President Tsai Ing-wen has vowed to change public perception of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, who are not ethnic Chinese. She was speaking on Monday while attending an indigenous harvest festival in the southern county of Pingtung.
Tsai said her formal apology to the native tribes, issued on August 1, was a major step in seeking reconciliation. The president apologized on behalf of the government for the unfair treatment, injustices and discrimination that indigenous peoples have suffered over the past 400 years.
Tsai said she is hoping to amend draft bills governing the autonomy of the indigenous peoples and their land. She said it’s important that the public should learn more about the first inhabitants of Taiwan.
“We should revisit Taiwanese history and have a clear grasp of the diversity of aboriginal culture. Today [here] in Sandimen Township, we have born witness to our rich aboriginal culture. So the thing I want to do the most is to enable Taiwanese society to respect, understand and admire the indigenous peoples from the bottom of their heart," said Tsai.
Later in the day, Tsai visited the offshore Orchid Island, home of the Tao tribe. Tsai met elders there to discuss the controversial issue of nuclear waste, which has been stored there since 1982.
The president’s paternal grandmother was from the Paiwan tribe. That’s one of 16 officially recognized indigenous groups in Taiwan which have ethnic and linguistic ties to people as far away as Hawaii and Madagascar. Indigenous people make up about 2% of Taiwan’s population.