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Vietnamese women protest against `racist' TSU remark

A group of foreign brides stage a protest in front of the Taiwan Solidarity Union's headquarters yesterday. PHOTO: CHENG HSUEH-YUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Dozens of Vietnamese women married to Taiwanese men protested against a local political party yesterday after one of its legislators made what they called racist comments.

The backlash came after Liao Pen-yan (廖本煙), a member of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), last week asked Taiwanese immigration authorities to require health checks for Vietnamese brides, saying they may have "biochemical remnants of the Vietnam War" in their bodies and could pass them on to their children.

Liao said that the major component of the defoliant "Agent Orange" used by the US during its war with Vietnam was dioxin, which can cause a number of birth defects.

The Vietnamese women unfurled a banner reading "Taiwan must not tolerate fascist remarks infringing on human rights" at the TSU headquarters.

They also demanded that the TSU suspend Liao's membership for at least two months.

Liao quickly came under fire from women's groups and foreign spouses and apologized for his statement. He is currently in Australia and plans to return to Taiwan tomorrow.

"What's wrong with my kids having a Vietnamese mother?"

A Vietnamese mother living in Taiwan

But his apology was not viewed as sufficient by the protesters.

"What's wrong with my kids having a Vietnamese mother?" a demonstrator asked. "Because of these remarks, [Vietnamese women] are now discriminated against by other people."

"After Liao's remarks, my neighbor asked me if I had been poisoned, which is so hurtful," another demonstrator said. "We wonder how a lawmaker could make such an arbitrary accusation against us?"

After holding a news conference, Vietnamese spouses and women's groups marched to TSU headquarters to voice their indignation and handed over a protest letter which demanded that the TSU punish Liao -- or at least place him on probation for two months.

TSU department of women's development director Chiang Yue-chin (蔣月琴) yesterday said that the party would issue a warning to Liao, and ask him to further apologize for the incident.

TSU caucus whip David Huang (黃適卓) said that the party would find a suitable punishment for Liao, and that it would never condone racial discrimination.

Official statistics show that about 71,000 of the 346,200 foreign women married to Taiwanese are from Vietnam.

About half of the "foreign brides" are from China while the rest come from Indonesia, Thailand and other countries.

According to the Vietnamese government's estimate, more than 10 million people have been victims of illnesses related to the defoliant.

Many experts debate the precise linkages between Agent Orange and various birth defects or illnesses. However, an international conference on Agent Orange held in Stockholm in 2002 called on the world community to take immediate action on the issue while research continued.
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