MORE ON VIETNAMESE BRIDES TO TAIWAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000456 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL CVIS KWMN TIP ELAB SMIG SOCI TW VM SUBJECT: MORE ON VIETNAMESE BRIDES TO TAIWAN REF: 05 HCMC 1299 HO CHI MIN 00000456 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. During a recent visit to the Mekong Delta province of Can Tho, a local reporter and expert on women's issues estimated that at least 14,000 women -- mostly poor and uneducated -- have married Taiwanese and some South Korean men since 2000. The perceived economic benefits of overseas marriage are driving the process. Matchmakers play a key recruiting role in these legal marriages. The expert is concerned that the young, uneducated women do not appreciate the consequences of overseas marriage. She also reported some cases of possible trafficking of women once in Taiwan as well as "bait and switch" of grooms on the eve of marriage in Vietnam. The expert wants local government to step up its education outreach to local women to counter what she sees as an impending increase in efforts of matchmakers in the Mekong Delta. Septel reports on our conversations in Can Tho with Women's Union and police officials on Taiwanese brides and TIP. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) During a visit to the Mekong Delta province of Can on April 11, we met with Ms. Thanh Trang, Social Affairs Reporter for the Can Tho bureau of Thanh Nien newspaper to discuss the Vietnamese brides to Taiwan issue in the Mekong Delta. Ms. Trang (protect) has covered the bridal export phenomenon and TIP issues for years for Thanh Nien, one of Vietnam's leading news dailies. ¶3. (SBU) According to Trang, 14,000 women in Can Tho province married foreigners from 2000 to 2004. (In 2004, Can Tho had a population of 1.1 million.). Ninety percent of these women married Taiwanese men; the bulk of the remainder married South Koreans. Eighty percent of the women were from the countryside. Seventy percent said they married for economic reasons. Roughly one in six women claimed they were pressured by their parents to marry foreign men. Traveling Matchmakers -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Through her interviews of Vietnamese who returned from failed marriages in Taiwan, Trang said she was able to build a picture of the typical process in which local women are recruited. Matchmakers play a key role. They usually travel from house to house in the Can Tho countryside, asking if anyone wants to marry a Taiwanese man. Matchmakers start recruiting in one area of a village and soon word spreads among the families about the "opportunities" to marry a foreigner. ¶5. (SBU) The foreign man generally pays the matchmaker a sizeable fee. In turn, the matchmaker gives a small amount of money to the family of the woman; Trang approximates between three and five million VND (USD 190 to USD 315). While the family is aware ahead of time that they will receive very little money up front, poor families are eager to marry their daughters off to foreigners because of the prospects that the women will be able to support the family through remittances. ¶6. (SBU) Trang believes that the majority of women who marry foreigners have no more than a sixth grade education. The lack of education combined with lack of economic opportunity creates an environment where women see marriages to foreigners as a way out. Trung cited a recent survey conducted by the city of Can Tho in which 2000 brides were asked about their motivations for marrying a foreigner. Two thirds said they wanted to marry a Taiwanese man because they were jobless and wanted to solve financial problems. Roughly the same amount admitted that they had no clear idea of what their lives would be overseas. Making a Match -------------- ¶7. (SBU) After being recruited, Trang said there are generally three ways in which the "matchmaking" process is handled: -- In the village, the Vietnamese woman is shown a picture of her prospective husband by the matchmaker and chooses to marry the man based on the picture. If the woman agrees to the marriage, the matchmaker will complete the local Vietnamese legal paperwork, which is then signed by the bride. In these cases, the matchmaker will arrange for the groom to travel to Can Tho for the wedding. -- The woman travels to HCMC's District 10 to meet the groom and hold the marriage ceremony. According to Trang, District 10 -- a center of the Chinese community in HCMC -- is where the matchmakers bring together the bulk foreign grooms and their Vietnamese brides. -- In other cases, the recruited woman will travel to HCMC where she will join other potential brides. As prospective grooms arrive, the woman will join a line-up from which the foreigner will choose a woman to marry. If chosen, the necessary HO CHI MIN 00000456 002.2 OF 002 paperwork will be completed and the marriage ceremony will take place immediately. Bait and Switch? -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Trang claimed to be aware of cases where, on the day of her wedding, the prospective bride finds that her groom is not the man in the photograph that she was shown back in Can Tho. The substitute was invariably old or disabled. However, Trung was not aware of any cases where the women backed out of the marriage. Hidden Societal Costs -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Trung argues that the phenomenon of Vietnamese women marrying foreigners has transformed demographics of some parts of Can Tho province. A case in point is Can Tho's Thot Not district, which is locally known as "Taiwan Island." Trang claims that in this district, every family has at least one daughter married to a Taiwanese man. The process started when one family had two daughters who married Taiwanese men. With money that these women sent home, the family was able to build a very large house. When neighbors saw what happened, everyone wanted their daughters to marry Taiwanese. Trang claims that 60 percent of women in the district have married Taiwanese men. ¶10. (SBU) In neighboring Dong Thap province, Trang said there are many cases of Vietnamese women marrying Taiwanese, divorcing, and then returning to Vietnam along with their Taiwan-born children. Some of these women face difficulty reintegrating. For example, she believes that there are up to 500 children who do not have birth certificates or other official documentation. As a result, the children do not have access to free medical care, cannot participate in vaccination programs and cannot be registered to attend school in Vietnam. ¶11. (SBU) Trang acknowledges that, according to the information she has available, the marriages are perfectly legal under Vietnamese law. However, she frets that the young, uneducated women that are typically involved have inaccurate and preconceived notions about what their lives outside of Vietnam will be like. At a bare minimum, the women's inability to speak the local language in her new home country often leads to a stressed marriage and a life of isolation. She said that, in some cases, spousal abuse is an issue. ¶12. (SBU) Trang said, that it also appears that, once in Taiwan, some Vietnamese women find that they are pressured into prostitution or servitude. Trang tells the story of Nguyen Thi Phuong, from Vi Thanh District in Can Tho, who returned from Taiwan in mid-September 2005. Phuong married a Taiwanese man when she was 19 and moved to Taiwan. Not long after, she gave birth to a child. Ten days after the delivery, her husband forced her to return to work, taking care of some 700 pigs on a pig farm. Her husband beat her every time a pig died. Her husband cut off all of her phone contact to Vietnam. She tried to contact Taiwanese police, but spoke no Taiwanese. For reasons unclear to Trang, after 3 years she failed to obtain her Taiwanese citizenship and was deported back to Vietnam. Trang tells the story of another unnamed woman who married a Taiwanese man and later was forced to sleep with all three of her brothers-in-law. Seeking a More Emphatic Government Response -------------- ¶13. (SBU) Trang says that the Women's Union in Can Tho needs to do more to educate women in the countryside about the potential dangers of marrying foreigners. She acknowledged that the Women's Union and the Can Tho Police do meet and work together, but, as far as she can see, concrete output has been minimal thus far. She said that it was imperative that the government respond more aggressively as the reach of matchmakers into Can Tho probably would increase in the future. The opening of a new airport in Can Tho by the end of 2006 and the building of a bridge connecting Can Tho with the highway to HCMC could lead to more matchmakers and perspective foreign husbands visiting the province in the future. Winnick