The Cabinet yesterday called on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to show its sincerity to return party assets improperly acquired during its 50-year reign, including media outlets, land, houses and cinemas.
"In addition to the Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC), China Television (CTV) and three other media outlets, the KMT should make good on its promise to return seven cinemas and 165 parcels of land and houses," Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) told a press conference yesterday afternoon.
In the run-up to the presidential election in 2000 and this year, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
While the KMT claimed that it has returned 121 parcels of land and houses, Chen said that the National Property Bureau has not yet received any. The KMT has also been accused of dilly-dallying in conducting talks with the Cabinet's five-person task force to address the issue.
Chen made the appeal following the KMT's plan to sell its stakes in BCC, CTV, the Central Motion Picture Corp and the Central Daily News to a foreign investor.
Party authorities are hoping to pick up NT$8 billion (US$235 million) by selling shares in the four companies in a block.
Through the party-run Hua-Hsia Investment Holding Co, the KMT owns a 65 percent stake in CTV and a 96.95 percent stake in BCC, a radio station that occupies 25 percent of the AM frequency and 13.96 percent of the FM frequency available to stations.
One of the prospective buyers is Sycamore Ventures, once part of the US-based Citibank Venture Capital, and the highest bidder so far. Citibank Venture Capital is a subsidiary of Citicorp.
The KMT has to close the deal by the end of next year in accordance with the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣電法), which stipulates that political parties are no longer allowed to manage media outlets.
The Government Information Office (GIO), the supervisory body of the media industry, has made it clear that the KMT will be breaking the Broadcasting and Television Law if it let foreign investors own shares of media outlets, directly or indirectly.
Foreign investors are banned from ownership in the media industry, according to the law.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
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