Dongqing Tribe in Lanyu Issues an Emergency Statement

Press Conference Notice from the Dongqing Tribe
Time: June 20, 2013 (ROC year 102), 14:00
Location: No. 7 plot, Dongqing section
Press spokespersons: Representative Chen Rongzong, Pastor Zhang Haiyu
(Press conference in the Taiwan region, with the time and location released on behalf of the tribe foundation by former CEO Hu Gudai)
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This is a tragedy in which our own people and outsiders join forces to bully tribe members
This is an act of violence by the state apparatus against the weak residents
This is the Dongqing Tribe's insistence on protecting its traditional territory
Once, because of our kindness, we believed outsiders' sky-high lies
The poison of the century, nuclear waste, was brought in to torment our body, mind and spirit
Now, we are still kind
But we will no longer allow anyone to harm our small island at will
Because Heaven stands on the side of the kind.

[Statement] 2013-06-18 (full text from the Dongqing Village Self-Rescue Association Against the Concrete Batching Plant)

Reject improper public construction; Dongqing, Lanyu, does not want a concrete batching plant

To promote public construction on Lanyu, the Taitung County Government plans a large-scale construction project on the island, turning the island of people into concrete. Even before that, to supply cement for the construction, the concrete batching plant planned for construction at Lide Class in Dongqing Village is about to destroy the existing farmland and irrigation system of Lanyu, and the high-handed and rough project has completely failed to communicate with the local tribe members, with even many administrative procedures clearly illegal, leaving local tribe members deeply dissatisfied and leading them to organize the Dongqing Village Self-Rescue Association Against the Concrete Batching Plant.
However, after repeated petitions and protests with no result, the Lanyu Township Office is about to press ahead with strong development. It is said that on the 19th police forces will be dispatched from Taitung to Lanyu, and it is expected that on the 20th the project will begin to proceed smoothly. We are deeply dissatisfied with this. The Taitung County Government and the Township Office are not only unwilling to communicate with tribe members, but even loudly insist on strong development. As Tao people, in order to protect Dongqing, we will spare no means to keep our ancestors' land and prevent the concrete batching plant from invading our traditional territory.

Administrative procedures openly illegal, no communication, no review

For the concrete batching plant planned for construction at Lide Class in Dongqing Village, there was no discussion or communication with the tribe at any point in the process. According to Article 21 of the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law, when the government or private parties carry out "land development" on indigenous peoples' land, including the development and use of land for any type of public facility, the consent of the local indigenous peoples is required, yet in this construction, communication was completely ignored and even refused.
Moreover, according to Article 23 of the Regulations on the Development and Management of Indigenous Reserved Land, any public facility on indigenous reserved land should only begin construction after review and approval by the Indigenous Reserved Land Land Rights Review Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Land Review Committee). The self-rescue association asked the township mayor many times whether this case had been reviewed by the Land Review Committee. Mayor Jiang first said it had passed, but after the self-rescue association verified it and found that the Land Review Committee had never met at all, the mayor changed his story and said this case did not need review by the Land Review Committee. We ask, does this concrete batching plant not count as public industrial property? Is it not meant to carry out the construction of the public scenic bicycle path and the scenic corridor? Such contempt for the explicit legal norms of the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law and the Regulations on the Development and Management of Indigenous Reserved Land is clearly illegal in substance, yet they are only eager to dig up the traditional territory, which the Dongqing self-rescue association cannot tolerate, and it vows not to stop resisting until the work is halted.

Guide the existing batching plants; there is no need to build a new one

In addition, what is baffling is why the township office is so eager to build a new batching plant. There are currently already two batching plants on Lanyu, and although they have not obtained legal licenses, they have been operating for years. If concrete is truly needed for public works, the existing batching plants could simply be guided toward legal status, and there would be no need at all to build a third batching plant on the small island of Lanyu, nor to destroy existing irrigation and farming in the traditional territory of the Dongqing tribe. What is especially worrying is that if the batching plant project really proceeds, the impact of dust on the tribe's farmland, and the runoff from the construction site after heavy rain, will cause unprecedented damage. As Dongqing people who have lived here for generations, we firmly oppose the establishment of such a batching plant in the tribe's traditional territory.

The self-rescue association hereby demands:
1. Immediately suspend all construction activities and communicate with Dongqing villagers.
2. Guide the existing batching plants on Lanyu to obtain legal licenses, and stop building the concrete batching plant at Lide Class in Dongqing Village.

Press contacts -
Self-Rescue Association Chairman: Chen Rongzong 0919-529310 / Self-Rescue Association Vice Chairman: Xie Laiguang 0928-019027