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
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS