(TibetanReview.net, May16’25) – In a twist of fate, China has condemned alleged attempts by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities to push “de-Sinicization” and sever the historical and cultural ties between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
However, China itself is accused of moving to destroy Tibetan and other so-called ethnic minorities’ identities in the name of Sinicization, including by marginalizing their languages. It has also moved to Sinicize the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh by giving its own “standardized” names to various places in it in a series of moves since 2017.
China’s official Xinhua news agency May 14 said Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the condemnation at a press conference in response to the DPP authorities’ recent act of reclassifying people of the Han ethnic group as the island’s “other” population in its official demographic data.
The report noted that earlier this month, Taiwan’s executive body revised demographic information on its official website, removing the term “Han people” and replacing it with “other populations”.
China itself is accused of trying to erase “Tibet” by replacing it with the Chinese name “Xizang” and compelling countries friendly with it to do the same. It is also accused of having moved to Sinicize the Tibetan children by coercively moving them to separate boarding schools, isolated from their families and ethnic community.
The Xinhua report said the DPP authorities’ revision erased explicit recognition of the Han people – Taiwan’s largest ethnic group, which has been the island’s majority demographic for centuries.