At a provisional board meeting of the Central Broadcasting System (CBS) in Taipei yesterday, the board of directors approved the resignations of chairman Cheng Yu (鄭優), Radio Taiwan International (RTI) director-general Shao Li-chung (紹立中) and deputy station chief Chang Cheng-lin (張正霖).
Board members Luo Chih-cheng (羅致政) and Tung Li-wen (董立文) also announced their resignations at the meeting. Luo also offered the resignations of two other directors — Liao Chin-kui (廖錦桂) and Chu Tai-hsiang (朱台翔) — who were not in attendance, on their behalf.
Speaking at the meeting, one of the directors got agitated, claiming that “the government has mobilized the media to force a mass resignation.”
Ho Nai-chi (何乃麒), head of the Government Information Office (GIO) Department of Broadcasting Affairs, who was put forward in the meeting to serve as provisional chairman, rebutted the remarks. He said the government had never pressured any director to resign.
Ho said that after the meeting yesterday, the GIO would appoint new directors to fill the vacancies as soon as possible, and a new chairperson would be elected in due course, so that the CBS and RTI can continue their operations with minimum disruption.
A front-page story in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) on Tuesday reported that the RTI,which broadcasts in 13 languages around the world, had been told by the government not to denounce China. It also reported that some independent directors of RTI were planning to resign en masse to express their dissatisfaction with the government’s intervention in the company’s operations and to protest the government’s repression of free speech. GIO Minister Vanessa Shih (史亞平) on Tuesday denied the report.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS