Taiwan saw a small increase in the number of mixed marriages last year despite an overall drop in the number of new marriages, the latest report released by the Ministry of the Interior said.
The report showed that 117,099 couples tied the knot last year, a decline of 24.4 percent from 2008, mainly because of the economic downturn and the belief that last year, dubbed a “lonely phoenix year,” was not favorable to marriages.
However, marriages between Taiwanese and Chinese (including Hong Kong and Macau) and other nationalities totaled 21,914, up 185, or 0.85 percent, from 2008.
The number of mixed marriages as a percentage of the total number of new marriages recorded last year was 18.71 percent, a rise of 4.68 percentage points from 2008.
After the government began requiring immigration interviews for Chinese spouses in September 2003 and other nationalities in 2005 in an effort to block marriages of convenience, the ratio of mixed marriages had been falling, reaching 14.03 percent in 2008, down from the peak of 31.9 percent in 2003, the ministry said.
Among the mixed marriages last year, 13,294, or 60.66 percent, involved a spouse from China, Hong Kong or Macau, and 8,620, or 39.34 percent, involved a spouse from other foreign countries, mainly in Southeast Asia.
Compared with 2008, the number of Chinese spouses saw the largest increase, by 522, or 4.3 percent.
Among the total of 18,241 non-Taiwanese brides recorded last year, 12,603 were from China, Hong Kong or Macau; 3,614 were from Vietnam; and 739 came from Indonesia.
Of the 3,673 non-Taiwanese grooms, 726 were from Japan; 698 hailed from the US; and 691 came from China, Hong Kong or Macau.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,
RSS