[quote]Taipei forcibly evicts hundreds who settled on leased government land as their ‘country within a country’
By Lawrence Chung
TAIPEI - President Chen Shui-bian, widely believed to want independence for Taiwan, has, ironically, denied the same to a group who are the original Taiwanese - the aborigines.
His government, on learning that hundreds of them have formed their own ‘Kaosha republic’, ordered a crackdown, sending in 500 armed police to disperse them from a site they have claimed as the seat of their republic.
Kaosha is a term used to refer to the aboriginal people of Taiwan.
The police raided the 6ha site in southern Kaohsiung county early yesterday, ordering the inhabitants to evacuate before four bulldozers tore down the more than 270 illegal structures…[/quote]
Taiwan’s indigeneous peoples suffer widespread discrimination, have very hard lives and are the victims of patronizing government policies.
This however is a blatant attempt by the Pan-blue camp to whip up anti-Chen sentiment. The decision to tear down the camp was made by the Kaohsiung City Government, not the Central Government. The people living there were squatting illegally.
Chen has made a hash out of his aboriginal policy. He and the DPP promised to give the aborigines genuine autonomy and has so far failed to deliver because it is politically unpopular. This eviction has nothing to do with this failure though.
BTW: would you mind posting the link next time rather than the whole article. Posting the article is probably a copyright violation, and many of us have seen the article or similar ones already.
Do you actually have anything to say about this story? I fail to see any irony here at all.
Its not a blatant attempt by the plan blue camp. The article is from the Singapore Straits Times. I should have put up a link to it, but I forgot. As for copyright violations, meh, I doubt anyone will really care.
The irony is this, The pro-independence crowd harps on about a native nation of Taiwan, yet the indigenous inhabitants of Taiwan aren’t likely to see any type of independence.
If the Gaoxiong government regards these aboriginals as squatters and not deserving of a country, whats to say Beijing is wrong in regarding all Taiwanese as such. (Yes yes, I know this analogy fails on a technical merit if you take into consideration local zoning and housing laws and whatnot, but think broad picture here).
Lawrence Chung is a Taipei-based reporter for the Straits Times. He is vehemently anti-DPP and rabidly pro-blue. Describing him as a Lien arse-licker doesn’t even come close to the true picture.
A crucial detail would surely be, where would the borders of a proposed aboriginal state be? Surely not within leased land that really belongs to Taiwan Sugar…
By the way, if the land WAS properly leased by the guy who ran it, why did they evict the aborigines? All this stuff about native autonomy is to my mind just a red herring.
I thought all of these people were living on illegally claimed land in temporary metal housing. They were squatters on land that was not there’s so the government tore down the houses.
Hey the Abos hate the DPP anyway, so they had it coming. Abos almost always vote KMT. They were just whining that someone tore down their illegal gotten homes on illegal land. They were crying just like the poor KMT Chinese soldiers who were squatting in the Da An park all those years. Chen tore down their illegal homes on illegal lands too just like the KMT did it to Lee Teng Hui at his home in Waishuang Xi.
This republic story was concocted to get the press attention. It was a last ditch effort. Damn squatters! Too many ugly metal homes in Taiwan and almost all of those are squatter shacks or metal shacks built on the owners land, but that land is not zoned for dwellings so they build ugly ass temporary metal shacks.
Three cheers to the government to have the courage to do what they did!
Hey by the way, didn’t the government already give the Abos a lot of land for free to live and build on?
The author obviously does not understand the meaning of the word ‘ironic’. President Chen did not intentionally say one thing when he meant something completely different.
What the writer wants to say is that this police action is inconsistent with the Chen administration’s stated policies. But Chen’s nation-within-a-nation has nothing to do with illegal land grabs like this one.
Indeed, as the China Times (hardly a pro-green rag) reported today, officials in Kaohsiong County are worried that the Han founder of Gaosha Guo may have defrauded the aboriginal squatters who he recruited from around Taiwan to build illegal structures on land he had leased from Taitang.
He is also conflating a purely local issue with the central government.
He also implicitly misrepresents Chen’s position on Taiwanese independence and identity. As Chen rather eloquently stated in his inaugural address, being Taiwanese has nothing to do with when your ancestors arrived in Taiwan.
Mr. Chung’s slovenly writing,shoddy logic, and almost palpable intellectual dishonesty is on full display here.
Gaosha does not refer to all Aborigines. It refers to the aborigines living at high altitudes. The now-discredited ‘Shandiren’ is descended from this term.
Hobart, may I politely ask what the f*ck you are talking about. So what if ‘Abos’ hate the DPP and vote KMT. That should have had nothing to do with the decision to evict them.
[quote]This republic story was concocted to get the press attention. It was a last ditch effort. Damn squatters! Too many ugly metal homes in Taiwan and almost all of those are squatter shacks or metal shacks built on the owners land, but that land is not zoned for dwellings so they build ugly ass temporary metal shacks.
Three cheers to the government to have the courage to do what they did![/quote]
It’s fairly clear that the residents there were duped into moving there and may have been defrauded as well. It’s probably another case of naive aborigines getting shafted. And where are they supposed to go now? Have a little sympathy for people who after having had their traditional lives dismantled by the Japanese and the KMT are now effectively shut out of the job market by immigrant workers.
Yeah, right! And the American ghettos are filled with welfare queen driving Cadillacs.
ALL of Taiwan east of Zhudong used to belong to the Aborigines. Taiwanese society has yet to come terms with the crimes that have been committed against the Aborigines. What makes it even sadder is that views like yours are still so widespread.
Hey Feiren, somehow on the news it didn’t seem clear to me that they were duped into moving to those lands. I saw it as they were illegally on those lands and the republic part was some concocted story. If you are right, I hope they get to the bottom of this and straighten it out. I think they knew that land was temporary. I have seen some nice looking traditonal Aboriginal dwellings that are not made of metal, like all of the temporary illegal dwellings. Anyway, perhaps I should research more before commenting.
Totally blind to the vague concept of human rights and democracy when it challenges the central government that got elected based on the very same concept.
We usually call those people victims of propaganda.
It is impossible to make the moral case. Even the USA has given up on the moral case why they killed and stole from the native americans. Let’s just follow USA lead and turn off our brains as always.
[quote=“ac_dropout”]
Let’s just follow USA lead and turn off our brains as always.[/quote]
You seem to have already accomplished that.
You really can’t make a cogent argument for anything, can you? Previous posters have already explained why the eviction of these squatters has nothing to do with hypocrisy on the part of Chen Shuibian. It is either an issue of enforcing the law or if these people were somehow tricked, then punishing those who tricked them. Victim of propaganda? You seem to be the victim of propaganda in this and many other cases. Please pull your head out of your ass.
AC_Dropout: Those guys were only referring to what we perceive as your attempt to brainwash readers of this forum with your propaganda. One may also feel pity for you as it is evident someone has brainwashed you with propaganda as well. Maybe your PRC born KMT lovin’ daddy and his friends and family? Get out and learn the truth AC, don’t only believe what your parents and CCTV and the rest of the Communist party controlled media tell you.
There’s a hell of lot of a difference between squatting on a piece of factory land and be the legal government of a whole island with all the vestiges of statehood.
But I guess that the difference means nothing to you.
Actually my father side is the BSR. Family of farmers turn doctor and businessmen in 1 generation under the KMT oppressive rule.
It is the mother side of me that is WSR.
If you’re going to do personal attacks at least be accurate.
So am I to assume CNN and the Washington Post to be the truth bearers in international relations now. CCTV is not that bad, “too” bad the free media in ROC can’t get CCTV readily.
Don’t let the DPP control media in Taiwan skew your views either.
Mr He,
You mean the difference of getting your butt kick off a piece of land prior to public policy about general land theft and getting your butt kick off a piece of land after it has been deemed illegal after it was stolen in the first place.
[quote=“ac_dropout”]
You mean the difference of getting your butt kick off a piece of land prior to public policy about general land theft and getting your butt kick off a piece of land after it has been deemed illegal after it was stolen in the first place.[/quote]
Your spelling sucks. Now, the difference is that this place is a state with all the vestiges of one. And if you read the treaty of Shimonoseki, then it states that the owner of the land (China) gives up all rights in perpeturity to a new owner. This new ovner gives up the rights, title and deed to the land to a temporary administrator, USA, in 1952.
This temporary administrator looks very favorably on the current tenants, and don’t seem to regard them as squatters at all.
The big fat bully nearby has conveniently forgotten that he has no rights to the land and believes that he can force allk others in the neighborhood to see things in the same way.
But well, you do not have a grasp of legality - “rule of beijing man” seems to make better sense to you.
So your mother is wsr? Good for you. Then she has packed you with lies from the crib.
My inlaws did also improve their lot in the 1970’s and the 1980’s, but that was not because of the KMT, rather because they worked their butt off. Moreover, do never forget that the KMT was forced into develop this island, and that the positions of real power were closed to anyone but a small group of WSR’s until 1988.
