President Chen Shui-bian (
The officials announced their resignation from high-ranking media posts to comply with the order issued by Chen, also the party's chairman, that all DPP members holding positions in the media must resign by Friday.
Those who resigned include DPP lawmakers Trong Chai (蔡同榮) of Formosa TV, Chang Chun-hung (張俊宏) of Global TV, Ho Shui-sheng (侯水勝) of the Tsengwen River broadcasting company in Tainan and Chou Ching-yu (周清玉) of the Kan-huai broadcasting company in Changhua County.
"This is an inspirational moment that keeps up our work in the journey of reform," Chen said yesterday at the party's Central Executive Committee. "We give the utmost respect for the efforts paid by the comrades who helped realize the party's goal.
"Freeing the media from political influence is one of the basic approaches of media reform. The withdrawal of our party members from media operations is a small step, yet a crucial one toward media reform," he said.
Thanking party loyalists for forsaking their media posts, Chen said they have helped develop a free media environment in the country by toppling the former KMT regime's control over the press by establishing private media corporations.
Chen yesterday reiterated the importance of passing the three media bills -- the Cable Television Law (
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Lawrence Gao (
"The KMT should stop this about-face trick. The party has said that since the bills requiring the removal of political forces in the media haven't been passed, it doesn't have to comply with the requirement. Yet it has also asked its lawmakers to block passage of these laws," Gao said.
"Public officials still occupying media posts, including [independent lawmaker] Sisy Chen, should not find any more excuses to dodge this responsibility," he said.
Chen Shui-bian also said yesterday that China's ignorance of and procrastination on tackling human smuggling have resulted in growing numbers of illegal Chinese immigrants, causing social and security problems in the country.
He urged the Chinese government to face the seriousness of the issue.
"We disagree with Beijing's ignorance and dodging of its responsibility. We hope both sides can resume talks as soon as possible to work for the welfare of the people across the Taiwan Strait and crack down on criminal practices," Chen said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
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