Though ethnic issues in Taiwan are highly sensitive and emotional, a seminar attended by scholars and lawmakers yesterday shows that a rational and serious discussion on the matter is possible.
While Taiwanese people are talking about ethnic reconciliation, a high-ranking Hakka official said yesterday that reconciliation must not come at the price of a minority group's culture.
"Minority ethnic groups can only accept equality, goodwill and mutual respect, not ethnic integration," said Executive Yuan Hakka Committee member Yang Chang-chen (
For minority groups, ethnic integration (族群融合) implies their complete absorption by an overwhelming majority.
In a bid to bridge gaps and promote rational dialogue between ethnic groups, the Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan (台灣促進和平基金會) organized a seminar in which officials and scholars with different ethnic origins took part.
The conference began with a skit in which Chinese, Hakka, Tai-wanese Aborigines, foreigners, Hokklo people and foreign laborers pointed their fingers at each other for promoting negative stereotypes of various ethnic groups.
In the skit the mainland Chinese were stereoptyped as being "hypocritical and cunning," Hakka people as "selfish and stingy," the Hokklo people as "stupid and vulgar," while the Taiwanese Aborigines were portrayed as "lazy and alcoholic."
As a Taiwanese Aborigine, outgoing DPP legislator Payen Talu (巴燕達魯) complained that, for a long time, under whatever regime, Taiwanese Aborigines have never gained respect or received enough resources from the government.
"In our textbooks, there is not a single word to illustrate the culture of Taiwanese Aborigines. As a result of this, ethnic identity has become a serious problem among Aborigines."
Payen Talu said the reason why he joined the DPP was because he wanted to get involved in the process of Taiwan's democratization. "I don't want the Aborigines to be absent in this process," Payen Talu said.
However, Payen Talu lost in the Dec.1 election and blamed his defeat on the division of the Aborigines into subgroups, which jeopardized the chances of stronger candidates getting elected. "The Aborigines are pushed to the periphery in all fields of Taiwanese society," Payen Talu said.
Yang said that the Mandarin-language movement pushed by the KMT since 1949 has oppressed the Hakka language.
"Only when such historical pain is understood can reconciliation be possible," Yang said.
But, "if every ethnic group focuses only on its own pain, reconciliation cannot be accomplished," Yang said.
Ng Chiautong (黃昭堂), chairman of the World United Formosans for Independence, said the impression that his group cannot tolerate ethnic differences was not true.
Ng said that what really causes stress in the Taiwanese independence movement is the issue of national identity, rather than ethnic identity.
"People who identify themselves with Taiwan are our friends, and those who identify with the People's Republic of China are our enemies," Ng said. For Ng, there are only two ethnic groups in Taiwan -- Chinese and Taiwanese.
Kuo Li-hsin (郭力昕), a lecturer in the Department of Radio and Television at National Chengchi University, said that it is only through respecting ethnic differences that various ethnic groups can live together peacefully.
Kuo said that, as a second-generation mainlander, he believes the first step in reconciliation is "for the mainlanders to admit their original sin (原罪) and the wounds the mainlanders inflicted on indigenous Taiwanese people in the past."
"We have to face our original sin and develop a self-examination mechanism in our mind. Then the bias and discrimination can be removed," Kuo added.
Chiang Wen-yu (
Chiang stressed that the media in Taiwan have created three false images. The first is the image of Taiwan as being a disastrous society -- through broadcasting horrible images on TV 24 hours a day. The second is to exaggerate the importance of Taipei by ignoring other places in Taiwan. The third is the exaggeration of Beijing's influence by constantly broadcasting Chinese officials' threats to Taiwan.
"These factors become a bone of contention among different ethnic groups during election periods," Chiang said.
The scholar concluded that the media is responsible for for exacerbating ethnic conflict.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
COGNITIVE WARFARE: Chinese fishing boats transmitting fake identification signals are meant to test Taiwan’s responses to different kinds of perceived incursions, a report said Chinese vessels are transmitting fake signals in Taiwan’s waters as a form of cognitive warfare, testing Taipei’s responses to various types of incursions, a report by the Institute for the Study of War said on Friday. Several Chinese fishing vessels transmitted fake automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan’s waters last month, with one mimicking a Russian warship and another impersonating a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report said. Citing data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the report said that throughout August and last month, the Chinese fishing boat Minshiyu 06718 (閩獅漁06718) sailed through the Taiwan Strait while intermittently transmitting its own AIS
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Medical logistics is a lifeline during wartime and the reported CCP links of a major logistics company present a national security threat, an expert said The government would bolster its security check system to prevent China from infiltrating the nation’s medical cold chain, a national security official said yesterday. The official, who wished to stay anonymous, made the remarks after the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media (鏡周刊) reported that Pharma Logistics (嘉里醫藥物流) is in charge of the medical logistics of about half of the nation’s major hospitals, including National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The company’s parent, Kerry TJ Logistics Co (嘉里大榮物流), is associated with the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the
RSS