Chinese brides of Taiwanese men who went to China to visit their families were ordered by Beijing to have abortions or to undergo surgery to have their fallopian tubes tied. They were also fined and threatened with punishment under China's one-child policy if they had more children, a Taiwan official said yesterday.
The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF, 海基會) yesterday distributed a news release to reporters saying that, since the beginning of last year, the foundation has received six complaints regarding such cases.
Patricia Lin (林淑閔), director of the SEF's Department of Legal Services, said yesterday the victims told the foundation that, if Chinese birth-control personnel found that a Chinese bride of a Taiwanese man already had one child, they would force her to undergo a pregnancy test and tell her to have an abortion if she is found to be pregnant.
According to Lin, Chinese birth-control personnel also told Chinese brides who already had given birth to two children to undergo surgery to have their fallopian tubes tied. The women were also fined and their children's identification cards were confiscated as punishment for violating China's family planning regulations.
In addition, even if such a bride was pregnant with her first child, the Chinese birth-control personnel would tell her to have an abortion because "they did not get permission from the government to give birth," which is required in China.
"The victims only described what the Chinese officials told them to do, but we don't know for a fact if anyone was truly forced to have an abortion because they keep it private," Lin said.
Lin said that China's birth-control personnel might not fully understand Taiwanese law, and viewed the Taiwan-based brides' babies as an added burden on an overpopulated China.
"Under current Taiwanese regulations, children from cross-strait marriages can be registered as permanent residents of Taiwan, so they won't be a burden to China," Lin said.
She added that China's actions have seriously abused the rights of those who are bound together in cross-strait marriages.
The SEF reminded these couples to prepare for similar treatment if they intend to visit China.
The foundation also sent a letter last week to its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS,
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