Taiwan could recognize its 15th and 16th indigenous groups — the Hla’alua and the Kanakanvu — a government official in charge of Aboriginal affairs said yesterday.
“My ministry is optimistic that the two groups, currently recognized as part of the Tsou group of Greater Kaohsiung, would be recognized separately very soon once a territory issue is resolved,” Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Mayaw Dongi (林江義) told a Legislative Yuan plenary session.
The issue relates to the groups’ traditional territory overlapping with that of the neighboring Bunun group.
Currently, 14 groups are recognized by the government, including Ami, Atayal, Bunun, Kavalan, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Saisiyat, Tao, Thao, Tsou, Truku, Sakizaya and Sediq.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉), a Sediq Aborigine, yesterday questioned the stalled review of the proposal made by the the Hla’alua and the Kanakanvu people.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration appears slow to recognize more indigenous groups, the lawmaker said, adding that five groups — including the Sediq — had been recognized during the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) administration between 2000 and 2008.
The two groups have a good case for proposing distinct for their people because their cultures, languages and traditions have been academically proven as different from the Tsou group, Kung said.
Both groups live in Greater Kaohsiung: the Hla’alua in Taoyuan District (桃源); the Kanakanvu in Namasiya District (那瑪夏).
Lin and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) both said they are supportive of the recognition proposal, but Lin said there are two hurdles.
First, the number of people in both groups is currently less than 1,000, which could increase the difficulty for them to be recognized, he said.
Second, is the territorial issue, which should be negotiated and resolved by related parties before the proposal moves forward, the minister said.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS