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.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
RSS