Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are facing intense criticism after reclassifying the Han ethnic group—the island’s largest ethnic community—as “others” in official demographic data.
On the official website of Taiwan’s executive body, descriptions were recently altered to state that the island’s current registered population comprises 2.6% indigenous residents, 1.2% immigrants, and a staggering 96.2% labeled simply as “others.”
This change has been widely condemned as a politically motivated attempt to sever cultural and historical ties between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.
Chi Chia-lin, chief of a Taiwan history research association, expressed strong disapproval of the revision. “This is a blatant distortion of objective data,” he said. “It is a betrayal of our history and ancestry.”
Chen Ching-hui, a lawmaker from the Kuomintang (KMT), accused the DPP of engaging in “cognitive warfare.” “The standard statistical practice is to present the majority first and label the rest as ‘others.’ The DPP’s method is truly bizarre,” Chen stated.
The revision has sparked outrage and ridicule online. One social media user sarcastically posted, “We are the others now, and soon we will be the spares.”
In addition to rebranding the Han ethnic group, the DPP authorities also removed references to people from Minnan—descendants of migrants from the south of Fujian Province on the mainland.
The Taipei-based China Times noted that the DPP authorities are trying their utmost to avoid mentioning that people from Minnan make up the largest portion of Taiwan’s population.
“The DPP seeks to fabricate a vague and incoherent ‘Taiwan independence’ ideology by distorting historical facts, evading truth, and twisting history,” the newspaper’s editorial stated.
This rephrasing follows a series of DPP-led initiatives aimed at downplaying the island’s Chinese cultural heritage, including efforts to alter school curricula and minimize Han cultural references.
The United Daily News criticized these actions as a carefully designed campaign to exclude Chinese culture under the guise of promoting diversity.
As debates intensify, many residents of Taiwan are questioning the motives behind the DPP authorities’ decisions and their impact on the island’s identity.
