Taiwan Aboriginal Rights
Asian Colonialism And Taiwan's First Nations
The west doesn't hold the monopoly on colonisation of indigenous peoples. Taiwan's aborigines suffer the same ravages of invasion as other first nations around the world.
"We're Still Here!"
The First Nations of Taiwan were Aboriginal people displaced by Chinese invaders. "Were" is the wrong word to use however, as they are still there, still deserve native title to land, and are still entitled to aboriginal rights.
400,000 Indigenous Taiwanese are still living in Taiwan, representing approximately 1.7% of the population. This is a similar percentage to the Indigenous populations in Australia and Canada. Like the aborigines of those countries, Taiwan's First Nations were sovereign states in their own right before their land was stolen illegally by invaders. These nations are the Ami, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Rukai, Puyuma, Tsou, Saisia, Yami (Da-Wu) and Pinpu. But western anthropologists refer to them loosely as "Malayo-Polynesians" or "Austronesians". (The west always seeks to rename and redefine Indigenous peoples, even those colonised by others!)
History and Lies
PRC (People's Republic of China) propaganda holds that there has been Chinese Imperial presence in Taiwan for millennia, but this is incorrect. Taiwan was only colonised relatively recently, from 1624 onwards. Clearly, the Chinese government is as adept at changing history and creating anti-indigenous propaganda as the government of Australia.
Taiwan First Nations fought a centuries-long war against the invaders, ending in the 1930s with the Wushe Uprising by the Sediq First Nation, which was suppressed with WMD's (ie. gas).
Taiwan's first nations have a lot in common with Aboriginal peoples in countries such as Australia, Canada, the USA, New Zealand, and elsewhere. They share lower life expectancy, lower education standards, lower income, lower quality of life and higher representation in prisons, brought on by the ravages of colonisation and dispossession. As with everywhere else, these problems are linked to the loss of customary aboriginal land rights, loss of language, loss of culture, loss of traditional social structures and native logic systems.
Click here for more on Eastern colonisation of indigenous peoples.
