The legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday dismissed its morning session again because of the absence of Minister Without Portfolio Simon Chang (張善政).
The committee was to hear briefings on Thursday last week from the National Communications Commission (NCC) on its plan to issue mobile broadband business licenses.
Chang was invited to attend the meeting, but did not show up.
Since lawmakers on the committee said they wanted to consult with Chang on some policy issues, the committee decided to dismiss the meeting and reschedule.
The committee also passed a resolution condemning Chang for contempt of the legislature.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) and Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said Chang was in charge of the nation’s scientific and technological affairs and can dictate the policies for mobile communications and cloud-computing technologies, while the commission and the ministry simply executed what the Cabinet said. Yet the officials from the commission and Ministry of Transportation and Communications arrived for the meeting yesterday, and Chang did not.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) would soon convene a bipartisan negotiation session to determine whether ministers without portfolio should be present at the committee meeting.
The committee then decided to dismiss meeting at 10am.
Meanwhile, NCC Chairman Howard Shyr (石世豪) said new NCC commissioners should assume office in March.
The Executive Yuan nominated former television anchorwoman Wang Yung-ho (汪用和) and NCC adviser Chiang Yu-fen (江幽芬) to be the new NCC commissioners.
Wang’s appointment was interpreted as the returning of a political favor because she is the wife of former KMT legislator Justin Chou (周守訓).
In response, Shyr said Wang’s experience as television news reporter is relevant to her job as NCC commissioner. She has been devoted to a lot of community service lately and knows how to communicate with the public, he said.
Chiang is a very experienced civil servant and has participated in the amending of three major broadcasting acts, Shyr said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
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