US scolds China over 'Orwellian' airline demands

Yahoo – AFP, May 5, 2018

As of May 5, the website of American Airlines listed Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Macau as entities separate from China (AFP Photo/Daniel SLIM)

Washington (AFP) - The United States on Saturday scolded China for attempting to impose "political correctness" on American carriers by asking them to classify Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as Chinese territories.

A sternly worded White House statement excoriated Beijing for the demands, which it termed "Orwellian nonsense."

"President Donald J. Trump ran against political correctness in the United States," it said. "He will stand up for Americans resisting efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to impose Chinese political correctness on American companies and citizens."

The statement added that the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration sent a notice to 36 foreign air carriers, including a number of American carriers, on April 25, asking them to comply with Beijing's standards.

As of Saturday, the website of American Airlines listed Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as entities separate from China. Rivals United Airlines and Delta listed Taiwan separately but not Hong Kong or Macau.

Taiwan has been self-ruled since splitting from the mainland after a 1949 civil war, maintaining its own government, military and independent foreign policy.

But Beijing has refused to recognize the island, viewing it as part of its territory awaiting reunification with the mainland -- by force, if necessary.

The US has maintained a delicate diplomatic balance since 1979, recognizing Beijing's sovereignty as part of its "One China" policy, while remaining Taiwan's most powerful unofficial ally and main supplier of arms.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong, a British colony until 1997, and Macau, a Portuguese colony until 1999, are now "special administrative regions" of China.

The move came after the US and China held high-stakes trade talks in Beijing aimed at forestalling a looming conflict between the world's two largest economies.

In January, Australia's Qantas Airways changed its website classification of Taiwan and Hong Kong from separate countries to Chinese territories, blaming its earlier approach on an "oversight."

Twisted Taipei mailboxes to be moved as crowds disrupt traffic

Want ChinaTimes, CNA and Staff Reporter 2015-08-12

People line up to have their photo taken with the now famous mailboxes
in Taipei, Aug. 9. (Photo/CNA)

Two roadside mailboxes in Taipei that have become a visitor attraction since they were bent to one side by strong winds from Typhoon Soudelor on Aug. 8 will be relocated after drawing so many people that traffic has been affected and nearby residents inconvenienced.

Chunghwa Post has decided to remove the mailboxes from service because the crowds lining up to have their photos taken with them have been disrupting traffic and disturbing residents, the company announced Tuesday.

The mailboxes, nicknamed "Xiao Hong" (Little Red)" and "Xiao Lu" (Little Green) by their fans, will be removed from their current spot on the intersection of Nanjing East Road and Longjiang Road on Aug. 13 and relocated to the entrance to the Postal Museum Taipei Beimen Branch, where they will be used as an exhibit, Chunghwa Post said.

A new mailbox will replace the damaged ones, the company said, adding that to mark the planned decommissioning of the mailboxes it has made a "smiling mailbox" commemorative seal. Post deposited in the twisted mailboxes in the period between 5 pm Wednesday and 5 pm Thursday will all be stamped with the seal so recipients can enjoy a little piece of history, Chunghwa Post said.

The decision to relocate Xiao Hong and Xiao Lu, however, has disappointed some of their online fans, who said "no one will pay attention to them" after they are relocated and called for them to be kept where they are.

The photo of the two twisted mailboxes has gone viral since being posted on the internet and Saturday. They were bent to one side by a signboard that fell to the ground during the storm in the early hours of the day, according to workers at a nearby convenience store.

M503 route a path of peace: TAO chief

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-03-06

Zhang Zhijun talks to the press. (Photo/CNS)

Zhang Zhijun, minister of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said the M503 flight route that goes along the Taiwan Strait's median line is a path of peace between Taiwan and China, but refused to reveal when the route will be implemented, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

During a press conference with reporters on Thursday, the official said the route will only be used by civilian aircraft and is set up to resolve the problem of crowded airspace around the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas. The aircraft will fly closer to China and within the Shanghai Flight Information Region, said Zhang, who added that the International Civil Aviation Organization has approved the route and assigned a code for it.

He said Taiwanese and Chinese officials reached an initial agreement over the issue on March 2 in Shanghai, when Chinese authorities agreed to a delay in the adoption of the M503 route and the three feeder routes W121, W122 and W123. W121 connects with Dongshan, W122 connects with Fuzhou, and W123 with Xiamen.

Zhang said the route will be a good thing for both Taiwanese and Chinese travelers and that commentators should not read too much into the politics of it.

In January, China declared the plan to launch the north-south M503 route without consultation with Taiwan along with the three other east-west feeder routes, which immediately drew protest from the Taiwanese government.

Related Article:

Archangel Michael: Peace on Earth is Not a Dream

TransAsia crash adds to air safety concerns

As divers pull more bodies from a Taiwanese river where a TransAsia Airways propjet crashed shortly after takeoff, DW takes a look at the airline's safety record and what is known about the cause of the crash.

Deutsche Welle, 7 Feb 2015

Baggages are placed near the wreckage of TransAsia Airways plane Flight GE235
 after it crash landed into a river, in New Taipei City February 5, 2015 (Photo:
Reuters/Pichi Chuang)

The horrifying footage of TransAsia Flight GE235's crash on February 4 went viral around the world. Captured by at least two cars carrying dashboard cameras, the videos show how the plane banked steeply away from buildings in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, hit an elevated road and crashed into the Keelung River - leaving behind a trail of debris and a smashed taxi.

The TransAsia ATR 72-600 went down shortly after taking off from Taipei's downtown Songshan airport with 58 people on board, killing at least 35 of them. The one-year-old aircraft was bound for the Taiwanese island of Kinmen. Among those on board were 31 tourists from China, mainly from the southwestern city of Xiamen.

Engine shut down manually

As people in both Taiwan and China mourn the victims of the tragedy, investigators are frantically trying to find out what went wrong.

The footage of TransAsia's crash
went viral around the world

According to Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council, both engines of the turboprop plane failed before it plummeted into the shallow river.

"Based on the data we have so far, we can see that for a period of time both engines showed no thrust," said Thomas Wang, director of the agency, based on information from the flight data and voice recorders. "The right engine flamed out and triggered a warning in the cockpit. The left engine was shut down manually and the pilot tried to restart the engine but couldn't," Wang said, adding that it was "not clear" why the left engine was shut down manually. "We are not reaching any judgment yet," he said.

An engine "flameout" can occur when fuel supply to an engine is interrupted or when there is faulty combustion. A more detailed report on the crash will be available in next 30 days, with a final report expected in the next three to six months.

Similarities with British Midland Flight 92

According to Gerry Soejatman, an independent Jakarta-based aviation analyst,confusion among crew members seems to have led to the wrong engine being shut down. "The Flight Data Recorder shows that it was only in the last moments that the crew corrected their mistakes in an effort to restart the engines."

This would be similar to what happened to British Midland Flight 92 in 1989. Back then, a Boeing 737-400 crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway near Kegworth, UK, when the pilots shut down the wrong engine after the second one had malfunctioned.

Soejatman therefore believes the investigation into TransAsia Flight GE235 will likely look into the cause of the initial flameout, and how the crew ended up shutting down the wrong engine. Daniel Tsang, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Aspire Aviation, explains that typically planes are designed to be able to climb and take-off even under single engine failure.

Developed in 2007, the ATR72 600 is a new, more powerful version of the old ATR, and has PW127M engines, which enable a five percent increase in takeoff power. The propjet is a joint venture aircraft between Italy and France and is used extensively around the world with a high safety record. Given that a single engine failure is normally not enough to bring down a plane, Tsang believes other factors seem to have been at play with Flight GE235.

'Exceptional skill and bravery'

Whatever caused the plane to crash, the video footage also shows that the crew fought to save the airplane right up to the last moment. The pilot and co-pilot, whose bodies were retrieved from the cockpit, have been praised for what seems to be a last-ditch attempt to steer the plane away from populated areas.

"From what I can deduce, the pilots showed both exceptional skill and bravery in trying to keep the aircraft from hitting buildings or any built up area," Hugh Ritchie, chief executive of Aviation Consultants International, based in Australia, told DW.

The expert said that despite the engine flameout, a subsequent loss of lift and a significant loss of directional control, the crew managed to ensure that the aircraft missed buildings and it appears that they were trying to do a belly landing on the Keelung River.

Ritchie also pointed out the flameout may have been caused by a bird striking the engine: "Songshan Airport is renowned for bird strikes, with a large number of birds nesting on or around the runway in ground nests."

Safety record

Founded in 1951, TransAsia Airways is Taiwan's third largest airline. The private company mainly flies on domestic routes within Taiwan, but has also added some two dozen routes to mainland China. It also offers flights to other North Asian destinations in Japan and Korea.

But analysts say the airline's safety record is reason for concern as it has written off five planes since 1995 and had seven serious incidents over the past 20 years, four of which resulted in fatalities, according to data from Flightglobal Ascend, an industry consultancy.

The February 4 accident comes just seven months after another fatal crash which claimed the lives of 48 of the 58 people on board. The incident occurred in July 2014 when the pilots of an ATR 72-500 tried to land the aircraft at Penghu Island, off mainland China. "The accident can be attributed to pilot error of flying in extremely bad weather and trying to land when conditions were well beyond aircraft limit," said Ritchie.

Multiple plane crashes in Asia in the past one year have increased
air safety concerns in the region

It has also emerged that as of the end of December 2014, TransAsia had failed to meet around a third of the requirements the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) demanded as a result of the July crash. Moreover, Macau's Civil Aviation Authority said the engines of Flight GE235 had been replaced at Macau Airport in April last year "due to engine-related technical issues."

The CAA has grounded a total of 22 Taiwanese ATR planes for safety checks to inspect maintenance issues following the accident, and TransAsia has been banned from applying for new routes for one year.

'No trust, no ticket sales'

In view of this development, Hamburg-based independent aviation expert Heinrich Grossbongardt believes the latest incident could have a severe economic impact on the airline. "Without the trust of the people, no airline is able to sell tickets," he said. The analyst pointed out that Malaysia Airlines, for instance, is fighting for survival after two tragedies last year, despite the fact that the carrier and its management in both cases most likely only bear a minor part of the blame – if any.

TransAsia has had seven serious safety
incidents over the past 20 years

In the case of TransAsia, however, there are signs that pilot error has been a contributing factor in some accidents, which raises doubt about the safety culture and the operating procedures of the entire airline, Grossbongardt told DW.

Neil Hansford, chairman of Strategic Aviation Solutions, agrees: "There is a thing in the industry that you are only as good as your next crash." The Australian expert argues that in most countries this number of crashes would be terminal and the regulator would immediately stop any fleet additions and new routes and make the carrier downsize to a level where they can operate competently and safely with an ability to be profitable.

Nonetheless, analyst Tsang believes the economic impact will likely be limited. "Short-term bookings are expected to come under pressure, but given its prized routes out of a downtown airport in Taipei, TransAsia's bookings should rebound." This would be similar to what happened after the July 2014 crash which resulted in a sharp slump in revenue for about a month, but then passenger traffic rebounded again a month later.

According to Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific Chief Economist at the analytics firm IHS, TransAsia was helped by the popularity of its flight connections out of Songshan Airport, which is much closer and more accessible than Taipei's main Taoyuan international airport, which is 40 kilometers from downtown.

Moreover, the number of passengers using direct commercial flights between mainland China and Taiwan has risen sharply from five million in 2010 - the first full year of direct scheduled flights - to an estimated nine million in 2013. Negotiations are currently underway between China and Taiwan to allow mainland Chinese travelers to make transit stops in Taiwan on their way to other destinations.

Asia needs pilots

But many industry experts are concerned that the shortage of experienced pilots might jeopardize the safety of air travel in Asia. A number of accidents and incidents involving latest generation aircraft inside and outside the region (e.g. the Asiana crash in San Francisco) might be signs on the wall.

According to the latest Boeing study, the region needs 255,000 new pilots by 2033, which means some 20,000 every year. When an airline takes delivery of an additional jet it needs 14 pilots on average to operate the aircraft. But as Grossbongardt explains, the crew's level of experience is at least as important, especially in a region where severe weather is a frequent occurrence and navigation aids at smaller airports don't always have the highest standard.

In December, AirAsia flight QZ8501 crashed
into the Java Sea, leaving 162 people dead

"The problem with experience is: it only builds with flight hours," said the analyst. Carriers which can afford it have started hiring pilots from Europe and the US. But this will not be a solution in the long run, because a pilot shortage is looming in these regions as well.

A downward trend in safety?

Aviation analyst Ritchie says the aviation industry is witnessing a downward trend in safety oversight. "This, I believe is a global phenomenon brought about to some extent by the introduction of self-auditing of the quality safety management of airlines, airports and maintenance organizations which are overseen by regulators who are neither skilled nor capable due to the increased aircraft operations to clearly maintain oversight of airport and airlines," he said.

The analyst argues that with the increased number of low cost carriers and the subsequent rise in flight operations over the past few years, there has also been a reduction of safety oversight and management awareness. "Too often economic and operational management imperatives impact safety decisions," Ritchie said.

Relatives of the victims pray during a Buddhist ritual near the wreckage of 

TransAsia Airways plane Flight GE235 after it crash landed into a river, in New

Taipei City, February 5, 2015. Reuters/River Wang 

Related Article:

TransAsia pilots tested after Taipei plane crash

Both engines of TransAsia Airways plane failed before Taipei crash: official

Want China Times, CNA 2015-02-06

Wang Hsing-chung during a press conference on the crash in Taipei,
Feb. 6. (Photo/CNA)

Data from the two black boxes retrieved from a TransAsia Airways plane that crashed into a river in Taipei showed that both of the turboprop aircraft's engines failed before the crash, the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) said Friday.

Neither engine had any power during the last minute and 7 seconds before the aircraft plunged into the Keelung River, ASC managing director Wang Hsing-chung said at a news conference in Taipei.

A warning first went off for engine No. 2 when the plane reached an altitude of about 1,200 feet, according to the flight data recorder, he said.

Forty-six seconds later, power to engine No. 1 was cut off and then turned back on a full 56 seconds after that, just six seconds before the plane hit the ground, Wang said in presenting the timeline of what happened.

He did not give any explanation for why engine No. 1 was turned off.

TransAsia Airways flight 235 crashed three minutes and 23 seconds after getting clearance at 10:51:13 to take off Wednesday morning from Songshan Airport in northern Taipei en route to Kinmen.

Fifteen of the 58 people on board survived the accident while 35 have been confirmed dead and another eight remain unaccounted for.

The ATR72-600 aircraft was less than a year old but had experienced engine problems before.

Representatives from the French Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the plane's manufacturer ATR and engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Canada in Taiwan also attended the press conference.

Taiwan official says Beijing's role in crash probe is legal

Want China Times, CNA and Staff Reporter 2015-02-06

The wreckage of the crashed plane, Feb. 5. (Photo/CNA)

Letting Chinese officials take part in the probe into Wednesday's air crash in Taipei is allowed by Taiwanese law, Taiwan's top body in charge of China affairs said Thursday.

Mainland Affairs Council deputy chief Wu Mei-hung cited the Aviation Safety Council, which is in charge of the probe, as saying that both Taiwan's Aviation Occurrence Investigation Act and international conventions allow countries which manufacture the aircraft or engines of the crashed plane, or whose citizens are among the victims, to join investigations where the accident occurred and help handle the aftermath.

China said it will send officials to help with the investigation into the Wednesday crash of a TransAsia airways plane in which 22 of 31 Chinese tourists onboard have been confirmed dead, Wu said, but China has not yet said who the officials are.

Wu cited as a precedent for the collaboration the 2010 accident in which a Singapore Airlines plane crashed at Taoyuan International Airport.

Australia sent experts to join Taiwan's investigation at the time as its citizens were among the dead in that accident, said Wu.

Earlier Thursday, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said in Beijing that China will send officials on the invitation of Taipei to take part in the investigation of Wednesday's crash.

He added the arrangements are part of an agreement between the two sides to invite the other to take part in probes of major air crashes involving its own citizens.

Related Article:

At least 25 dead as Taiwan plane plunges into river

At least 25 dead as Taiwan plane plunges into river

Yahoo – AFP, Benjamin Yeh, 4 Feb 2015

A screen grab taken from video provided by TVBS Taiwan, February 4, 2015

 shows a TransAsia ATR 72-600 turboprop plane clipping an elevated motorway

and hitting a taxi (AFP Photo/Tvbs Taiwan)

At least 25 people were killed Wednesday when a passenger plane operated TransAsia Airways clipped an overpass soon after take-off and plunged into a river in Taiwan, the airline's second crash in seven months.

As the rescue operation continued into the night, a crane lifted the rear and central sections of the plane from the water, with one body retrieved from inside.

Rescue personnel work to free

passengers from a TransAsia

ATR 72-600  turboprop plane

that crash-landed into a river

outside Taiwan's capital Taipei

on February 4, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Sam Yeh)

The front part, where 17 people are believed to be trapped, was still in the water.

TransAsia said 16 survivors had been pulled out of the wreckage after the turboprop plane crashed with 58 people onboard. Many of the passengers were mainland Chinese tourists.

Cold weather, poor visibility and rising water levels were hampering the rescue, officials said, admitting they were now "not optimistic" about finding survivors.

Dramatic amateur video footage showed the TransAsia ATR 72-600 hit an elevated road as it banked sidelong towards the Keelung River, leaving a trail of debris including a smashed taxi.

"I saw a taxi, probably just metres ahead of me, being hit by one wing of the plane. The plane was huge and really close to me. I'm still trembling," one witness told TVBS news channel.

An AFP reporter at the scene saw bodies being pulled from the wreckage into the early evening.

Desperate crew members shouted "Mayday! Mayday! Engine flameout!" as the plane plunged out of the sky, according to a recording thought to be the final message from the cockpit to the control tower, played on local television.

Rescue personnel put an injured passenger

 from a TransAsia turboprop plane that

crashed into a river outside Taiwan's capital

 Taipei into an ambulance on February 4, 

2015 (AFP Photo/Sam Yeh)

Aviation officials said they had not released the cockpit recording, suggesting it may have come from amateurs monitoring the radio.

"An engine flameout refers to the engine shutting down in flight," said Daniel Tsang, founder of Hong Kong-based aviation consultancy Aspire Aviation.

"The engine stops producing thrust and the combustion process fails and no longer generates any forward propulsion to the aeroplane."

But Tsang told AFP that pilots were "very well trained" to deal with the failure of one engine and the causes of the accident were likely to be more complex.

It was the second fatal crash involving a TransAsia Airways plane within a few months. A flight operated by the domestic airline crashed in July during a storm, killing 48 people.

Hope fades

Wednesday's accident happened just before 11:00 am (0300 GMT), shortly after Flight GE235 left Songshan airport in northern Taipei en route to the island of Kinmen with 53 passengers and five crew on board.

Six airline officials, including chief executive Peter Chen, bowed in apology at a televised press conference.

Rescue personnel work to free passengers

from a TransAsia ATR 72-600 turboprop

plane that crash-landed into a river outside

Taiwan's capital Taipei, on February 4, 

2015 (AFP Photo/Sam Yeh)

"We would like to convey our apologies to the families (of the victims) and we'd also like to voice huge thanks to rescuers who have been racing against time," said Chen.

In a statement later Wednesday, the airline said that 25 were confirmed dead, with 16 survivors.

Those missing are thought to be trapped inside the submerged front section of the plane.

"As it has been a while and the weather is cold, things are not optimistic, but rescuers will do everything to find and rescue the remaining missing people," said Lin Kuan-cheng from the National Fire Agency.

"Rising water levels and poor visibility underwater has made the work very difficult," added senior rescue official Wu Chun-hung.

There has been no official comment on the cause of the crash, but the black boxes have been retrieved from the French-made aircraft.

France's civil aviation body said Wednesday two of its investigators and four from plane manufacturer ATR were being dispatched to assist Taiwanese authorities with their enquiries.

Desperate rescue

An injured passenger (C) is helped onto

 land by emergency personnel along the

 river bank after a TransAsia ATR 72-600

turboprop plane crash-landed into the

Keelung river outside Taiwan's capital 

Taipei, on February 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Sam Yeh)

Rescue boats remained in the water late Wednesday, where the remaining front section of the plane is completely submerged.

Rescuers with flashlights scoured through the rear and central parts of the plane after they were brought to shore by crane.

Earlier in the day survivors had been ferried to safety in dinghies as rescuers tried to pull people out with ropes.

China's Xiamen Daily said on its social media account that the 31 mainlanders on board were part of two tour groups from the eastern Chinese city.

One tour guide now confirmed dead, named as Wang Qinghuo, had been due to marry on Sunday, it added.

Xiamen is in Fujian province, across the Taiwan Strait from the island.

An employee of one of the tour agencies, surnamed Wen, told AFP that it had 15 clients onboard, including three children under 10.

The rest of the passengers and crew were Taiwanese, according to the airline.

Aviation officials said the plane crashed minutes after taking off from Songshan airport, after losing contact with the control tower.

Rescuers lift the wreckage of the TransAsia ATR 72-600 oot of the 

Keelung river at New Taipei City on February 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/Sam Yeh)

Lin Chih-ming, head of Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration, said the ATR 72-600 was less than a year old and was last serviced just over a week ago. The pilot had 14,000 flying hours and the co-pilot 4,000 hours, he added.

The airline said it had received the plane in April last year and it was the newest model of the ATR.

In last July's crash, the 48 people were killed when another domestic TransAsia flight crashed onto houses during a storm on the Taiwanese island of Penghu.

Related Article:

Pilot of TransAsia plane called 'Mayday' before crash

Singapore looks to Taipei as unlikely model for cleanliness

Want China Times, CNA 2015-01-31

A worker cleans Taipei Main Station, July 24, 2009. (Photo/Chen Chih-yuan)

Singapore is well known for its strict rules intended to keep its streets clean, so it may come as a surprise that activists in the city-state are looking to Taipei as an example of how to maintain a trash-free city.

But Liak Teng Lit, chairman of Singapore's non-governmental Public Hygiene Council, told the Straits Times that his country has "let things deteriorate until we now have a crisis of cleanliness," a reference to the massive amount of trash left strewn about last weekend after a music festival.

In contrast, Liak said that on a recent trip to Taiwan, he and other council members learned that "cleaning is a part of education," adding that it "teaches the value of labor and that it is not shameful to sweat."

He praised Taipei for keeping its streets clean with only 5,000 professional cleaners looking after a city of almost 3 million people, whereas Singapore has a small army of 70,000 cleaners for its population of 5 million.

The praise echoes remarks made by William Wan, co-founder of the Singapore Kindness Movement that works with Liak's organization, who said earlier in the month that trash left after New Year's celebrations showed that Singapore needs to transform from a "cleaned city" to a "clean city."

Revelers who left a "meadow of trash" at the Gardens by the Bay this past weekend told the Straits Times they littered because they saw other people doing it and assumed somebody would come by to collect it.

On Wednesday, Singapore's prime minister Lee Hsien Loong took to Facebook to draw attention to the sad scene left after the Laneway music festival.

"All of us can play a part in picking up our own litter, educating our children and grandchildren, and reminding others to do the right thing," the prime minister wrote.

Uber racks up fines of over NT$23 million in Taiwan

Want China Times, CNA 2015-01-30

An illustration of Uber's trade logo on a smartphone held up to a

taxi lamp. (Illustrationo/CFP)

The ridesharing service company Uber and its participating drivers have been fined a total of NT$23.2 million (US$730,000) so far for violating Taiwan's laws, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said Thursday.

As of Jan. 27, the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) had imposed 133 fines on Uber, totaling NT$16.6 million (US$527,000), for violation of the Highways Act, the ministry said.

The DGH has also issued 132 tickets, totaling NT$6.6 million (US$210,000), to drivers transporting passengers with the service, the ministry said.

Uber, however, has paid only NT$500,000 (US$15,900) worth of fines, while its drivers have paid 13 tickets valued at NT$650,000 (US$20,600), the ministry said.

DGH official Lin Fu-shan said the agency will continue to impose fines on the company over the Lunar New Year holiday in an effort to halt the illegal taxi service.

"The priority is to cut its supply chain," Lin said.

He called on local drivers who do not have the required commercial driver's licenses to stop working for the company.

The ministry said it is trying to revoke Uber's company registration because it registered as an information service but is operating a transportation business.

San Francisco-based Uber, which entered the Taiwan market in mid-2013, has been unyielding in the controversy despite the penalties. As in many other countries where it operates, it has faced obstacles in Taiwan due to domestic regulations and concerns about its effects on the livelihood of local taxi drivers.

The transportation ministry said it has asked Uber several times to abide by the law and apply for a transportation business license, but the company has ignored the requests.

Uber is operating illegally and has not made any effort to comply with the law, the ministry said, adding that this not only leaves passengers unprotected but is also unfair to legitimate transportation operators.

New energy car promotion continues in China

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-01-18

An electric car at the 13th international automobile exhibition in Tianjin,
Oct. 1, 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)

The first expressway charging network located between Beijing and Shanghai was inaugurated on Jan. 15 and additional policy measures are expected to be introduced this year to promote the use of new energy cars, state news agency Xinhua reports.

China saw sales of new energy cars jump 3.2 times to 74,800 in 2014 compared with the data recorded in 2013, of which over 60% were purchased for private use, Xinhua said.

The news agency cited Industry and Information Technology minister Miao Yu, who said that the faster launch of the new models of new energy cars reflected the growing confidence of the local auto companies.

SAIC Motor vice president Wang Xiaobo noted that the company had invested more than 6 billion yuan (US$967 million) in new energy vehicles between 2009 and 2014 because of a series of policy incentives offered by the government.

In addition, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding chairman Xu Heyi said that his company had established two production bases for new energy cars and plans to introduce a model that can run up to 400 kilometers on a single charge in 2016.

Volkswagen Group China CEO Jochem Heizmann said that the growth in sales reflected the effectiveness of the Chinese government's new energy car policy and subsidies.

Director of the Economic Construction Department of the Ministry of Finance Zeng Xiao'an said that the fiscal support for the next phase of new energy car development will be published as soon as possible. Zeng added that the subsidies for conventional vehicles will be reduced.

Sources told Xinhua that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development plan to include the addition of an electric vehicle charging facility as a requirement for all new housing projects.

Auto industry insiders said that the steep decrease in oil prices, which has now fallen below US$50 per barrel, may lead to slower sales of new energy cars in 2015.

Experts are also said that China lags behind in fuel cell production and charging infrastructure despite the 712 charging stations and 28,900 charging poles built around the country.

Helen Xu, the China automotive head at Germany's Infineon Technologies, predicted that China may record sales of more than 100,000 new energy cars in 2015, surpassing the United States.

Related Article:

Taiwan license tax exemption for electric cars extended

Ranting bus passenger forced to make public apology

Want China Times, CNA and Staff Reporter 2014-08-09

Jackson Chu, right, apologizes to the bus driver he subjected to a verbal
assault, Aug. 8 (Photo/CNA)

A Taiwanese American man who recently threw a tantrum on a bus and verbally assaulted the driver in a foul-mouthed tirade in English made an open apology to the driver on Friday.

Jackson Chu called the Taoyuan Bus Co to say that he wished to apologize to the driver, Chen Chin-chi, in private, a request that was rejected outright by the company given the notoriety of the incident, which had been captured by a fellow passenger who uploaded it to the internet. The video swiftly went viral and pitchforks were out for the "foreigner," as the poster supposed him to be, as did the first media outlets to jump on the story.

The company insisted instead that Chu instead make an open apology at a police station, so he presented himself at a police station later that day where he read a statement in halting Mandarin Chinese interspersed with English.

Chu said it was not right for him to have used bad language and that he was "impolite." He apologized to Chen and the passengers on the bus.

Chu also asked Chen's forgiveness and expressed hope that he can continue to ride on his bus. He and Chen then shook hands and hugged, with Chen saying that he forgave Chu and welcomes him to use his bus again.

"We are a happy country, he is our guest and we welcome him to take our bus. He has said sorry and that will do," Chen said, adding that he did not want a minor dispute to turn into a big confrontation.

Chen said that although he did not understand all of Chu's Chinese, he felt his sincerity.

The bus company, which had earlier decided to file a lawsuit against Chu, said the incident "has come to a happy conclusion" and that it would drop the suit.

Chu lost his temper when the driver went past his stop — witnesses claim he pushed the bell too late — and swore and used intimidating body language as he demanded the driver apologize.

Chu's behavior was widely condemned online and internet users used a "human flesh search" to identify him and publish information about him and his wife, who was also present during the incident. The practice of seeking out and shaming people who break the rules of social conduct is common in China, but is not seen so often in Taiwan.

When identified as the ranter, Chu initially defended his outburst as "protecting" his pregnant wife, and later threatened to sue the college student who posted the video online, but later decided not to do so.

Taiwan gas explosions kill at least 24 people, injure many more

At least 24 people have been killed and 270 others injured in a series of underground gas explosions in Taiwan. The blasts came after local residents had reported smelling the scent of gas.

Deutsche Welle, 1 Aug 2014

Thousands of emergency workers and soldiers were deployed to Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second-largest city on Friday, where an operation was ongoing to search for both survivors and victims of the blasts.

Several people were reported missing and local media reports indicated that the death toll could rise sharply.

Four firefighters who had been called to the area to investigate a possible gas leak were reported to have been among those killed in the explosions, which occurred several hours after their arrival.

The blasts, which occurred in a district of Kaohsiung that is packed with shops and apartment buildings, hurled concrete and vehicles through the air and ripped open large craters in several streets.

Taiwan's minister of economic affairs told a press conference on Friday, that the source of the blasts appeared to have been a gas that is a by-product of the processing of fossil fuels.

"Based on our preliminary investigation, the gases spilled included propene," Chang Chia-juch said.

Urban gas pipes to be checked

The gas line that exploded belongs to the state-owned CPC Corporation, according to the Associated Press. The source and cause of the leak was not immediately clear.

Whatever the cause of the blast, Tiawan's president, Ma Ying-jeou pledged that all pipes used by petrochemical companies under urban areas would be checked to avoid a recurrence of the incident.

"We will make further arrangements and inspections to avoid this kind of disaster from occurring again," President Ma said in comments broadcast on Taiwanese television.

The president also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

pfd/kms (AP, dpa, Reuters)

The aftermath of the gas explosions in Kaohsiung,
Aug. 1, 2014 (Photo/CNA)

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