The Executive Yuan’s Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) on Thursday announced that it has walked out of the Hangzhou Cultural and Creative Industry Expo in China this year, accusing Chinese authorities of trying to force it to reword “indigenous peoples” as “ethnic minorities,” while its title was banned from event material.
The Mainland Affairs Council on Thursday night issued a statement supporting the CIP’s decision, while calling on Beijing to adopt a mutually respectful attitude and to leave politics out of “interactive” events.
Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod said his council had been notified that all documents and other printed material at the expo should have “ethnic minorities” in place of “indigenous peoples,” adding that Chinese officials said that “ethnic minorities” was its official appellation, as Article 4 of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) constitution says: “The nation guarantees the legal rights and benefits of each ethnic minority.”
Photo courtesy of the Council of Indigenous Peoples
Icyang said that adherence to the PRC constitution ignored a 1994 Republic of China (ROC) constitutional amendment that officially recognized Aborigines.
Up until the CIP delegation departed for Hangzhou, it said that the group would be attending the expo without changing its name, Icyang said, adding that the CIP had not expected the hosts to make such demands.
The hosts removed a plaque over an area bearing the CIP’s name, Icyang said, adding that the habitual politicization of what should be simple cultural interactive events was not conducive to harmonious cross-strait relations.
Photo courtesy of the Council of Indigenous Peoples
China was adhering to Han chauvinism by referring to other ethnicities as “minorities,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kolas Yotaka said.
The government and the private sector are willing to work with China on certain issues, but the oppression of Taiwan by Beijing has shown that it is China that is the source of hostility, Kolas said.
Despite the CIP’s expo exit, it said that 10 civilian cultural and creative groups at the event were free to make their own decision about attending, as the government encourages civilian cross-strait interaction.
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
RSS