Every time the end of a legislative session draws near, all of Taiwan holds its breath wondering what new monster the legislature will bring forth from its marathon reviews.
The latest session certainly did not fail these anticipations. While public attention was centered around the government's budget review and amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law, lawmakers who run cable TV businesses took advantage of the chaos and pushed through an amendment to the Cable Television Law (
Lawmakers have shown no qualms about tampering with the laws in the pursuit of self-interest. The amendments allow cable TV businesses to escape supervision by local governments. Now lawmakers who run cable TV businesses can use their legislative and budget review powers to pressure the Government Information Office (GIO), so that these businesses can change their channels and fee rates at will. In other words, they can now ignore the opinions of local governments and consumers. This is certainly an example of vicious legislation. The Taiwan electorate should bear this in mind and consign these self-interested lawmakers to the political garbage bin in the next legislative election.
King Pu-tsung (
While it is only proper and reasonable for King to oppose the amendments, he has appeared a bit too exacting in his tirade against the central government. His criticism of the GIO management sounded like a personal attack, which prompted an unhappy response from Su: "He sounded as if he were my superior." As we all know, the government belongs to a minority party in the legislature. The Cabinet suffered like a punching bag in the legislature during the review of the budget and workweek legislation, and the Criminal Procedure Law.
Fourteen out of Taiwan's 22 counties and cities oppose the amendments to the Cable Television Law. If King had communicated with those other local governments -- especially if he had teamed up with Kaohsiung City mayor and DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (
From the outset, wrong strategy and a lack of proper communication has turned opposition to cable TV amendments into a political struggle.
Whatever happens regarding the cable TV law in the future, the KMT's attitude is the key to the solution. Only Mayor Ma, being a member of the KMT Central Standing Committee himself, will be able to persuade the KMT.
The recent passing of Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), known to many as “Big S,” due to influenza-induced pneumonia at just 48 years old is a devastating reminder that the flu is not just a seasonal nuisance — it is a serious and potentially fatal illness. Hsu, a beloved actress and cultural icon who shaped the memories of many growing up in Taiwan, should not have died from a preventable disease. Yet her death is part of a larger trend that Taiwan has ignored for too long — our collective underestimation of the flu and our low uptake of the
For Taipei, last year was a particularly dangerous period, with China stepping up coercive pressures on Taiwan amid signs of US President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, which eventually led his Democratic Party to force him to abandon his re-election campaign. The political drift in the US bred uncertainty in Taiwan and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region about American strategic commitment and resolve. With America deeply involved in the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the last thing Washington wanted was a Taiwan Strait contingency, which is why Biden invested in personal diplomacy with China’s dictator Xi Jinping (習近平). The return of
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), known affectionately as “Big S,” recently passed away from pneumonia caused by the flu. The Mandarin word for the flu — which translates to “epidemic cold” in English — is misleading. Although the flu tends to spread rapidly and shares similar symptoms with the common cold, its name easily leads people to underestimate its dangers and delay seeking medical treatment. The flu is an acute viral respiratory illness, and there are vaccines to prevent its spread and strengthen immunity. This being the case, the Mandarin word for “influenza” used in Taiwan should be renamed from the misleading
Following a YouTuber’s warning that tens of thousands of Taiwanese have Chinese IDs, the government launched a nationwide probe and announced that it has revoked the Republic of China (Taiwan) citizenship of three Taiwanese who have Chinese IDs. Taiwanese rapper Pa Chiung (八炯) and YouTuber Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) in December last year released a documentary showing conversations with Chinese “united front” related agency members and warned that there were 100,000 Taiwanese holding Chinese IDs. In the video, a Taiwanese named Lin Jincheng (林金城), who is wanted for fraud in Taiwan and has become the head of the Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park