Mayor’s remarks
1. The Executive Yuan passed the draft amendment to the “Status Act for Indigenous Peoples” to realize historical justice.
(1) The Executive Yuan passed the draft amendment to the “Status Act for Indigenous Peoples” on August 17. The status of the “Pingpu Aborigines” was added to its Article 2 to approve the statutory status of the Pingpu tribes who have long struggled for their indigenous people legal status. The Executive Yuan will present the draft amendment to the Legislative Yuan for examination in order to realize historical justice.
(2) After struggling for official recognition on several occasions for more than two decades, the Pingpu tribes finally won governmental approval, which was truly hard for them to gain. More than a decade ago, the Tainan County Government accepted the Siraya as a “county-designated indigenous people” to show respect for the Siraya clans’ethnic identity. In addition, the Tainan County Government aggressively restored and maintained the valuable language and culture of the Siraya and incessantly advocated the official recognition of the tribe.
(3) I appreciate the active response to the Pingpu peoples’appeal for governmental recognition from related ministries and commissions of the central government, Premier Chuan Lin, and President Tsai Ing-wen, which brings the long-awaited wish of the Siraya over the years a big step forward. I also hope that the Legislative Yuan can prioritize the examination of this amendment in order to restore the status of Pingpu Aborigines as early as possible.
2. Achievements in promoting tourism in southern Taiwan and intercity exchanges with Japan
(1) On August 7, Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu, Pingtung Magistrate Pan Men-an, Penghu Magistrate Chen Kuang-fu and I visited Japan together for the first time to market tourism in southern Taiwan. I specifically promoted the specialty of the culture, the gourmet foods, and the scenery of Tainan and invited our Japanese friends to visit Tainan and experience the charm of Tainan’s culture.
(2) We also traveled to Shiga Prefecture, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, and Sakai City in Osaka Prefecture for intercity exchanges. We visited local officials, including Otsu City Mayor Naomi Koshi of Shiga Prefecture, the Governor of Shiga Prefecture Taizo Mikazuki and Speaker Tenzo Okumura of the Shiga Prefectural Council, Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa and Speaker Kazuhiro Terada of Kyoto City, the governor of Kyoto Prefecture Keiji Yamada, and Sakai City Mayor Osami Takeyama of Osaka Prefecture. Apart from expressing gratitude for their care and assistance in the aftermath of the February 6 Tainan earthquake, I also sought support from Mayor Kadokawa for Tainan to organize the 2020 League of Historical Cities Conference and promote the “Tainan-Osaka” direct aviation link.
(3) I appreciate Ambassador Frank Hsieh Chang-ting, employees of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, and Taiwanese compatriots living in Japan. I am also grateful to Director-general Wang of the Tainan Tourism Bureau, Director-general Hsu of the Tainan Department of Information and International Relations, and employees of the two agencies for their work.