Aboriginal representatives yesterday made a plea at a public hearing to demand the return of lands appropriated by the government in the Hualien County area.
Forty Amiss tribal chiefs and elders took part in the public hearing to press their claim to 622 hectares that is currently owned by the Taiwan Sugar Corp.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The public hearing, entitled "Return-My-Land," was sponsored by legislator Payen Talu (
Representatives from Taiwan Sugar, the Council of Aboriginal Affairs, the Legislative Yuan's bureau of legal affairs and the Association of Taiwan Indigenous People's Politics (ATIPP) were also represented at the meeting.
The 622-hectare area has undergone extensive development since it was appropriated and hosts three ethnic-Chinese villages: Da-hsing, His-fu and Fu-yuan.
Historical precedent
"The land historically has belonged to us," said Aaung Nouw Ay Jiyeuss, an Amiss spokesperson. "The Taiwan Sugar Corp received the land from the outside forces who came and took away our land without seeking our consent."
Jiyeuss was referring to the Japanese colonial period from 1895 to 1945 during which tribal peoples were forced to live in mountainous areas.
The colonial government appropriated thousands of hectares of tribal land in order to exploit forest, mineral and agricultural resources.
"When the KMT came to Taiwan in 1949, it received the lands from the Japanese and continued the occupation and exploitation of them by claiming them as government property," said Aaung Nouw Ay Jiyeuss.
Amiss elders present said that as a result, tribal peoples were forced to abandon their land and to live in mountainous areas.
Huang Jorn-hun (黃哲宏), vice president of Taiwan Sugar Corp, said that "the company is willing to negotiate over the matter, though the fact remains that it did gain ownership of the land in accordance with the law."
However, the Amiss disagreed.
"We don't recognize Taiwan Sugar Corp's ownership of the land because the law has been created according to the values of the Han people which have neither incorporated nor acknowledged Aborigines," Aaung Nouw Ay Jiyeuss said.
A legal matter
Huang Nuan-fang (
"No matter what, in a legal fight, Taiwan Sugar Corp is regarded having full ownership of the land," Huang said.
Siao Shih-hui (
"Compiling sufficient background information concerning the land will be difficult," said Chang Chen-jorn (
Most Amiss tribal members live in the mountainous areas around Hualien. It is the largest, with 150,000 members, of the nine Aborigine tribes that still exist in Taiwan.
In total approximately 400,000, or 1.65 percent of Taiwan's 23 million people claim Aboriginal decent. Most Aborigines live in scatter settlements and small villages in the most remote areas of the country's east and southeast.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS