Performing a traditional exorcism ritual, a group of Thao Aborigines yesterday protested against a build-operate-transfer (BOT) resort project near Sun Moon Lake on Thao traditional lands, for which the government gave initial approval without consulting them.
Sprinkling self-brewed alcohol into the sky with her fingers while reciting spells, an elderly Thao shaman performed the traditional ritual to drive away evil spirits in front of the Executive Yuan.
“The evil is in there,” she said, pointing at the Executive Yuan compound.
Photo: CNA
Following the shaman were dozens of Thao Aborigines in their traditional dress, holding banners accusing the government of exploiting the Thao and urging the government to return their traditional domains to them.
“Sun Moon Lake and the surrounding areas are traditional territories of the Thao, but now the government is introducing Chinese capital to build a resort without having consulted us as the Aboriginal Basic Act [原住民族基本法] requires,” Thao National Assembly Speaker Banu Bagamumu told reporters.
While the government promised that the resort would bring jobs to locals, Banu Bagamumu said that Chinese tour agencies always bring along their own business partners and “the project will not benefit us at all.”
He called on the Executive Yuan to nullify its initial approval for the project and suspend all BOT plans before a program to revive traditional Thao culture is in place.
Indigenous Peoples’ Action Coalition secretary-general Omi Wilang, an Atayal, said that currently, there are only a few thousand Thao left in the country, who are struggling to keep their tribe and their culture alive.
“What the government should do for an ethnic group that is in such a disadvantaged position is protect, not to accelerate its peril,” Omi Wilang said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said that besides assessing the impact of the development project on the environment, the government “should equally assess its impact on the Thao culture.”
The Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration Office and the Nantou County Government are planning to work with a developer to build a four-star resort hotel costing more than NT$2 billion (US$66 million) near the lake.
The project is financed by Hong Kong’s Bonds Group. If it goes ahead as planned, the resort will be completed and opened in 2017.
Thao Aborigines and their supporters are expected to protest in front of the Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei on Friday.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS