Academics and legislators yesterday urged the National Communications Commission (NCC) to hold more public hearings on the review of a proposed merger between Want Want Group and China Network Systems (CNS), and asked group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) to clarify questions about the concentration of media power and media abuse.
At a press conference held by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus, commission officials were asked to answer questions on the current status of a review of the proposed merger of Want Want Group and CNS, a merger that has been publicly opposed by several academics and civic groups for fear that a media monopoly would be created.
Taipei Society director Huang Kuo-chang’s (黃國昌) asked about a rumor among media service providers that the merger was scheduled to be approved before July, but commission Business Management Department director Chen Kuo-long (陳國龍) said: “I’ve never heard of that or know anything about it.”
Huang said media reports have suggested that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has interfered with the management of Want Want Group’s personnel and he encouraged the commission to look into the matter to determine if the rumor has any foundation.
Chang Chin-hwa (張錦華), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Journalism, said the merger shows that the regulations are ambiguous when it comes to preventing a media monopoly and the commission’s legal authority is not specific enough.
Chang urged the commission to protect media diversity by amending related regulations so that social resources would not be wasted on the review of such mergers in the future.
Jang Show-ling (鄭秀玲), a professor of economics at the university, said the commission’s own formula shows the media concentration index of the group would be 140 percent if the merger was approved, much higher than the limit of 30 percent used in Germany.
Jang said about 10 public hearings were held before the attempted purchase of T-Mobile USA by AT&T before the merger bid was withdrawn, so the commission should hold more than just the two hearings already held to clarify all the controversies before making a final decision.
TSU caucus whip Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) said the commission should examine the investors in detail to determine if any of the money in the proposed merger is coming from China.
Hsu also said the commission should hold a public hearing and ask that the customers, other stakeholders and Tsai all attend.
Kao Fu-yao (高福堯), director of the commission’s Legal Affairs Department, told the press conference that the commission makes all its decisions through a collegiate system, and he would take all the suggestions back to the commission for discussion.
He promised that the commission would review the proposed merger according to the law.
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
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