent overseas. Cheap migrant workers are lured with lucrative wages, but often find themselves the victims of exploitation once they arrive.

As of press time, Gold Mantis Construction Decoration has paid the workers $1,500 dollars in compensation, promising that the rest of their wages will be paid once they arrive home.

“This is a valuable experience for Chinese companies that wish to do business abroad. Compared to the relatively lax employment procedures in China, many foreign countries have strict rules on such issues. If problems occur, the company will sustain great losses. We have to respect and obey local laws and regulations,” said the spokesperson.

“Workers should be aware of potential fraudulence when working overseas. They should check employment agencies' qualifications, in addition to demanding work visas,” said a Shanghai-based lawyer.