Marriages, another cross-Strait relationship

Lu Yuexiang, 48, would never have imagined marrying a Taiwanese 20 years ago -- before the restart of communications across the Taiwan Strait in 1987.

A graduate from a college in Fujian province, she married her Taiwanese husband in 1992 and has lived in Taiwan ever since.

She is just one of the nearly 300,000 "mainland brides" in Taiwan.

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan resumed communications in 1987 after they were broken off during the civil war in the 1940s. The first cross-strait marriage was recorded in 1989 in the coastal city of Xiamen, facing Taiwan across the Strait.

The number of such marriages has increased dramatically since the 1990s. More than 10,000 cross-Strait marriages are now registered annually.

"Cross-Strait marriages are the fourth link. They are in addition to the 'three links' of mail, transport and trade and are conducive to the understanding and cooperation between the two sides," said Chiang Chi-bi, honorary president of the Taiwan Mainland New Immigrant Communication Association.

Most of the first batch of "mainland brides" are married to the veteran soldiers who fled to Taiwan in 1949. Ex-soldiers who couldn't find spouses in Taiwan, were able to return to their hometowns after 1987 to look for brides. Some of the mainland brides they found were divorced and wanted to change their lives through marriage.

Living in Taiwan was difficult for many of the mainland women. They had to silently bare much discrimination against them, said Lu.

Zhou Chichun was such a case. Having married a Taiwanese man and lived in Kaohsiung for 20 years, Zhou, an activist for cross-Strait marriages, was looked down upon by many Taiwanese at that time when the mainland's economy lagged behind that of Taiwan.

"Taiwanese people thought we came here for money," Zhou added.

"Although the two sides have the same origin, spouses from the mainland were discriminated against in the earlier years in terms of identity cards registration, gaining permanent residence rights and employment rights. It was a bitter 20 years," said Chung Jin-ming, president of Taiwan's Cross-strait Marriage Coordination and Promotion Association.

Because of the economic and social development in the Chinese mainland, as well as the ever tighter cross-Strait ties, marriages between the people of the two sides has become less problematic.

"It's quite natural that young people from the two sides of the Strait meet often and have chemistry. Government departments should provide services and convenient conditions for them and help them obtain legitimate rights and interests," said Ye Kedong, deputy director of the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Taiwanese authorities have revised some policies for protecting the rights and interests of spouses from the mainland amid the growing cross-Strait ties. Cross-Strait married couples have also made considerable contributions to making the two sides pay attention to cross-Strait marriages, said Chung.

The major problems that mainland spouses now face include domestic violence, overstaying issues and difficulties in bringing parents in the mainland to Taiwan for residence. Their education is not recognized by Taiwanese authorities and they have to wait an excessively long time to obtain identity cards, according to Zhou.

It took Lu nine years to get her identity card in Taiwan. Now the "mainland brides" still need to wait six years to get an identity card, two years more than Filipino or Vietnamese brides. Without an identity card, they can not work legally or get social insurance in Taiwan.

Lu joined the Kuomintang Party right after getting her identity card and formed the Chinese Production Party in 2010 to better fight for the rights of the new immigrants from the mainland.

"We are now trying our best to lobby the Taiwanese authorities to face the problems and make improvements," said Zhou.

Although most of the cross-Strait marriages happen in Taiwan, the number of "Taiwan brides" in the mainland are also on the rise as the mainland economy becomes more powerful and offers more job opportunities.

Li Ming-hua came to the mainland from Taipei more than 10 years ago, recruited by Pingan Insurance Company. She married her lawyer husband in Huai'an city of east China's Jiangsu province several years later.

"The infrastructure and living standard in the mainland now are as good as in Taiwan, or even better in some ways," she said.

Although there are still setbacks on the way of happy marriages across the Strait, authorities from both the mainland and Taiwan are making efforts to make the marriage lasting and sound.

At the ongoing fourth Straits Forum, a total of 210 couples across the Strait are discussing the problems in their marriages and trying to find solutions at the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Sub-forum.

Chinese Civil Affairs Minister Li Liguo opened a Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Center in Xiamen on Sunday and a website (http://c-smf.mca.gov.cn/index.html) to cater for the needs of the couples.

How to protect the legal rights of the cross-Strait marriage is on the agenda of the government. The Civil Affairs Ministry is researching about how to provide medical and social insurance to those people concerned. Detailed policies on birth and immigration control are also being considered, Li disclosed at the forum.

"My husband once joked that if we fight, then it's a battle across the Strait," said Li Ming-hua."We want to treat each other with our heart and keep this sound cross-Strait relation forever."