With the legislature’s video-on-demand (VOD) Web page receiving more than 280,000 hits since its launch in late February, the Legislative Session Broadcast Committee said yesterday it would continue to work for the establishment of a TV channel for legislative meetings.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Daniel Hwang (黃義交), a member of the seven-person committee, said it had also called for tenders in a bid to increase the bandwidth of the VOD system.
The legislature has allowed the public to access its VOD system and watch all open-door meetings from outside the legislature since Feb. 20.
The system showed that the most-watched video clip — an excerpt of KMT Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) during a question-and-answer session on Feb. 20 — received about 2,000 hits, while two other popular clips — videos of KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) — had about 1,400 hits each.
During a related forum held by Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) on Friday, KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), also a member of the committee, said the VOD system not only satisfied the public’s desire for legislative transparency but also help lawmakers promote their own image.
CCW chairman Ku Chung-hua (顧忠華) vowed to continue to urge the legislature to establish a TV channel to air live coverage of legislative meetings and make other legislative data — such as reports written by the Budget Center and the Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau — available to the public.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard