The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) threatened legal action after guests on a talk show criticized President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), but the party said it was only defending its reputation against political talk show guests and comments it regarded as departing from the truth, and was not taking action against media outlets themselves.
KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) made the remarks in response to a report published by the Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday that said the KMT would file a lawsuit against Formosa Television (FTV, 民視) over comments recently made on its political talk show Boss Talk (頭家來開講).
In its show on Thursday, the host, former Government Information Office minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), and the show’s guests -discussed the Supreme Court’s latest ruling convicting former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife on bribery charges. The guests accused Ma and the KMT of interfering with the judiciary by vowing to lead a judicial reform and seeking to use the rulings to boost momentum in the upcoming elections.
The KMT sent a letter to FTV the next day, demanding that the TV channel clarify the remarks within three days or face legal action.
Prior to the FTV case, KMT -Honorary Chairman Wu Poh--hsiung (吳伯雄) brought a lawsuit against the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper), while King sued political commentator Chung Nien-huang (鍾年晃), who appears on a talk show on SET-TV (三立電視).
King said the statement was issued to FTV to demand guests on the show clarify their remarks and stop tarnishing the reputation of the party.
“The KMT needs to defend our reputation if the guests on the show make groundless accusations and smear the KMT. We are not aiming at the TV station,” he said.
King said the party continued to respect and support media outlets’ rights to monitor government performance and give advice, and agreed that it is the government’s obligation to accept such supervision from the media.
KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) on Friday accused FTV, SET-TV and the Liberty Times of holding extreme stances and attacking the KMT viciously in their news coverage.
King yesterday dismissed speculation that the KMT would take -action against the three media outlets following Hung’s remarks, and said the party is confident that voters would denounce any form of negative campaigning in the elections
When asked by the press for comment, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said the KMT, being the governing party, should have a bigger heart when responding to criticism.
The KMT should respect political commentators’ freedom of speech, DPP spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) added.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG, CNA AND STAFF WRITER
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS