A childless couple from the US finally met the four-year-old Taiwanese boy they were adopting last week, with the adoptive mother, Margaret Weddle, hailing the boy “the greatest gift sent by God” on the eve of Mother’s Day.”
Weddle, 49, told a news conference on Thursday that she and her husband Lonnie, a real estate broker, had grown to love Asian culture and after 26 years of marriage without children, they decided in 2006 to adopt a child from Asia.
Taiwan was their top choice because they had more confidence in its work on adoption.
When the couple saw the pictures of the boy nicknamed Hsiao Hsun (小勳), they decided “he’s the one,” Weddle said at the Chung Yi Social Welfare Foundation.
The couple said they did not mind when the foundation told them that the boy is “extraordinarily active” — he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD — and comes from a broken family where only the mother is known.
Foundation executive director Kao Min-tsu (高敏足) said the group had provided the Weddles with everything it knows about Hsiao Hsun’s life and background since the couple first contacted the group in August.
Lonnie Weddle, also 49, said that he had prepared a room at the couple’s Virginia home exclusively for Hsiao Hsun and would teach the boy to fish, swim and play to enable him to lead a happy childhood like any American child.
Kao said the foundation would keep track of Hsiao Hsun’s life for five years through a cooperative adoption agency in the US.
Over the past three years, the foundation has helped nearly 100 Taiwanese orphans or children from poor, broken families find families, with 90 percent of them being adopted by families abroad, Kao said.
‘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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS