Seminar tackles ethnic issues

"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 (江文瑜), associate professor at National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of Linguistics' Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, talked about ethnic divisions from the point of view of the media.

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.