VietNamNet – A group of Taiwanese scholars has travelled to Hanoi under their government’s authority to study illegal matchmaking and to examine situations of violence when Vietnamese women marry Taiwanese men.

Vietnamese bride and Taiwanese groom

Present at the conference were representatives from the Taiwanese Central Research Institute, the Taipei Economic Office in Hanoi, the Vietnam Social Sciences Institute, the Vietnamese Justice Ministry and the National Committee for Population, Family and Children.

Taiwanese scholars came to address violence and other issues when Vietnamese women marry Taiwanese men. Participants also discussed differences in habits and customs, culture, lifestyle and language between partners, as well as social issues related to the interests and human dignity of Vietnamese brides in Taiwan.

A Taiwanese scholar, Professor Wang Hong Ren, from the Southeast Asia Research Institute,  Xi Nan University, announced findings that around 20% of Vietnamese brides in Taiwan did not get along with their husbands’ families, either suffering mistreatment or filing for divorce.

The greatest difficulties of Vietnamese brides are the language barrier, poor real-life experience, poor knowledge of the culture, precious few work skills and lack understanding of Taiwanese laws, manners and customs, according to Professor Wang.

Many Vietnamese brides don’t know how to contact agencies to ask for help in cases of abuse, even though the Taipei Economic Offices in Hanoi and HCM City give them a guidebook on women’s safety with special telephone numbers in urgent cases. As a result, many of them can’t protect themselves when they are abused, lose their rights to shared family assets and lose opportunities to nurture their children when they divorce.

According to Professor Chyong-fang Ko from the Taiwanese Central Research Institute, Vietnamese brides account for 35% of 338,000 foreign brides in Taiwan, or around 118,300 women, mainly from the south of Vietnam.

Matchmaking services for Taiwanese grooms and Vietnamese brides are developing rapidly, as the profit from the service is very high. Taiwanese matchmakers can earn a US$2,000-2,500 cut of the total $7,000-8,000 matchmaking fees for each marriage.

These hurried marriages, along with potential family violence, human trafficking, legal issues related to Vietnamese women marrying foreign nationals and child custody issued across international borders have now spiralled into a social problem that Taiwanese government can no longer ignore.

And it has risen to the occasion, investing around $300mil in programmes to assist Vietnamese brides, such as teaching them the language, orienting them to what the Taiwanese expect of a daughter in law, offering vocational training and broadcasting a Vietnamese language programme specifically for Vietnamese brides.

The Taiwan Justice Department, Social Department and Civil Service also have programs, as do some non-governmental organizations.

The conference in Hanoi also offered a forum for the Taiwanese and Vietnamese researchers and policy makers to discuss their mutual expectations for the overseas pairings: encouraging marriages based on love restricting marriages through matchmaking services strictly for economic reasons. Both sides agreed that to reduce the rate of disillusioned or unhappy Vietnamese brides in Taiwan, they must join hands to protect women with laws while giving them skills.

An MoJ deputy speaks

VietNamNet spoke with Vu Quoc Cuong, Deputy Head of the Administrative - Justice Department at the Ministry of Justice, on the issue of illegal matchmaking and the lot of Vietnamese women who fall prey to it.

Both Taiwan and Vietnam have to solve the consequences of illegal matchmaking. While Taiwan has considered making matchmaking legal, Vietnam still prohibits it. What is the current situation?

Matchmaking is not a legal service in Vietnam, but it exists and is difficult to supervise. Matchmaking is a service with high profits and many matchmaking organizations have developed intricate networks in every village and commune to seek interested people. In the south-western provinces grooms come into a village by the carload to see prospective brides, slipping past local government. Women are very poor and have no occupation so they immediately agree to marry foreign men after only two or three days of knowing them.

Some matchmakers also operate under the guise of labour export agents.

Why is it difficult to control illegal matchmaking? Is there any way to stop it at its source?

Illegal matchmaking is expanding in Vietnam, in my opinion, because of the poor coordination among the government bodies charged with policing it.

Local women’s unions as well lack infrastructure to promote the issue. I know some cases where even the daughters of commune chairmen married Taiwanese men through matchmaking services.

There is only one centre assisting marriage between Vietnamese people and foreigners, based in Ho Chi Minh City. This centre provides free consulting services for women who want to marry foreigners and teaches them some, but not all, of the things they need to about Taiwanese culture. However, this is a non-profit organization so it often lacks money and can’t meet the increasing demand.

It is necessary to promote the operation of this centre and establish other similar centres at the grassroots level.

Taiwanese scholars are expecting Vietnam to ratify a legal document on marriage with foreigners, the amended Decree 68. What is the nature of the decree?

A draft has been submitted to the government for approval. It has some new articles about marriage between Vietnamese and foreigners.

First, the two parties must be present at the local justice department to fulfil marriage registration formalities, no more vesting somebody with authority. The interview process also changes: future grooms and brides must participate in a prenuptial interview to define the purpose of their marriage and the level of mutual understanding. The interviewer will then determine whether or not the union is suitable.

Quang Hanh