Taoyuan City Councilor Liu Mao-chun (劉茂群) on Friday claimed to speak for local parents at a municipal session, saying they were concerned about the rising number of toy claw crane machines around schools, where children were “spending their breakfast money.”
Liu, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said she received complaints from parents in her electoral district of Bade (八德).
Claw machine stores had appeared near the Da Cheng, Juifong and Guangsing elementary schools, as well as Yongfong Junior High School, causing children to spend their breakfast money and go to school hungry, Liu said.
Photo: Hsieh Wu-hsiung, Taipei Times
A resident in her constituency had told her that his wife had spent NT$6,000, half the family’s monthly allotment for food purchases, on the machines within a few days, Liu said.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) promised to investigate tax records and commercial license registrations for all claw machine stores near the schools.
Just like vending machine operators, owners of claw machines only need to apply for commercial registration, Cheng said.
Claw machines are defined as “selective vending machines,” as they must guarantee a certain success ratio, Taoyuan Economic Development Bureau Director Chu Sung-wei (朱松偉) said, citing the Statute Regulating Arcades and Gaming Facilities (電子遊戲場管理條例).
The machines’ categorization affords them the same treatment as common vending machines, which only require license registration, Chu said.
The sudden increase in claw machines nationwide has also been a source of discussion online, including on the popular Professional Technology Temple (PTT) electronic bulletin board.
Some netizens speculated that the sudden flood of claw machine stores was because the stores could not be rented out for other purposes.
They speculated that property owners might be frustrated by interest in their buildings and accept offers from claw machine companies, whose business does not require constant staff supervision.
Others said that the appearance of claw machines — which offer simple entertainment at a very low price — is indicative of an economy in recession and should be considered a warning sign.
While people think it is a business trend, it is only a fad hiding the more worrying problem that store locations cannot be rented out, commentators on PTT said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS