No one answered my question as to “Can you privately insult another.”
For example what if they record you saying “You’re fat”; but no one else is there ?
I’m not a lawyer but from what I understand… yes
A person who publicly insults another shall be sentenced to short-term imprisonment or a fine of not more than nine thousand dollars.
Do they not consider the middle finger an insult?
Yes, it’s definitely an insult. However, in my case I wasn’t charged with anything, and the driver would have to file something. Plus, I can file charges against him, so it’s unlikely to go anywhere.
The problem I had was I reacted instinctively, as soon as I did it I realised I shouldn’t have. The other problem was that the driver was a typical Taiwanese racist, who took extra offence because I’m a foreigner.
I’ve learned a pretty hard lesson from this, and I still feel very upset with myself for acting so foolishly.
You may have addressed this, but how do you know this?
The things he was saying, and also the fact that he squared off with me like he wanted a fight. He had the whole “I’m better than foreigners” attitude going on.
He was also saying a lot of very insulting things about me because he didn’t think I could understand it.
You flipped him off. I did that once while driving and the guy tried to run me and family off the road.
It means way more here, just saying. 
You never told us this part. If he tries to sue you then you might have a case against him. You don’t actually have to swear to be charged with public insult or libel.
I’m not sure what you think you may have learned. It’s not the first incident you have had is it? Yeah you flip the bird, lie to the police about it, now claim the racist is the guy you flipped the bird at. Got it. Sounds fair
Perhaps look at another mode of transportation where you don’t need to be with any Taiwanese at all.
if not on camera and recorded it doesn’t exist and only serves your fantasies
I think simply telling other passengers on the bus that I gave him the finger would be libel right? This caused the other passengers to start arguing with me too.
But, if I am following correctly, you did give him the finger, so where’s the libel?
I think you need to go and talk to your lawyer because you clearly have no idea what libel is. First off it’s slander, not libel. One is written, one spoken. And two, if it’s true, it’s hardly slander
Under Taiwanese law, even if a statement is true, if it hurts someone else’s feelings or causes them embarrassment it’s still defamation.
This is why it’s difficult to leave a bad Google review, because if you say, “I saw cockroaches in that restaurant”, they can sue for it, even if it’s true.
I just want to be clear that what I did was wrong and very stupid. I’m just lucky that the driver gave me quite a lot of ammunition to stop it going any further.
Bottom line is be very careful about making rude gestures in the future and control your temper.
I really can’t comprehend your line of thinking here…why oh why would you even think of getting on the bus?? It’s like…you slapped someone right in front of his doorstep, then the guy confronts you and you walk right into his living room and sit on the couch. I would be really pissed too if someone did that to me.
At least you’re taking some responsibilty here knowing it’s mostly your fault to begin with. Buses here do not have a duty to wait for someone or open the doors if someone were to knock on it. You were running to get on the bus which means you were not waiting at the bus stop to begin with. You should’ve just waited for another bus or taken a cab. It’s not the end of the world you know.
Yes
I know I just reacted before I had time to think, and was very naive about just sitting on the bus quietly.
well for next time u could remember to take a recording of sitting on the bus to cover ur rear end 
How can it be libel which is for the written words?
Also you flipped him off. It will be recorded on the bus camera and I would say the bus company will keep a copy of that recording. The bus company might discipline the driver for stopping after you flipped him off. He should have just kept going.