With Indigenous Peoples Council Minister Ljaucu Zingrur joining President Lai Ching-te on his first presidential trip overseas, TaiwanPlus speaks with National Dong Hwa University Indigenous studies professor Wagi Payan about the shared Austronesian history between Taiwan and Pacific island nations.
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00:00So, among the delegation, President Lai is taking Taiwan's Indigenous Affairs Minister.
00:05Why do you think he might be on this trip to the Pacific?
00:08I think his participation in this trip is really pivotal.
00:14And Minister Lau Chiu, he is an indigenous person himself and he's good at, is well experienced
00:23in cultural exchange and cultural preservation and language preservation.
00:29All these aspects.
00:31And so by having him there, in a way, he is well experienced, he can share all his experiences
00:36with all these nations.
00:39In another way, it also shows that Taiwanese government cares about Taiwanese indigenous
00:44people.
00:45I think them using the cultural aspect and maybe somehow emotional aspect is the strategy
00:53they're having this time.
00:55To try to tell them that we are a country, we treasure indigenous people's voice.
01:02We value your multiculturalism and we value your subjectivity and sovereignty.
01:11And somehow this value-based strategy is very different from the economic helps that China
01:19could offer.
01:20What sort of exchanges are there between Taiwan's indigenous people and the indigenous Pacific
01:25Islanders?
01:26What cultures do they share or what sort of exchanges are going on at the moment?
01:30Because of the culturally and linguistic tie between us, Taiwanese indigenous people and
01:37the nations, Pacific nations, I think they're hoping to somehow share a sense of identity,
01:45meaning that we are a big family, so we share similar identity and we can do all these things,
01:52achieve things together as a family.
01:56Taiwan's indigenous people have obviously had a very difficult history and have been
02:00discriminated against and still face stigma.
02:04And in the recent years, there has been more done to give them more voice and to protect
02:09languages and culture.
02:11Why might indigenous people want to also reconnect with other indigenous people around
02:16the world, including in the Pacific?
02:18So here I would like to borrow my colleague, Professor Awimono's words.
02:25He said that we Taiwanese indigenous people, we are in double marginality.
02:32For instance, in Taiwan, we are not the dominant culture, we are suppressed.
02:38And in the international level, we are also facing the pressure from China.
02:44We are usually invisible.
02:46And however, if we are connected to Pacific Islanders or Austronesian people, because
02:54we have shared cultural and linguistic ties, and if we connect to them, or we can say we
02:59return to the family, that somehow helps our identity, gives us more confidence and also
03:08make us feel we belong somewhere and our voice could be heard.