MOI will continue to refer to `foreign spouses' in all official documentation

The Ministry of the Interior said earlier this week that the term "foreign spouses" will continue to be used in official and legal documents, as the term is now commonly used in the community.

The decision was reached after the ministry on Thursday called a meeting of relevant government officials, academics, experts and representatives from foreign spouses associations and advocacy groups.

The ministry held the meeting in response to calls that a more circumspect term should be coined to replace the phrase "foreign spouses" because the word "foreign" seems to distance them from Taiwanese society.

After some open and candid discussions at the two-hour meeting, ministry officials said that the term "foreign spouses" will continue to be employed because they said that it was not discriminatory.

The officials said that the term "foreign spouses" is used to refer to foreign citizens as well as people from China, Hong Kong and Macau who marry citizens of the Republic of China, regardless of their gender.

As a number of social groups prefer to use phrases such as "new immigrants," "new residents," "daughters-in-law of Taiwan" and "international immigrants" to refer to the foreign wives or husbands of local citizens, the officials said that the ministry will respect their choices.

The officials also called on local people to help foreign spouses adapt to local lifestyles and customs, while respecting the cultures and habits of their countries of origin.