Several members of the former New Tide faction of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) of pushing a TV news program to attack certain DPP politicians in a bid to affect their prospects of winning the party's legislative primary.
DPP Legislator Hong Chi-chang (洪其昌) told a press conference yesterday that the program The People Talk, aired weekdays on Formosa Television (FTV), had attacked him on four consecutive evenings starting on Tuesday.
The program also attacked the now disbanded New Tide faction as a whole and the Taiwan Economy and Industry Association, of which Hong was a member, without grounding its accusations, he said.
According to Hong, the program accused him of owning an extravagant residence and said that the association had lined the faction's pockets.
Hong and fellow legislators who are former members of the New Tide faction told the press conference they suspected that Chai, the founder of FTV, had been manipulating the program in an effort to attack Hong.
They said that Chai's motivation was that both he and Hong intended to run in the DPP's legislative primary this year.
Chai said last week that he no longer participated in FTV decision-making processes.
Calling the program's criticisms of him "murder" of his integrity, Hong said he would sue the manager of FTV's news department, Hu Wan-ling (
Showing the press a list of the names of FTV board members, DPP Legislator Shen Fa-hui (
Shen also said that Chai should explain to the public why he still owned an office at FTV and used FTV's guesthouse to play host to friends if he claimed he had no influence at the station anymore, Shen added.
Former DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said that the legislators were "forcing Chai to be responsible for what had been said."
"Public figures have to take responsibility for their own words and behavior. We cannot allow senior party figures to try to cover up their relations with the media," he said, referring to the board member list and Chai's previous remarks claiming that he was no longer active in decision-making at FTV.
In response to the charges, Chai said yesterday that although he had connections with FTV, he had no influence over what issues news programs chose to bring up.
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
A fourth public debate was held today about restarting the recently decommissioned Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ahead of a referendum on the controversial issue to be held in less than two weeks. A referendum on Aug. 23 is to ask voters if they agree that “the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns.” Anyone over 18 years of age can vote in the referendum. The vote comes just three months after its final reactor shut down, officially making Taiwan nuclear-free. Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) represented
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday announced a ban on all current and former government officials from traveling to China to attend a military parade on Sept. 3, which Beijing is to hold to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. "This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Republic of China’s victory in the War of Resistance [Against Japan]," MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a regular news briefing in Taipei. To prevent Beijing from using the Sept. 3 military parade and related events for "united
RSS