Taiwan-born Conny Wiik, who was adopted by a Finnish couple as a toddler, yesterday met his biological mother for the first time in more than three decades at a news conference in New Taipei City.
Wiik, who arrived in Taipei on Thursday with his wife and two of his children, said that it felt wonderful to be able to sit side by side with his mother in Taiwan.
“I love you, mom,” he said as he hugged his mother, Ho Liu Shu-chen (何劉淑真), in front of a crowd of photographers and reporters.
Photo: CNA
Ho Liu said she was very happy and excited about the reunion.
She said she had been forced to give up her son, then known as Ho Liu Ming-feng (何劉明烽), for adoption when he was one after his father’s business failed.
The 35-year-old Wiik, a father of four, said he knows very little Mandarin and will have to learn it so he can talk with his mother.
Photo: Wu Jen-chieh, Taipei Times
He said that he always felt different in Finland, but it was not until his eldest daughter was born 12 years ago that he started thinking about finding his biological parents. He said he had tried for many years to find them, but did not make a breakthrough until just before Mother’s Day in May last year, thanks to help from Taiwan’s representative office in Finland and Taiwanese police officers.
His birth certificate listed his mother’s name, but not his father’s.
Wiik thanked all the people who had helped in his search, especially Emmanuelle Tzeng, a Central News Agency reporter based in Europe who first reported his story.
Tzeng and her Taipei-based colleagues in February last year reported on Wiik and other Taiwan-born adoptees in Finland and helped them get in touch with the National Police Agency.
Photographs and other material Wiik provided helped police identify Ho Liu, and DNA tests confirmed she was his mother.
He said the greatest reward of his first trip back to Taiwan was seeing his biological mother and connecting with the country of his birth.
Wiik has planned a 14-day visit to Taiwan, including a Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner with his mother on Wednesday and a tour of the island.
He lives in Nykarleby, a town of about 7,500 on Finland’s western coast, where he owns a fox farm.
He said earlier this month that his parents had initially been worried that he might want to move to Taiwan if he located his biological family, but they had changed their minds and backed his trip.
They could not make the trip with him because of health concerns, Wiik said.
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