Does it have to take 26 lives to force Taiwan authorities to view people from the Chinese mainland from the perspective of humanity? For more than two decades, the public narrative in Taiwan has been one of reluctance to treat compatriots from across the Taiwan Straits as real subjects of the "Rights of Man".

The deaths of 24 tourists from the mainland (and the bus driver and tour guide who were Taiwan residents) in a bus accident in Taiwan on July 19 calls for an examination into the rights of the victims. To begin with, we'd like to know how the fire started in the bus before it hit the expressway barrier in Taoyuan county, south of Taipei.

For the first time, local media outlets thoroughly reviewed an accident in which mainland compatriots were victims. Concerns for humanity are revealing in the reports in general, tracking the footsteps of the victims in their earlier itinerary. Shock and sorrow were evident on TV screens.