Taiwan has a unique opportunity to be a regional leader on Aboriginal issues and to serve as an ambassador for various Aboriginal communities throughout East and Southeast Asia.
When President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at her inauguration last year apologized to Aborigines, there was hope that Tsai, whose grandmother was Paiwan, would address Aboriginal issues that have long been neglected. This was the stated purpose of the Presidential Office’s Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Commission formed by the new government.
However, one year on it appears there has been little real progress on the two main issues that most concern Aborigines: hunting and land rights. In May, a court in Kaohsiung found two Paiwan men not guilty of killing three protected animals, but that the case made it to court at all and that people protested the court ruling show that misunderstanding and discrimination toward Aborigines still exist.
The main problem is that Aboriginal rights are superseded by the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) and other national laws.
Most recently Amis and other communities have been fighting the government over encroachment on their lands by developers who take advantage of the way private and public land is demarcated.
“If someone wants to build a hotel on our land, it is the county government that has to approve it, not the indigenous inhabitants,” Taiwan Indigenous Peoples’ Policies Association president Oto Micyang has said.
Campaigners are calling on the government to amend regulations to allow Aboriginal communities to classify land without government intervention. They have the support of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and New Power Party (NPP) caucuses.
“It is not enough for Tsai to apologize to Aborigines. What is crucial is whether the massive government bureaucracy takes proactive measures to restore Aboriginal rights, land and dignity based on her apology,” NPP Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal said.
The government has made progress on some Aboriginal issues, such as the Aboriginal Language Development Act (原住民族語言發展法) passed in May that recognizes local languages in communities that have at least 1,500 Aborigines, but the real task of the committee should be to secure Aboriginal land and hunting rights. Self-determination in land use and cultural practice are the concerns of Aborigines everywhere who face frustrations in securing self-determination.
Japan’s indigenous people, the Ainu, were forced off ancestral land in the 19th century and given land unsuitable for farming. They are protected by law, but still face discrimination and struggle for recognition of historical injustices.
The Philippines’ Aeta people, who live in the mountainous areas of Luzon, fight for land rights with the Tagalog majority, whose agricultural and urban development often encroaches on Aeta ancestral land.
In the Central Highlands of Vietnam, the Degar, also known as the Montagnard, have historically faced rape and genocide, and today regularly have their land stolen by the Kinh, or Vietnamese, majority. They are regularly arrested for practicing their religion, despite the protection of religious freedom guaranteed by the Vietnamese constitution.
The government has vowed to expand the economy through the New Southbound Policy that aims to bolster ties with Southeast Asian nations and India. This policy should also aim to promote the interests of the region’s Aborigines.
Taiwan is already a regional leader in terms of its democracy and is therefore best positioned to promote Aboriginal rights. The nation should establish an international forum to discuss Aboriginal issues, which would allow the nation to exhibit leadership and bolster its soft power. The nation could also explore economic development opportunities that empower Aboriginal communities.
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US