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The main news this week was the historic apology issued by President Tsai Ing-wen to Taiwan’s indigenous peoples on behalf of the government on August 1.
Tsai said, "I want to issue our deepest apology to all indigenous peoples for the sufferings and unfair treatment they have endured over the past 400 years. On behalf of the government, I want to apologize to you all."
Tsai said Taiwan’s indigenous peoples are early inhabitants with their own languages, cultures, customs and places to live. However, she said they have been exploited, displaced, marginalized and deprived of their rights by later settlers, including their rights to autonomy and self-determination.
The president also said she will create and head a committee dedicated to securing transitional justice for indigenous groups.
Even before the expected apology was made, however, hundreds of indigenous activists had turned out in Taipei in protest. They sought to express that they did not desire an empty apology but rather substantive legislation to uphold their rights and protect their traditional ways of life. The president surprised the demonstrators on Wednesday when she left the Presidential Office and went down to the streets to meet the protesters and listen to their concerns in person.
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Also this week, the future of Taiwan’s appointed representative to Singapore now looks in doubt amid a drunk driving scandal. Antonio Chiang was sworn in as the new envoy to Singapore on Tuesday morning but in the early hours of Wednesday he was caught driving under the influence of alcohol. The foreign minister called the incident regrettable but said Chiang would go ahead and take up his post as planned.
Amid calls for Chiang to be replaced, however, the new envoy was forced to cancel his planned flight to Singapore on Saturday to take up his post. The foreign ministry has said it will wait for the judicial procedures in the DUI case to be completed before he is dispatched.
Chiang has issued an apology for the incident, but has been widely censured from the Presidential Office down to civic groups for setting a bad example.
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Finally, athletes in Taiwan’s Olympic team are hoping to make their mark as the 2016 Games get underway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A team of 58 will be competing in 18 sports under the name Chinese Taipei. But the team’s preparations were rocked earlier in the week when the country’s top women’s tennis player, Hsieh Su-wei announced that she was pulling out of the Olympics and would not play for the national team again.
Hsieh had already traveled to Rio but announced via a Facebook post on August 4 that she was pulling out of the Games over a row with the sport’s governing body. Attempts to persuade Hsieh to reconsider were unsuccessful.
Hsieh is a two-time Grand Slam champion, winning the women’s doubles events at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014 with her Chinese partner Peng Shuai.