Passage of a bill regulating the release of government holdings in terrestrial TV stations appears likely today, despite opposition from the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus.
The bill has been listed at the top of today's legislative agenda. Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"I hope that all parties can make some concessions and agree not to enshrine in the law a proportional makeup for the review committee," Wang said. "As soon as there is a consensus, the bill will proceed to the second and third readings."
Upset by the dispute over the Liming Foundation (黎明基金會), TSU caucus whip Mark Ho (
The military-affiliated foundation owns about 25 percent of Chinese Television System (CTS). While the foundation has insisted that it is a private company and agreed to release 25 percent of its CTS holdings, the TSU said that it would like to see the foundation dissolved because its assets belong to the government. The party cited an investigation report on the matter released by the Control Yuan in 1999.
Ho said that he stormed out of cross-party talks called by Wang yesterday to express his anger over the pan-blue camp's rejection of his request to attach a rider to the bill asking the Ministry of National Defense to dissolve the Liming Foundation.
Party negotiators had originally agreed to Ho's request, but KMT caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (
The TSU and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) representatives then refused to sign an accord.
Ho also voiced his caucus' opposition to the establishment of a committee to review the disposition of public holdings in terrestrial TV stations in proportion to the seats each party has in the legislature.
DPP Legislator Kuan Pi-ling (
Kuan said that party negotiators also agreed to attach another amendment to the bill, requesting that CTS -- which would become a public corporation under the bill -- relocate to southern Taiwan five years after the law takes effect.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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