Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu made the remarks in a speech during an event she organized to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the breakoff in US-Taiwan diplomatic relations and the fifth anniversary of the country's WTO accession.
Lu also presented a film clip and provided the voice over for a feature on the nation's history, as well as the lyrics for a song titled Taiwan Go Go Go.
The documentary showed that Taiwan's earliest aboriginals arrived some 20,000 years ago and came in several waves over the centuries.
Myth
"The film destroys the myth created by the Han people, who argue that Taiwan has 400 years of history. Many tribes coming from different places are the ones that have created today's Taiwan," said Chang Yen-hsien (
Lu said that quite a few people chose to leave Taiwan 28 years ago when the US severed its diplomatic relations with the country.
"But for those who have confidence in Taiwan, they have created three miracles -- in the progress of economics, democracy and peace," she said.
"The more the Taiwanese can connect themselves with the world, the more can [Taiwanese] shine forth," she said.
She urged the public to always think of Taiwan as "a global Taiwan," rather than "Taiwanese Taiwan," and to think of what they could do for the world.
Contribution
Lee Lou-chuang (李羅權), president of the National Central University, said that Taiwan had contributed much and could still contribute more to the world in the field of technology.
"Since last month, the European Union has started using information provided by Taiwan's FORMOSAT-3 satellite in its Meteorology Forecast System. And after the recent earthquake in Hengchun (
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