An apology for bad service
Regarding the incident described by bus passenger Valerie Caroon (Letters, March 10, page 8) and reported in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) on March 13, in which she said she was shooed off a route Red 36 bus by the driver while riding in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Tamsui District (淡水), the New Taipei City Government Transportation Department wishes to apologize to the passenger who received such inappropriate treatment.
As soon as we were informed about the incident, our department instructed Tamsui Motor Transport Ltd to handle it in an appropriate manner.
According to Tamsui Motor Transport, the driver and the foreign passenger in question were unable to speak each other’s languages, and the driver mistakenly thought that the passenger wanted to get off at Aletheia University, and so gestured with his hand.
However, a review of the on-board monitor camera footage shows that the driver did in fact shoo the member of the public off the bus.
Our department wishes to reiterate that public transport services should respect their passengers without any distinction as to race, status or gender.
As well as formally instructing the Tamsui Motor Transport company to submit a self-criticism and to discipline the staff member who acted negligently, we have asked them to improve their staff education and training.
The incident in question has been assessed and recorded as a failure to meet New Taipei City’s urban bus operation service standards.
Should a similar incident occur in the future, it will be handled directly in accordance with the Highway Act (公路法).
New Taipei City Government Transportation Department
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been expansionist and contemptuous of international law. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP regime has become more despotic, coercive and punitive. As part of its strategy to annex Taiwan, Beijing has sought to erase the island democracy’s international identity by bribing countries to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. One by one, China has peeled away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, leaving just 12 countries (mostly small developing states) and the Vatican recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Taiwan’s formal international space has shrunk dramatically. Yet even as Beijing has scored diplomatic successes, its overreach
In her article in Foreign Affairs, “A Perfect Storm for Taiwan in 2026?,” Yun Sun (孫韻), director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that the US has grown indifferent to Taiwan, contending that, since it has long been the fear of US intervention — and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) inability to prevail against US forces — that has deterred China from using force against Taiwan, this perceived indifference from the US could lead China to conclude that a window of opportunity for a Taiwan invasion has opened this year. Most notably, she observes that
For Taiwan, the ongoing US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets are a warning signal: When a major power stretches the boundaries of self-defense, smaller states feel the tremors first. Taiwan’s security rests on two pillars: US deterrence and the credibility of international law. The first deters coercion from China. The second legitimizes Taiwan’s place in the international community. One is material. The other is moral. Both are indispensable. Under the UN Charter, force is lawful only in response to an armed attack or with UN Security Council authorization. Even pre-emptive self-defense — long debated — requires a demonstrably imminent
Since being re-elected, US President Donald Trump has consistently taken concrete action to counter China and to safeguard the interests of the US and other democratic nations. The attacks on Iran, the earlier capture of deposed of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and efforts to remove Chinese influence from the Panama Canal all demonstrate that, as tensions with Beijing intensify, Washington has adopted a hardline stance aimed at weakening its power. Iran and Venezuela are important allies and major oil suppliers of China, and the US has effectively decapitated both. The US has continuously strengthened its military presence in the Philippines. Japanese Prime
RSS