Discrimination and domestic violence are still threats for immigrant spouses, rights advocates said yesterday as they called for more support services for immigrant spouses, better education for the general public on respecting cultural diversity and an end to commercial marriage brokeraging.
“My husband beat me every day, and told me to go back to Vietnam every day,” Nguyen Mei Ling, a 41-year-old Vietnamese-Taiwanese who immigrated to Taiwan 10 years ago after marrying a Taiwanese man, told a new conference in Taipei.
“I told him that I’ve already made my home here and even if I were to leave the country, I could not leave my daughter here alone. I am also human and I have feelings too. It hurt whenever I was beaten,” she added.
Nguyen finally escaped her suffering last year when she divorced her husband and she now works on her own to raise her daughter.
However, not every abused foreign spouse is as fortunate.
“I interviewed a Vietnamese immigrant spouse nicknamed Thuy, who used to live in a poor farming village in Vietnam,” said Hou Shur-tzy (侯淑姿), an assistant professor at National University of Kaohsiung who has been conducting field research on immigrant spouses since 2005. “She married a Taiwanese man because a broker went to her village and asked her if she wanted to marry a Taiwanese to improve her family’s economic situation.”
However, when Thuy arrived in Taiwan, she found that her “husband” was not the same man she had met in Vietnam and he was very abusive, Hou said.
Thuy then found a chance to escape from her “husband” and worked to save enough money to buy a flight ticket to Vietnam.
“When she arrived home, she was discovered to have cancer and her parents had to sell their family farms so that she could get money to see a doctor, but she died three months later,” Hou said. “All her family received from the marriage was NT$2,000 [US$67.40].”
“It’s shocking and saddening to see that marriage can still be bought or sold in modern times,” said Sun Chung-hsing (孫中興), a sociology professor at National Taiwan University. “It’s also shocking to see how much discrimination immigrants face in this country.”
“We should realize that most of our population are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants, so the only difference is when we or our ancestors came here, otherwise we are all the same,” he added.
He suggested there should be a “Thanksgiving Day” designated to show gratitude to immigrants for their contribution in bringing diversity into the country.
National Chiao Tung University associate professor Wei Ti (魏玓) agreed that discrimination is a serious problem, and that the public should become more open-minded about immigrants and cultural diversity.
However, Wei said he is hopeful, as many media outlets are speaking out against discrimination.
“The amount of voices against discrimination is still small, but I am still hopeful,” he said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)