The Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) yesterday urged the Executive Yuan to withdraw the nominations for National Communications Commission (NCC) chairperson, vice chairperson and two commissioners, saying none of the four nominees was qualified.
In August, the Executive Yuan nominated National Dong Hwa University professor Howard Shyr (石世豪), National Chiao Tung University professor Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成), National Tsing Hua University professor Peng Shin-yi (彭心儀) and Integral Investment Holdings Group general manager Chen Yuan-ling (陳元玲) to the watchdog agency.
Shyr was nominated to be chairperson and Yu vice chairperson. Their qualifications came under intense questioning at Wednesday’s meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, as lawmakers raised issues ranging from fabrication of work experience and dual citizenship to violations of -academic ethics.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The committee had been scheduled to hold another review session yesterday, but DPP lawmakers occupied the platform where the committee chairman was seated and stopped the session from proceeding.
DPP lawmakers accused Shyr of moving back and forth between the pan-green and pan-blue camps.
Yu was accused of violating the Nationality Act (國籍法) because he held both Republic of China and US citizenship when he served as the chair of the Graduate Institute of Management of Technology at National Chiao Tung University. Yu said he would only renounce his US citizenship after his nomination is approved.
DPP lawmakers accused Chen of making up some of her work experience. Her background in managing a private equity fund as well as unfamiliarity with communications laws were also cited as problematic, with the lawmakers urging her to bow out gracefully.
Lawmakers also found fault with Peng, who reportedly submitted similar reports to multiple institutions for funding.
The boycott of the committee meeting ended after the DPP and KMT caucuses reached an agreement to continue the review on Wednesday.
Chen said after the meeting that she agreed to be nominated because she wants media in Taiwan to improve. She said her experience in managing foreign television stations could complement those of other NCC commissioners who are academics, while her work at a venture capital firm could help in regulating overseas investors who are planning to invest in local media.
Yu said he was only telling the truth when he said he would give up his US citizenship after his nomination was approved.
He said he would apologize if anybody was bothered by his statement.
Peng denied the accusation that she had violated academic ethics.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
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