The Ministry of Education (MOE) is considering demanding that all foreign brides receive Chinese-language training courses as soon as they arrive in Taiwan, Vice Minister of Education Fan Sun-lu (
"We are considering requiring all foreign brides to study Chinese once they set foot on the island, " Fan said at a seminar on adult education for foreign brides organized by the Taipei county government.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Fan said the ministry has also decided to ease restrictions on foreign brides intending to receive higher education in Taiwan. In the future, she said, foreign brides who have obtained permanent residency or Taiwan passports can apply to enter local educational institutions.
Due to the changing social situation, Fan went on, the number of foreign women marrying Taiwan men has increased substantially in recent years.
"We should not discriminate against foreign brides and should treat them with respect and concern," Fan said, adding that educational and welfare service agencies should integrate their resources to help foreign brides get accustomed to Taiwan's social norms, customs, culture and way of life.
As foreign brides play an essential role in child-rearing and education, Fan said, the MOE will cooperate closely with local governments and educational institutes in offering practical educational programs and training workshops for foreign brides.
Speaking on the same occasion, Lin Kuei-chih, academic affairs director of Wanli Elementary School in Taipei County, said that the school began to operate a special education class for foreign brides three years ago.
"At the beginning, the teachers had a hard time communicating with the foreign brides. After three years of effort, however, many of them can speak and read Chinese and can use phonetic symbols and dictionaries," Lin said.
According to government tallies, the number of foreign spouses had reached 91,300 as of the end of last year. Among them, 85,194 were women, while the remainder were men.
If the number of foreign brides increases at an estimated annual rate of 17,000, the number of foreign brides will reach 150,000 in four years, equivalent to the minimum population required to form a city under the jurisdiction of a county government.
In 1998, foreign spouses accounted for 7.13 percent of the people who registered their marriages during the year, a ratio that rose to 11.38 percent in 2001 and surged further to 11.65 percent last year.
A total of 17,339 foreign women married Taiwan men last year, while 2,768 foreign bridegrooms tied the knot with Taiwan women.
In terms of nationality, Vietnamese women formed the largest group of foreign brides in Taiwan, totaling 42,713 at the end of last year; followed by Indonesians at 10,662. Other countries who have at least 1,000 women married to Taiwanese men were Thailand, the Phili-ppines, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia and the US.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS