More than a dozen female political advisors have urged the
government to tighten up examination of marriage applications
involving Chinese women and foreign nationals to better protect the
rights and interests of those women who blunder into unhappy
wedlocks.
"In recent years, Chinese embassies and consulates on foreign
soils often receive complaints from Chinese women married to
foreign nationals, who are subject to domestic violence, sex abuses
and even illegal confinement by their husbands," said Ren
Yuanzheng, a member of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
China's top advisory body in its annual full session here.
Ren said loopholes in China's existing laws and regulations
regarding foreign marriages are one of the factors to blame for the
lack of adequate protection of those women.
According to Ren, the current regulations on Chinese-foreigner
marriages only require the foreign national involved to present
documents of personal identification, but fail to check the income
status of the foreign national or whether the couple can afford a
stable marriage life.
"Due to the cultural and wealth gap between the Chinese women
and their foreign husbands, their marriages are often prone to
various misunderstandings and conflicts. As many of the Chinese
wives lack the self-protection awareness and are too shy to tell
their sad stories to others, they often face escalating violence
and maltreatment from their foreign husbands," said Ren.
As the International Women's Day fell on Wednesday, Ren, along
with 16 other female CPPCC members, has submitted a proposal to the
ongoing session, calling for stricter examination of foreign
marriage applications by relevant government departments.
"We demand the foreign national involved in such a marriage
application be required to present his taxation documents or assets
evaluation papers, to prove that he has a normal income sufficient
for supporting a normal marriage life," said Ren.
The foreign applicant should also deliver a letter of guarantee,
pledging to pay the return airfare for the Chinese wife once the
couple seek a divorce, and to cover basic living expenses of the
wife before a court verdict on the divorce is passed upon, she
added.
Marriages between Chinese and foreign nationals have been on a
constant rise since China opened itself to the outside world nearly
three decades ago. In 2004, the country's civil affairs departments
registered more than 4,000 Chinese-foreigner marriages, and also
handled nearly 1,000 divorce applications from such marriages.
(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2006)