Representatives from the Truku (
The government originally labeled the Truku as being part of the Atayal people and only officially recognized them as the nation's 12th Aboriginal group in 2004.
Teyra Yudaw, chairman of the Truku Self-Government Promotion Commission, said that although 12 groups had been legally recognized, the nation's Aborigines were still not being treated equally.
Therefore, there was a need for self-government and sovereignty, Yudaw said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kung Wen-chi (
The draft was written following the structure of the Republic of China's Constitution, incorporating issues such as elections, education and taxation methods.
However, most government officials were concerned that much of the draft's content would conflict with articles in the Constitution and with the Law on Local Government Systems (
Chang Kuo-fang (張國芳), a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, said the draft's "ethnic diplomacy" concept would conflict with the president's role in conducting diplomacy.
Ethnic diplomacy, Yudaw said, would allow Aborigines to participate in UN conferences under their own government and avoid pressure from China when participating as "Taiwan."
This would help Taiwan establish better relations with international organizations, he said.
Shih Cheng-feng (
Issues involving minority peoples can no longer be neglected internationally, Shih said.
He added that even China knew it had to face these problems and that therefore an Aboriginal government would be able to participate more freely in international activities.
Chang Bing (
In addition, every governmental meeting would have to include 12 different Aboriginal representatives, he added.
Taxation methods were also discussed, with questions raised as to whether the Truku people would pay taxes only to their own government and not the central government.
Other government officials also said that many regulations in the draft law overlapped the Aboriginal Basic Law (
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