Today (May 20) marks the sixth anniversary of President Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration. According to a statement by the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP), President Tsai Ing-wen has already accomplished 80% of her indigenous policy platform. In recent years, the government has enacted the Indigenous Language Development Act and revised the Indigenous Education Act, Article 37 of the Slopeland Conservation and Utilization Act, and the Logging Ban Compensation for Lands Reserved for Indigenous Peoples Act. In particular, the adoption of a legislative diversion strategy has substantially increased indigenous autonomy in administration, education, language, and land rights. Other significant achievements include the designation of traditional tribal territories, the implementation of consultation and consent, and the submission of the Indigenous Reserved Land Management and Utilization Act to the Legislative Yuan for legislative review.  

        The CIP noted that the 2019 amendment to the Logging Ban Compensation for Lands Reserved for Indigenous Peoples Act expands the scope of compensation to include urban planning zones, national parks, and conservation areas, contributing to an increase of 60,000 hectares of compensable lands. The annual compensation amount has reached NT$ 1.8 billion, and the total amount from 2016 to 2021 topped NT$ 8.2 billion, benefiting more than 42,000 indigenous people and providing further assurance of indigenous land justice.     

For instance, as instructed by President Tsai, the CIP has redirected the funding source for cultural health centers to the Long-term Care Services Development Fund to bring about improvements to their service quality and capacity as well as their cultural sensitivity. As a result of the change, annual funding grew from NT$ 95 million to NT$ 1.258 billion, the number of cultural health centers climbed from 74 in 2009 to 473 in 2022, and the number of elderly persons receiving care increased from 2,700 to 14,800. Additionally, hiring young Indigenous people to care for tribal elders effectively improves the quality of care services.

       The CIP pointed out that the Council of Agriculture transferred jurisdiction of indigenous reserved lands to the CIP in 2006, enabling indigenous peoples to exercise de facto management over indigenous lands. The 2019 amendment to Article 37 of the Slopeland Conservation and Utilization Act removed the five-year waiting period for indigenous people to acquire land ownership. The amendment has resulted in the 35,000 registrations of land ownership with a total area of 260 thousand hectares, a 2.5-fold increase over the preceding years—and the number continues to grow.

       According to the CIP, the Indigenous Languages Development Act adopted in 2017, ten years after its introduction, established indigenous languages as official languages in Taiwan. Following the passage of the Act, annual funding for indigenous languages increased tenfold, allowing for the creation of full-time positions for indigenous language instructors, the hiring of language promotion workers across the country, and the assistance of indigenous tribes in the establishment of language promotion organizations. Additionally, subsidies were provided to encourage indigenous television and radio stations to broadcast at least 50 percent of their programming in indigenous languages, and the Indigenous Languages Research and Development Foundation was formed to preserve, maintain, and promote indigenous languages.