The number of weddings involving partners of different nationalities fell to 14 percent of all marriages in Taiwan in last year, continuing a decline that began in 2004, the latest statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior last month show.
Last year, 21,729 Taiwanese tied the knot with foreign nationals — 2,971 fewer than in 2007.
The ratio of marriages involving partners of mixed nationality as a percentage of the total has been falling every year since 2004 after reaching its peak in 2003, when 31.9 percent of all marriages in Taiwan were between a Republic of China (ROC) citizen and a foreign national.
PROSTITUTES
Ministry officials attributed the decline in part to government efforts to crack down on marriages of convenience used to bring women into the country for prostitution.
In terms of the distribution of nationalities, 59 percent of the foreign spouses who married Taiwanese last year came from China, Hong Kong and Macau, followed by 28 percent from Southeast Asian countries, ministry statistics showed.
A total of 18,213 foreign women married Taiwanese men over last year, accounting for 83.8 percent of the total of foreign spouses who married ROC citizens.
FOREIGN BRIDES
In terms of nationality, 66.7 percent of the foreign brides were from China, Hong Kong or Macau, followed by 22 percent from Vietnam and 4.4 percent from Indonesia.
Close to a quarter of the male foreign nationals who married Taiwanese women last year were from Japan, with 17.7 percent from China, Hong Kong and Macau, ministry tallies showed.
Those from the US ranked third and made up 14.6 percent of the total.
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