Enough is enough
One problematic issue in Taiwanese society that has not received enough attention is the lawlessness on the streets of Taiwanese cities. Aside from perhaps the very central streets of Taipei, the traffic in Taiwan is very chaotic: Everybody has seen scooters speeding on sidewalks, cars parked on the red line, waiting for the green light in the middle of the road (to have more shade), driving in the opposite lane, making left turns before the intersection, etc.
All this is illegal, but how many times have such violations actually been punished? Not that there are no police officers on the streets — at least in the cities, the larger streets are regularly patrolled. But what is the use? Many times I have seen police officers apathetically drive past illegally parked cars, or completely ignore sidewalk driving — in fact, it is easier to spot a police officer riding a scooter on the sidewalk than seeing one issue a fine for such an offense. So, the problem is not a shortage of manpower, but rather their sloppy attitude toward their duties, far too common among local police officers.
The strict enforcement of the law is badly necessary, both in order to reduce traffic accidents and to discourage violations. Although many of the violations listed above are probably seen by many as very minor offenses, the selfish and inconsiderate behavior on the streets, which most Taiwanese are forced to accept as “normal” at the age they stand in front of their parents and grandparents on scooters (which is illegal, too), is later easily transformed into equally selfish and inconsiderate attitudes toward anything else — whence, arguably, all of our environmental problems, street and labor crime, food scandals, and other social sores.
One additional thing regarding the law enforcement on the streets is that catching and fining violators would not only discourage illegal driving and parking, but, at least in the initial stages, it would generate very large amounts of money which could be put to very good use in the cities, such as improving public transportation, cleaning up the nature, building more parks and maintaining the existing ones, taking better care of the hordes of stray animals soiling the streets and the parks, and posing serious health and safety threats, etc.
To give a simple example, riding a scooter on the sidewalk is punishable by at least NT$600 [US$18.93] in Taiwan. In a city like Kaohsiung, there are many locations where the sidewalk driving rule is violated nearly every minute (at least during the day). Even if only five violators are caught every hour on, say, 10 streets, in a matter of 10 hours, the amount of money collected in fines would reach NT$300,000. In a month, this would jump to NT$9,000,000!
This money, paid by traffic violators, could be put to very good use in many cities and all this could easily happen, if the police were doing their job on the streets properly.
Aurelijus Vijunas
Kaohsiung
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under