Aborigines are Austronesians, not Han Chinese, Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod said on Thursday.
“When visiting China or engaging in cross-strait cultural exchanges, Taiwanese Aborigines should not refer to themselves as an ‘ethnic minority’ of China. If they do so, they would not be eligible for government subsidies,” Icyang told a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lai Hui-yuan (賴惠員) raised the issue, saying that “Taiwanese Aborigines are being targeted by China’s united front and political propaganda campaign.”
Photo: CNA
“We witnessed Yang Pin-hua (楊品驊), an Amis, publicly proclaim at the Straits Forum in Xiamen, China, last month that he is ‘a proud Chinese,’” Lai said.
“When China held its National People’s Congress this year, people from the local Amis community were present as delegates of ‘Taiwan Province.’ It is clear that the Chinese government has made an effort to incorporate local Aborigines as ethnic minorities of China,” she said.
The council has so far only issued a short statement, which Lai said was “too weak.”
“Taiwanese Aborigines are Austronesians. We are not Han Chinese,” said Icyang, also an Amis. “We wish to see representatives of local Aboriginal communities uphold Taiwan’s autonomy and sovereignty when they give talks in China.”
DPP Legislator Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠) asked council officials what concrete steps it would take to handle situations such as Yang’s forum proclamation, which was not an isolated incident.
The council is vigilant over such cases and gathering intelligence, and is following the advice of the nation’s intelligence agencies, Icyang said.
Council measures include collaborating with the Ministry of Education on school curricula — so that history classes include the perspective of Aboriginal communities — and prohibiting Aboriginal organizations from calling themselves an “ethnic minority” of China in cross-strait cultural exchanges, he said, adding that offenders would not receive a government subsidy for their trip.
Scientific and anthropological research indicate that local Aborigines are Austronesians, sharing ancestors with Malay and Polynesian people throughout Southeast Asia and in the Pacific, including New Zealand and Madagascar.
Some studies have said that Taiwan is the original homeland and the center of a diaspora of Austronesians.
Before Han Chinese migrants and Europeans came to Taiwan in the 16th century, more than 20 Aboriginal communities inhabited all parts of Taiwan proper.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique