The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) held a symposium on Monday to discuss amendments to laws concerning the conditions for marriage. At the meeting, a decision was made to transform the nation's current "ceremonial wedding" system into a "registered wedding" system.
A "ceremonial wedding" is defined as a wedding with a public ceremony and at least two official witnesses. To avoid arguments over the practicality of such a law, it was also decided that the law will not be retroactive.
Ceremonial marriages entered into prior to the implementation of a registered wedding system will still be legally recognized.
Because many people are concerned over Taiwanese businessmen going to China to take a second wife, the MOJ said that a registered wedding system would prevent someone from doing so. This would protect the interests of such a person's wife and children in Taiwan, as well as the third party in China.
A consensus was reached during the symposium that household registry staff would make a formal documentary examination when a marriage is registered. As long as documents presented conform with the conditions for a marriage, the marriage will be registered.
Officials said that if forged documents are presented, the case will be handled according to criminal laws regulating the forgery of official documents or bigamy, if a wedding has actually taken place.
The MOJ said that ceremonial marriages are legally binding in Taiwan even when not registered. It has therefore been possible for someone to take advantage of this legal loophole to obtain documentary proof of being single -- because the marriage is not registered in household registration documents -- and then go to China or a country in Southeast Asia to take a second wife.
Furthermore, divorces in Taiwan must be registered. Unless a matching system for registered marriages is implemented, a situation may arise where a couple who wants to get a divorce first has to go through the hassle and emotional stress of registering their marriage to be able to obtain the divorce.
Because there is a lack of standards regarding the recognition of ceremonial marriages, it is difficult to settle the status of relationships due to the difficulty of providing evidence when a dispute arises as to whether or not a public wedding ceremony has been held.
If, for example, only the family of one of the parties participates in the ceremony, all that is needed is that one of the parties claims that no public ceremony was held for problems to arise.
The MOJ said that even though earlier law amendments have defined registered marriages as binding, this way of doing things could easily cause people to think that registered marriages and ceremonial marriages are different things.
Officials said that ceremonial marriages have been the prevailing method since the promulgation of the Civil Code in 1931, but that it is now an outdated system.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique