Would-be brides and grooms may be asked to take a four-hour marriage seminar to improve their chances of lasting "until death do they part."
The idea is to prepare men and women for the realities of married life before they tie the knot.
The proposal has been put forth in a bill that passed its first committee review in the Legislative Yuan last month. Lawmakers, government officials and scholars met at a symposium yesterday to discuss the marriage seminar plan, which they say is necessary to counter rising divorce rates.
The Ministry of Education sponsored yesterday's symposium. According to the draft of the Family Education Law, would-be brides and grooms would be given the option of taking a four-hour course before their marriage is registered.
But one idea is to make the seminar mandatory for all couples. That suggestion and other details of the proposal have yet to be worked out, and the law is far from being passed.
Proponents of the plan note that Taiwan has one of the highest divorce rates in Asia, reaching 4 percent in 1999, five times higher than the rate in 1971.
According to Huang Nai-yu (
While preparing for their weddings, Huang said, many Taiwanese couples focus on holding a glamorous, romantic wedding while losing sight of the fact that marriages are difficult, life-time commitments.
"Many couples tell me they have prepared everything: the wedding dress, photography, the banquet," Huang said. "But do these things, in the end, guarantee a happy marriage?"
The seminar proposal is similar to laws in two conservative US states that are designed to promote the idea that marriage is a life-long commitment.
In Louisiana, couples can opt for a so-called "covenant marriage" over a regular marriage, whereby would-be brides and grooms receive premarital counseling before saying "I do."
The covenant marriage goes one step further than Taiwan's proposal, requiring a married couple to separate for at least two years while receiving marriage counseling before they can get a divorce. The exceptions are cases where there is proof of adultery, abandonment or abuse, or a spouse is imprisoned.
Arizona has a similar law, and many other US states are considering covenant marriages in a country where nearly half of all marriages end in divorce.
Still, some say the marriage seminar shouldn't be mandatory. Chang Si-chia (張思嘉), associate professor of social psychology from Shih-hsing University, (世新大學), said making the education program compulsory would turn off some potential grooms and brides.
"Besides, it's impossible to fully teach the realities of marriage in merely four hours of pre-marital programs," Chang said.
MILESTONE: The foreign minister called the signing ‘a major step forward in US-Taiwan relations,’ while the Presidential Office said it was a symbol of the nations’ shared values US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the state department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct a review “not less than every five years.” It must then submit an updated report based on its findings “not later
The Presidential Office today thanked the US for enacting the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday, is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct such a review "not less than every five years." It must then submit an updated
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
RSS