The Council of Indigenous Peoples yesterday castigated a former legislator for repeating “united front” slogans during an exchange event in China, saying that Taiwan’s indigenous peoples are “not descendants of the Yellow Emperor.”
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator and National Dong Hwa University professor Yosi Takun recently attended an event hosted by China’s Yunnan Minzu University.
Taiwan’s indigenous peoples are of Austronesian descent, speak Austronesian languages, and have an independent identity and culture, the council said in a statement yesterday.
Photo from the Yunnan Minzu University Web site
Experts criticized the event as a targeted “cultural united front” tactic seeking to reduce the subjectivity of the Austronesian-speaking peoples of Taiwan and define Taiwanese indigenous people as a Chinese ethnic minority.
National Cheng Kung University political science professor Hung Ching-fu (洪敬富) on Tuesday said that the banner — which read: “Both sides of the Strait share the same ancestry, Zhonghua spirit and are one big family” (同宗同祖中華魂、兩岸一家心連心) — flown at the event made no sense and was a blatant “united front” move.
Taiwan’s indigenous peoples are not descendants of Chinese emperors nor an ethnic minority, as defined by the Chinese government, the council added, rebuking Yosi’s claim that “minority cultures are an important part of Chinese civilization.”
Linguists said Taiwan’s indigenous languages share a deep historical and cultural connection with Austronesian languages, and are not connected to the Sino-Tibetan language family, it said.
They are not from the same ancestry, as claimed by China, it added.
Indigenous peoples are not a political tool, and any exchanges must be built on mutual respect and equality without pushing any political agenda, the council said.
Yunnan, as one of the most ethnically diverse provinces in China, has long been considered by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a base to implement its “united front” rhetoric against Taiwan’s indigenous people, Hung said.
Yosi attending the event and accepting the position of visiting professor might result in many Taiwanese indigenous students at his university being drawn to Yunnan Minzu University, Hung said
Hung questioned the legality of Yosi’s visiting professor role, saying that if it was a paid position, the Ministry of Education and national security agencies should launch investigations.
Yosi said that he intended to foster future cross-strait exchanges between academics and students to facilitate cultural interaction and allow the next generation to build mutual understandings while exploring possible innovation.
A source, commenting on condition of anonymity, said that the event was hosted by the Yunnan Provincial Government’s Taiwan Affairs Office and organized by the Yunnan Minzu University.
The CCP invited delegations from the Taiwanese indigenous community, representatives of the Taiwan-Yunnan Association, the Taiwanese Businesspeople in Yunnan Association and the New Century Culture Arts Group, the source said.
Anyone participating in exchanges in China must remain highly vigilant and ensure that they are not exploited by the CCP in ways that contradict Taiwan’s democratic values and the dignity of indigenous peoples, the council said.
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