Want Want China Times Group Chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) yesterday attended a public hearing on Want Want China Broadband’s bid for cable TV services owned by China Network Systems (CNS) and said he did not take any funds from China.
Prior to the hearing, Tsai had said he would only attend it if the National Communications Commission (NCC) promised to make a decision on the deal within two weeks of the hearing.
Over the weekend, an assistant of Tsai said would not attend the hearing. Tsai said he changed his mind because he could not sleep at night and he heard that Next TV would have a live broadcast of the entire hearing.
Photo: CNA
“My shareholders did not want me to come because I am only an investor, having 50 percent of the shares in Want Want China Broadband,” Tsai said.
Tsai described the hearing as “a fight to defend his dignity” and added that he attended the meeting to have his thoughts and ideas examined by all.
“I knew before I came that 80 to 90 percent of the questions at the hearing would be directed at me,” he said. “So I propose we have a question-and-answer session, and I would answer all the questions from those who oppose or hate me and let them decide if I love Taiwan or not. Otherwise, it would be pointless for me to be here.”
NCC Chairperson Su Herng (蘇蘅), who presided over the hearing, did not grant Tsai his wish.
She said he could speak when the meeting was opened for different parties to express their opinions.
Experts opposing the deal, including Academia Sinica assistant research fellow Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), as well as National Taiwan University professors Ivy Chang (張錦華) and Jang Show-lin (鄭秀玲), said the commission should reject the bid immediately because it would result in a concentration of media ownership.
Chang said the Chinese--language China Times was paid to give extensive coverage of visits by Chinese officials.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said she became a target of criticism on CTi TV — a TV network of the Want Want China Times Group — after she denied a special assistant dispatched by Tsai to speak at a meeting in the legislature last month.
Yeh said CTi launched a three-day intensive attack against her.
Shih Hsin University professor Kuan Shan-ren (關尚仁), who has been neutral on the issue, said it has become really difficult for him to approve the bid after he watched the midday news on CTi TV yesterday.
“I was late for the hearing this afternoon because I was monitoring the news on TV at home,” Kuan said. “It was understandable that you [CTi TV] decided to have a live broadcast of the hearing, which is newsworthy, but do you need to have pundits in the program critical of every comment at the hearing?”
“I have never taken any specific position on the case, but you did something that was -unprofessional. I do not know how I can still support you under such circumstances,” Kuan said.
Kuan asked how Want Want China Broadband intends to uphold freedom of speech after it acquires CNS and whether the company would allow channels with opposing points of view to be included in their services.
Representatives from CNS and its major investor partner, as well as the cable service industry, have urged the commission to quickly rule on the case, which has been under review for 16 months.
Tsai denied taking any money from China to purchase the media.
He said he did not know any government official in China and Taiwan, nor did he attend any meeting sponsored by the Chinese government.
He said he did not meddle with the operations of the China Times and knew fewer than 20 people at the newspaper.
He admitted being “reckless” when he published the photographs of three NCC commissioners in the China Times for giving the Want Want Group a hard time when it tried to purchase the China Times Group in 2009.
Commenting on the fact that Want Want China Times was fined for illegally running advertisements from China, Tsai asked why they could not earn money from China “fair and square” when Taiwan has spent so much marketing in China.
He also said he had been advocating cross-strait peace and had never done anything to betray Taiwan.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
ANOTHER OPTION: The 13-year-old, whose residency status was revoked for holding a Chinese passport, could still apply for residency on humanitarian grounds, the government said The Executive Yuan has rejected an appeal from a 13-year-old Chinese student surnamed Lu (陸), whose permanent residency was revoked after immigration officers discovered he held a Chinese passport. Lu in December 2023 applied to settle in Taiwan to be with his mother, surnamed Lin (林), who is a Taiwan resident, an appeal decision released this month by the Executive Yuan showed. Lin settled in Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese man in 2003, but the two divorced in 2011, and after marrying a Chinese man, she had Lu, the Executive Yuan’s appeals committee said. Lu’s application was approved in December 2024, and in
RSS