Aborigines engaging in exchanges in China should insist on being recognized as Aborigines, and not as “Taiwanese minorities,” Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod said yesterday.
“I cannot accept our Aborigines being called ‘minorities,’ which does not conform with our nation’s laws,” Icyang told a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee after he was invited to report on the state of the council.
Icyang also reviewed next year’s annual budget for the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸) said he was not opposed to Aborigines meeting with members of China’s ethnic groups, but they should demand to be referred to as Taiwanese as a prerequisite for participation in such exchanges.
Being called a “Taiwanese minority” is disparaging to Taiwan’s first inhabitants, Chang said.
Having once been called “mountain compatriots” (山胞), Aborigines have endured a long process to be recognized as “Aborigines,” he said, adding that there was now a consensus on this terminology in Taiwan.
Even many of the ethnic groups in China referred to by Beijing as “minorities” are recognized by the UN as Aborigines, but the Chinese government has so far ignored UN convention on the matter, Icyang said.
DPP Legislator Hung Chun-yi (洪宗熠) criticized a statement by Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who recently said he supported the idea of putting flag platforms on the peaks of every mountain in Taiwan that is at least 3,000m above sea level.
Hung asked whether the KMT’s presidential candidate had sought the input of Aborigines.
The idea would be destructive to the environment and has already been shot down by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who confirmed that no development should take place on mountains considered sacred to Aborigines, Icyang said.
Citing Palau, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Yu-jen (許毓仁) said that while Taiwan could not compete with China in terms of generating tourism revenue for Pacific Island nations, of which Palau is one of Taiwan’s four allies in the region, it has a special connection with those nations due to a shared family of Aboriginal languages.
Icyang presented some of the report in his native Amis language, which he said was an implementation of the Aboriginal Language Development Act (原住民族語言發展法) introduced on May 26, 2017.
The act made Aboriginal languages official, and stipulated that public institutions be required to provide official documents in them.
The council also provided written copies of yesterday’s report in Amis and Paiwan — the first time council reports were provided in those languages.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
A British man was arrested for attempting to smuggle 14.37kg of marijuana into Taiwan through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Customs said late yesterday. The man, who arrived from Bangkok at 9pm on Friday, was asked by customs officers to open his luggage during a random inspection, Taipei Customs said in a news release. The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to open his suitcase and tried to flee the restricted area. He was eventually subdued by three customs officials and an Aviation Police Bureau officer. A later search of his checked luggage uncovered 14.37kg of marijuana buds. The case was handed over
RSS