Everything cosmic said is exactly correct guys. Stay away from China Airlines and pass it on to your friends. I have 5 years personal experience there. Only one correction, FO housing WAS 30000.ntd/month (about 1k usd) less 20% tax=net about 800usd. However I believe that this will dissapear with the new facility that is is being built at the airport. All foreingers will be parked in the tower most likely and commute home.
A word on commuting, 8 days a month. The rest is theirs. So don't think you will have lots of time off the other 22 days in between flights. Nope. You only get flight time credit for flying. Off to On time. And so in between a long haul flight you will do lots of short turn flights. You will prob only have 1 day off a week. Commuting time is on your 8 day time. So effectively, you will only have a few days a month of healthy time in your home town.
All else is totally correct. Salary, PD, etc etc is ****.
Read between the lines gents. 400 multinational people from all over the world a few years ago and now about 50 or less? What do yout think is happening here? Do you think you will be happy here?
Seriously guys.... do not consider ever going to work at this company. They only want to make an extra buck off you faster than they could have by training their own. That is the only reason they would ever entertain you. You will not be part of the family, not part of the union, and you will not get an upgrade. You will probably be terminated the next time they have too many pilots or have abinitio coming into the system. This is reality.
You want an alternative? Dead set on working in Asia? Go to Korean. At least they will tell you that you won't be a captain and pay you more to compensate. Dont go to China Airlines. In fact Korean pays more, and.. 10 days a month off and commuting on company time. And I believe they have end of service pay etc etc. Much better situation and the company is dealing ethically. CAL is not.
btw...China Airlines and Air China are totally different... dont confuse them. China Airlines is Taiwan, Air China is Mainland.