Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) yesterday proposed two bills to establish an exit mechanism for the state public prosecutor-general and National Communications Commission (NCC) members.
Tsai said his proposed amendment to the Organic Act of Court Organization (法院組織法) would authorize the legislature to approve or reject a “no-confidence vote” proposed by the minister of justice should the minister have difficulty working with the state public prosecutor-general.
Tsai said such an option was necessary because there had been a problem with the ranking of the justice minister and the state public prosecutor-general because of how they were nominated.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The president nominates the state public prosecutor-general and the nomination is approved by the legislature, while the premier nominates the justice minister, whose appointment is approved by the president.
Tsai’s proposal would require either the justice minister to either resign or propose a no-confidence vote to resolve a conflict with the prosecutor-general.
Tsai’s proposed amendment to the Organic Act of the NCC (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) would introduce a similar mechanism for the commission’s chairman, vice chairman or members.
Under this proposal, the chairman, vice chairman or NCC members would have to immediately tender their resignation to the premier after a no-confidence vote proposed by the premier or if one-fourth of the commission members wins the support of more than half of the members.
Tsai said changes were needed to the NCC law because the commission’s handling of the China-based Want Want Group’s takeover of China Television Co (CTV) and CTiTV in the past two weeks was “controversial.”
The commission approved the takeover last Wednesday but set several conditions, including barring the management, directors and supervisors from either TV station concurrently holding a similar position at the other station.
The commission ruled that each network should have at least one independent board director without an affiliation to either the Want Want Group or the China Times Group, the two stations’ parent firm.
The China Times Group was purchased by the Want Want Group last year.
The NCC also stipulated that the two stations’ advertising, sales and programming departments must be separate, and each network must generate its own programming.
In addition, the two networks are not allowed to jointly bid for advertising contracts.
The China Times Group has accused the NCC of abusing its authority.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS