Vice President Annette Lu (
The uproar began after Lu made comments earlier this month saying that Taiwan's Aborigines were not the nation's first inhabitants, and that victims of Tropical Storm Mindulle living in mountainous areas should move to Central America. The statements drew protests from Aboriginal communities and representatives.
Since then, the communities have repeatedly asked Lu to apologize for her remarks and acknowledge that the Aboriginal peoples were the first native people of Taiwan.
PHOTO: CHEN HSIEN-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Lu has steadfastly refused to apologize, although Chen has asked the Aboriginal community to forgive Lu for her "unintended" words.
In an interview which will be aired tonight at 8pm on the public television station PTS, Lu reiterated her claim that her words were not directed at or intended to harm the Aboriginal people of Taiwan, and thus she has no reason to apologize.
Her refusal has led Aboriginal lawmakers to publicly call into question the commitment of the Chen administration to promoting Aboriginal causes.
Lu did however, seem to be trying to play down the controversy yesterday afternoon by deviating from her steadfast insistence that she was justified in claiming that Taiwan's indigenous people were not the first people to live in Taiwan.
"Among all the people of Taiwan, the Aboriginal people were the earliest people in Taiwan," said Lu yesterday, in response to reporters' questions after exiting the Democratic Progress Party (DPP)'s party development committee's second meeting yesterday afternoon.
Although her words seemed to contradict her original remarks, she repeated her stance that she had done nothing wrong and therefore did not need to apologize, saying her words had been grossly exaggerated and manipulated to sound offensive to the Aboriginal people.
But Lu's comments failed to impress the leaders of the rally scheduled for today, who said that her statement was too little, too late.
"Even though she's finally said that the Aboriginal people are the original people of Taiwan, we still feel that she should give Taiwan's indigenous people a direct and official apology for her actions," said independent legislator and rally deputy commander Walis Pelin (
In the absence of the desired apology, the show will go on as planned by the group of lawmakers, Pelin said.
The rally will include all Aboriginal legislators, except the sole Aboriginal DPP legislator, Chen Tao-ming (
Warming up for today's demonstration, Aboriginals in eight locations throughout the nation fired off guns and brandished knives yesterday morning to protest Lu's words and to express support for the rally.
While there have been concerns that protesters would bring guns and knives to tomorrow's rally, representatives from the rally and independent Legislator May Chin's (
Both the Presidential Office and the Council of Indigenous People (CIP) issued statements denouncing the protest.
Claims that the Chen administration is not committed to the advancement of Aboriginals have been misguided, the council said, pointing to the administration's moves to teach Aboriginal languages in schools and various other policies.
Chen and Lu have already expressed their commitment to the Aboriginal people and explained their side of the misunderstanding, the Presidential Office's statement said.
The two hope that the rally "which was caused by a misunderstanding, will be called off because of understanding," the Presidential Office's spokesman, Chen Wen-tsung (
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS