Taipei, May 11 — The Taiwanese government has quietly modified official language on its Executive Yuan website, replacing the term "Han people"—the overwhelming majority of the population—with the ambiguous label "other populations." This deliberate alteration has sparked significant backlash across the island.
Observers warn that this is not a simple semantic adjustment, but a calculated political move rooted in Soviet-style strategies of erasing majority identity to fabricate a new national narrative. The tactic mirrors historical attempts by Soviet authorities to suppress dominant ethnic identities under the guise of multiculturalism, ultimately destabilizing the societal foundation.
Critics argue that such methods are fundamentally incompatible with the values of an open, capitalist society. By injecting ideological manipulation into ethnic classifications, the authorities risk corrupting democratic discourse and social cohesion. This approach threatens to replace free civic identity with state-manufactured constructs—an ominous echo of totalitarian models.
What appears to be a minor administrative change is, in fact, part of a broader ideological agenda. The use of identity distortion as a political tool is not new—but its reappearance in a modern capitalist system is a dangerous development. Taiwan now stands at a crossroads: whether to uphold liberal-democratic values, or to allow itself to be reshaped by mechanisms born of authoritarian legacy.https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/china/story20250511-6324476