Women's Protection Foundation of Taipei City reported that, among 23 cases of domestic violence filed by foreign "mail order brides," 10 occurred in Taipei. As the report also pointed out, "mail order brides" are brought into Taiwan mainly though certain matchmaking agencies. The entire procedure of selection reveals the deep-rooted patriarchal and economically superior prejudices against those women. Whenever a marriage fails, the wife is always to blame. There is a dire need for legislation protecting those women's legal right. (1998.2.24 China Times.)

A special hotline for the protection of foreign women in Taiwan was officially in operation on Feb. 27. The number is (02) 2369-5255. This tri-ligual--Chinese, English and Thai--hotline is the first step towards providing service for those women who are stranded in Taiwan and for those who hope to find the way back to their homeland. (1998.2.28 China Times.)

Serial rapist suspect Li Da-Deng was found innocent, according to the public prosecutor for lack of "objective evidence," because the DNA testing did not match and also because Li was able to pass the lie detection exam. Although several teenage victim have identified Li as the rapist, the prosecutor maintained that, because those children were too young and the cases often occurred later at night, their identification was prone to be mistaken. (1998.2.22 Taiwan Daily Times.)

The prosecutor seems to value only "scientific" evidences and ignore the victims' testimony simply because of their age. All we can hope is that Li is not one of those "exceptions" whose DNA and blood type do not match.

After certain rumor about a female KMT candidate for Taipei City Mayor was spread, the Chief Secretary of KMT Zhang Xiao-Yan told the press that he did not exclude such possibilities. However, Zhang maintained that whether this particular person, male or female, could win in the mayoral race would be the single most important factor, and not the gender. Although some female politicians think it would be a big step forward for women's participation in politics in KMT, some members of the party did not fell that the party's willingness to consider a female candidacy had nothing to do with showing more respect for women. (1998.2.27, 1998.2.28 China Times.)

In this hopeless race against current Mayor Chen, even if KMT indeed have a female candidate, it would only serve to have a better excuse if they lose the election--"It's all because we had a woman as candidate." This strategy has been repeated by the KMT for many times that it has become apparent to those whose are not completely ignorant of politics.