Taipei: Upay Radiw Kanasaw, a member of the Control Yuan, launched an investigation on Wednesday into road names that may contain discriminatory language.

According to Focus Taiwan, In a news release on the Control Yuan website, Kanasaw highlighted Fanjin Road, Fanzi Road and Fanshe Street in Changhua County’s Puyan Township as examples of road names that could raise concern.

Kanasaw said characters such as “fan” and “man,” Chinese terms that in some historical contexts carried otherizing meaning such as “barbarian” or “primitive” in reference to non-Chinese people, could imply discrimination or stereotype toward Indigenous people in Taiwan.

Kanasaw said road names should “respect ethnic identity and cultural dignity” and urged local governments to set up mechanisms for cultural assessment and ethnic participation when naming or renaming roads.

Kanasaw noted that some place names record Indigenous historical context and interethnic interactions, and cited Fanlu Township in Chiayi County as a route to the Tsou people of Alishan.

Kanasaw said “a lack of cultural sensitivity in certain names continues to foster discrimination and affects Indigenous identity and cultural dignity.”

Kanasaw said the investigation will examine whether current rules for road naming and renaming are adequate to ensure that naming of public spaces “reflects the values of respecting diversity and promoting social harmony.”

According to a website run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), “There is growing appreciation in Taiwan for the cultural legacies of the 16 officially recognized Austronesian-speaking tribes, which constitute a little more than 2.5 percent of the population.” The MOFA website said Taiwan’s “predominantly Han Chinese society” is the result of “successive waves of Chinese immigrants that began arriving in the 17th century.”