Thao Aborigines yesterday petitioned the Control Yuan to intervene in a government-approved development project in the tribe’s traditional domain, which they say is a violation of the Aboriginal Basic Act (原住民族基本法).
Holding up banners that accused the government of favoring large corporations and neglecting Aboriginal rights, dozens of Thao Aborigines and rights activists yesterday staged a protest over a plan to build a vacation resort near Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) in Nantou County without having consulted the tribal assembly.
With a population of less than 1,000, the Thao are worried that their culture — or even their tribe — may soon disappear and are therefore strongly opposed to turning a plot of land in their traditional domain into a holiday resort in a cross-strait joint venture.
Photo: Chen Ching-min, Taipei Times
“We Aborigines have been in Taiwan for thousands of years, but now the government of President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] is working with the Chinese Communist Party to destroy the culture and survival of an Aboriginal tribe,” Thao National Assembly president Banu Bagamumu said outside the Control Yuan building. “We are here to ask the Control Yuan to intervene to stop the shameless Executive Yuan from selling out the interests of Aborigines.”
A clause in the act stipulates that all development projects in Aboriginal traditional domains must have consent the of the local tribe, but the Sun Moon Lake area has not been officially declared a Thao traditional domain.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) also spoke in support of the Thao protest.
“One of the purposes of developing tourism is to improve the lives of locals, yet this project is aimed at developing tourism at the expense of locals,” she said. “It’s what I would call ‘vampire’ development.”
Association of Taiwan Indigenous Peoples’ Policies board member Pasang Hsiao (蕭世暉) panned the Executive Yuan for skirting the issue of traditional Aboriginal domains.
“The government always says it acts according to the law. However, it is exempting itself from the law in this case — how can an administrative decision overrule a law?” he asked. “The Executive Yuan’s excuse is essentially that people should suffer because of delays in government action.”
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard