Members of the Kaxabu tribe in Nantou County gathered in Puli Township (埔里) yesterday and reiterated their wish to be reinstated as an officially recognized Aboriginal tribe.
The Kaxabu were once a great tribe along the Mei Rivier, inhabiting the areas surrounding Nioumianshan (牛眠山), Shouchengfen (守城份), Danan (大湳) and Wugonglun (蜈蚣崙). The tribe’s descendants in recent years have been pushing for official recognition as Aborigines.
The Pingpu — an umbrella term for numerous Aboriginal tribes that had lived in the plains rather than the mountains, including the Kaxabu — have constantly pushed for the government to recognize them as Aboriginals, but have been rejected because the Pingpu tribes did not register as Aborigines within the given timeframe or because they had been too assimilated by Han Chinese.
The Kaxabu Culture and Education Association of Nantou County said it decided to hold the event near Puli Township because the town had always had the largest known concentration of Pingpu within Nantou County.
The association sent up a smoke signal at 9am yesterday while association chairman Pan Ying-yu (潘應玉) led the ceremony, and read off a list of declarations and demands in the Kaxabu tribal language, calling on the government to acknowledge the identity of the Kaxabu and recognize the Kaxabu as an official Aboriginal tribe.
The participants linked hands and formed a circle, singing traditional songs and shouting slogans to uphold the dignity and the honor of their ancestors.
Kaxabu tribe members all sought to return and attend the event.
Pan Cheng-hao (潘正皓), a young Kaxabu working out of town, said he had taken the day off, despite his company not giving him the day off — a national holiday marking the 228 Massacre.
Saying the Kaxabu have their own language, culture and history, Pan Cheng-hao said the government should recognize the existence of the tribe and should rectify the mistakes of previous governments by recognizing them as an official Aboriginal tribe.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry