Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has said he hopes his son won't marry a foreigner.
Lien made the comment on Wednesday while appearing on a TV comedy show with his son, Sheng-wen (勝文), a US-educated businessman who has been helping his father campaign for the March 20 election.
When Lien was asked what he would think if his son wanted to marry a foreigner, he replied, "It would be best if he didn't."
A KMT spokesman told reporters that Lien only wanted to point out that marriages between people from different cultures do not always work out.
"With different traditions, there could be problems with the marriage," Justin Chou (周守訓) said. "But in the end, Lien said that the choice was up to his son."
Lien, who has a doctorate from the University of Chicago, has said his knowledge of foreigners and international relations is much deeper than President Chen Shui-bian (
Lien told Beijing yesterday to ignore Chen's anti-China rhetoric or risk him winning re-election. He said the Chinese leadership should not "do anything or say anything" to help Chen.
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