1992年台灣首次通過引進與管理外國基層勞動力的法令，確立了客工計畫的體制，引進東南亞國家勞工，並且排斥資本家與雇主希望引進的中國勞工。相較於對外勞政策的社會科學研究，目前多集中在對勞動力市場此一經濟面的分析，本文企圖關注外勞政策的政治面，將外勞政策視為台灣國族政治的一環。因此，本文的寫作目的有兩個，一是藉由國族政治來理解外勞政策，另一方面用外勞政策來瞭解台灣國族政治的內涵。本文希望理解台灣外勞政策的形成與起源背後的國家動機與理由，將回答以下幾個問題：為什麼台灣在引進外國低階勞動力之初以短暫性移工來定位這些外勞？我們如何將外勞政策定位在台灣對其他外國人(尤其是不同階級身份)的政策脈絡中？為什麼台灣低階外勞都來自東南亞幾個特定國家為什麼台灣沒有引進被許多雇主視為「同文同種」的大陸勞工？我將論證外勞政策制訂者(包括行政與立法)在制訂相關政策的過程中，納進有關民族主義、國格、國籍、國家定位等議題，也就是國族政治的重要考量，形成制訂外勞政策時所依循的規梟。本研究主要關心台灣外勞政策開始建立前的辯論，資料以1992年前對就業服務法中聘僱外國人管理辦法的政策辯論為主要的資料蒐集內容。將有關現代民族國家的重要理念帶入思考低階外勞被引進的政策，我們看到，政策制訂者一方面將外勞視為挽救本國企業出走、避免「國民經濟」受到威脅的生力軍，一心「重返」國際體系的政策制訂者更將外勞視為與移出國政府推動正式外交的籌碼，但是，另一方面，作為產業生力軍與外交籌碼的外勞，陷於種族與階級的夾縫，被一個帶有階級區分、以種族同質性為基礎的國族建立原則，排除在長期居留的成員之外。

This article argues that introducing and implementing a foreign workers policy offers an opportunity for a modern state to express its very fundamental ideologies related to nationalist politics. By investigating the policy making decisions that formulated the first ever guestworker program in Taiwan during the early 1990s, in this article, I pursue a dual analytical agenda. First, I examine in detail the nationalist discourse on building the foreign worker regime in Taiwan and show how some fundamental ideal interests related to nationalist politics influence the decision making process. Second, I aim to show how a restrictive border control policy such as guestworker program expresses some of the Taiwan's key nationalist narratives in the early 1990s. Major findings are as followed. First, operating under the idea of mercantilist economic nationalism, the guestworker program was meant to respond to a "shortage"of low-skilled labor constructed by industries threatening plant closings and offshore production. Second, the careful selection of foreign workers from specific countries reflects state-to-state relations in international politics. Third, racialized classism is found in related policies that basically give more room for incorporating professional/technician/managerial workers to Taiwan 's demographic future. Blue collared workers from Southeast Asia are classified as a cultural race and are perceived "incompatible" with Taiwan. Forth, the state resists the market demand for mainland Chinese laborers, who are considered an ideal labor supply due to their assumed language and cultural commonness, stemming from a fear of having the recently consolidated national identity be shaken up once again.