School bus gift angers locals

The news that the Beijing government donated nine school buses to Taiwan over the weekend, while many of the capital's children struggle to get to school, has led to calls that the local government should put the needs of local residents ahead of developing cross-Strait relations.

Guo Jinlong, mayor of Beijing, donated the buses to minority groups in seven townships of Taichung, in central Taiwan, Sunday. They will be used to transport children to school and the elderly to hospital.

"Although geographically Beijing and Taiwan are far from each other, our hearts are connected. We will offer more support to the minority groups in remote mountain areas of Taiwan," Guo was quoted as saying on Monday by the Beijing Evening News.

The donation has angered many Web users. Many people claimed that Beijing should place its children first before giving free gifts to others.

"I pick my daughter up every day out of safety concerns, as her school doesn't have a school bus service currently. I can't understand why the government couldn't spend that money to buy school buses for the capital's children first," said Maggie Zhang, who has 6-year-old daughter, yesterday.

However, some said this kind of aid does not conflict with solving local problems.

"The donation aims to alleviate cross-Strait conflicts, which is also the government's task," said Xu Bodong, director of the Taiwan Institute of Beijing Union University.

"These activities are essential, and the municipal government has also made efforts to address the school bus problem in Beijing," he said.

According to a report of a survey about school bus trials in Beijing, conducted by Beijing Urban Sustainable Transport Research Center in 2010, only one percent of students in middle schools and three percent of primary school students take school buses, according to a January 12 report by the Legal Mirror.

Currently, Beijing has no professional school bus service.

There have been increasing calls to improve school bus safety, following a number of fatal accidents involving overcrowded buses, including an accident in Gansu Province which caused the deaths of 19 children on November 16, 2011.

"We're waiting for the introduction of the school bus safety rules, but opinions about national standards are divided among school bus manufacturers," Long Chen, vice president of Chinawea, a Beijing-based NGO that launched a school bus donation project, told the Global Times yesterday.

"Some are complaining that a newly released draft of standards sets the bar too high, which may make it unaffordable for schools in poor areas," Long said.