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According to official governmental statistics, 98% of Taiwan's population is made up of Han Chinese, while 2% are Taiwanese aborigines. The composite category of "Taiwanese people" is often reputed by many Taiwanese to include a significant population of at least four constituent ethnic groups: the Hoklo (70%), the Hakka (15%), Mainlander (13%), and Taiwanese aborigines (2%) ; . Although the concept of the "four great ethnic groups" was a deliberate attempt by the Hoklo dominated Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to defuse Taiwanese-Mainlander tensions, this conception has become a dominant frame of reference for dealing with Taiwanese ethnic and national issues . Despite the wide use of the "four great ethnic groups" in public discourse as essentialized identities, the relationships between the peoples of Taiwan have been in a constant state of convergence and negotiation for centuries. The continuing process of cross-ethnic mixing with ethnicities from within and outside Taiwan, combined with the disappearance of ethnic barriers due to a shared socio-political experience, has led to the emergence of "Taiwanese" as a larger ethnic group . |