costs for manufacturing goods in Taiwan and China have actually substantially increased during the past 2 years, they are not the ‘cheap’ manufacturing base they once were, unless you are talking about sub-standard or counterfeit goods
in January 2013, the Chinese Government gave workers in their A-grade factories a 19% pay increase, this has also impacted workers in Taiwan
despite the lower costs of living, skilled workers with in-demand skillsets can achieve very good wages, and often have skills we no longer have in the West.
when you figure in rising materials costs, rising manufacturing costs, rising shipping costs (putting those goods into big containers and shipping across the Ocean)
plus the increasing costs of living in the Western markets where the distributors operate; prices are only going up!
as an example, a popular “big” brand manufacturing in Taiwan had to increase their ‘crash replacement’ road bike frame price from average GBP£600 to £850+ in the past 2 seasons to cover the increased production cost from their supplier
not to make more profit, as the crash replacement is not a profit driven motive, but one to keep the customer riding ‘the brand’
I would trust a Taiwanese made frame from one of the quality brands, much more than a domestically made frame from a smaller brand; simply because in my experience the Taiwanese made frame will be manufactured to a higher quality control using superior techniques that are often unaffordable in domestic manufacturing, and the backup from the quality brands is second to none