Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Pasuya Yao (
"We learned of this from the 2005 annual budget report by Hong Kong's TVBS board," he said.
Yao said the report stated that Hong Kong Bermuda TVB Investment Co Ltd, one of TVBS' subsidiaries, has increased its share of TVBS from 70 percent to 100 percent by purchasing more shares from Taiwan's Countless Entertainment (Taiwan) Co Ltd, and that the deal was completed on March 21.
TVBS is registered under the name of Liann Yee Production Co, of which Countless Entertainment Co is the major shareholder.
"I think this clearly shows that the TV station is a now completely foreign-owned company. If that is the case, the GIO is authorized to suspend all operation licenses for its four channels," he said.
Yao said the GIO would request TVBS to explain its circumstances tomorrow. He also posed four questions to the cable station yesterday.
He said the first question Countless Entertainment Co, and how a company with capital of only NT$1 million (US$29,800), could possess TVBS shares worth around NT$500 million.
Yao asked why the Countless Entertainment Co is located in the same building as the TV station, and speculated that the firm was a front.
He then asked how it was possible for Countless' president and Bermuda's president to swap, before finally wondering if TVBS' annual budget report was dependable.
Speaking on the sidelines of a campaign event yesterday, Premier Frank Hsieh (
On Friday, the GIO issued a NT$200,000 fine to TVBS for failing to report a change in its stock ownership when it applied for a renewal of its license earlier this year. The fine was issued after a TVBS talkshow alleged that a number of top government officials were corrupt, including former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男).
Yao denied there was any connection between the allegations and the probe into TVBS.
TVBS chairman Norman Leung's (梁乃鵬) background as former chairman of the Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority became the focus of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, who complained that the cable station was actually a Chinese-sponsored station and was being taken advantage of by Beijing to create unrest in Taiwan.
TVBS spokeswoman Yeh Yu-chun (
"By law, foreign shares cannot exceed 50 percent of the company. That is what we are at now," she said.
Yeh said TVBS is now co-owned by the Taiwan-based Oriental (53 percent) and British Bermuda (47 percent).
Asked whether TVBS regarded the GIO's action as akin to "white terror" and a retaliation against its talkshow's allegations of official graft, Yeh said this was something that TVBS management would avoid thinking about.
"We still want to believe that truth and justice still exist," she said.
Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that if the government moved to kill off a cable TV station for exposing scandals involving the government, then the public would react in protest.
Ma said the funding issue was a legal problem and that the government should not "manipulate the law to satisfy its political desires."
The People First Party blasted the GIO for what it said was an attempt to shift public attention away from the Kaohsiung MRT corruption scandal.
EMBRACE CHANGE: Jensen Huang told NTU graduates that instead of worrying about AI itself, they should worry that people with expertise in AI would be taking their jobs Artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining the computer industry, and Taiwanese companies could play a major role in replacing the world’s traditional computers as they are the foundation of the industry, Nvidia Corp cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said in Taipei yesterday. Huang made the remarks while giving the keynote speech at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) commencement ceremony. AI has created immense opportunities, and versatile companies can be expected to take advantage and boost their position, while less flexible firms would perish, he said. “In every way, this is a rebirth of the computer industry and a golden opportunity for the companies of
‘ARCHAIC’: An interpretation of a law that considered Chinese as Taiwanese nationals was scrapped after the death of a Chinese in Kaohsiung led to state reparations An administrative mandate to consider Chinese as Taiwanese citizens was outdated, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, a day after the Executive Yuan ordered that agencies disregard the 30-year-old interpretation. Chen made the remarks at an event held by the Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei following changes to the administrative mandate concerning 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 previous interpretation of the law was archaic and contrary to the workings of laws and regulations, he said, adding that the order was made to avoid unnecessary problems created by the mandate. The Mainland
NOT BUYING IT: One of the goals of Beijing’s Cross-Strait Media People Summit was to draw mainstream media executives to discuss the ‘one country, two systems’ formula Taiwanese news media insist on press freedom and professionalism, and would never become a tool of China’s “united front” campaign, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, responding to media queries about the lack of Taiwanese media executives at the Cross-Strait Media People Summit in Beijing. Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) was reportedly furious that no Taiwanese media representatives attended a scheduled meeting with him on Thursday last week. “Beijing should take Taiwan’s determination to pursue freedom and democracy seriously. We also hope that it will not use vicious means to interfere with Taiwan’s development into a
IMMIGRATION REFORM: The legislative amendments aim to protect the rights of families to reunify, and to attract skilled professionals to stay and work in Taiwan Foreigners who are highly skilled professionals, top-prize winners in professional disciplines, investment immigration applicants or have made special contributions to Taiwan can soon apply for permanent residency on behalf of their spouses and minor or disabled children after the legislature approved amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法). The amendments, which were proposed by the Ministry of the Interior and approved by the Executive Yuan on Jan. 12, aim to attract foreign talent to Taiwan and encourage them to stay. They would take effect once they are signed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). The amendments involved changing 63 articles, making it the biggest
RSS