Saying that the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) was historically a stopover point for Ketagalan Aboriginal seafarers and the site of a traditional religious ritual that used to take place every 12 years, a descendent of the tribe, Lin Sheng-yi (林勝義), yesterday said he plans to take a 180-member delegation to revisit the island and restore the ritual.
“Ancient Ketagalans visited the Diaoyutais, it’s part of our traditional domain,” Lin told a news conference in Taipei. “The name ‘Diaoyutai’ is a Hoklo phonetic translation of the term ‘Diaoyida’a,’ which means ‘a midway point’ in the Ketagalan language.”
He said that prior to the Japanese colonization of Taiwan in 1895, every 12 years, the Ketagalans would hold religious rituals on the island to pay respect to their ancestral spirits.
“I hereby announce that I will organize a 180-member delegation — including 36 Ketagalan warriors — to sail to the islands between March and May next year to pay respect to our ancestral spirits,” he said.
The Ketagalan are an indigenous tribe that once inhabited most of the Taipei and New Taipei City (新北市) area — as well as Keelung and parts of Yilan County.
However, when the Han Chinese immigrants arrived in the region, the Ketagalans “disappeared” due to cultural assimilation and intermarriages, leaving only a handful of Ketagalan descendants aware of their cultural heritage.
Archaeological findings — now on display in the Shishanhang Museum in Bali District (八里), New Taipei City — show that the Ketagalans were actively traded with neighboring countries.
Lin said he has yet to contact the government about his plan, but he added that “it’s the government’s responsibility to protect us in our sailing to the Diaoyutais.”
“If the government is unwilling to protect us, we would welcome the help of any other countries — including China,” he said.
Pan Jee-yang (潘紀揚), chairman of the Taiwan Association for Rights Advancements for Pingpu Plains Aborigines, said he has written to the UNESCO, asking it to send a delegation to investigate archaeological sites and the ecosystem of the islands, hoping the Diaoyutais would be listed as a World Heritage site.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
RSS