The pan-blue alliance yesterday threatened to indefinitely boycott negotiations over the government budget if the Executive Yuan fails to send the list of nominees for the National Communications Commission (NCC) to the legislature for confirmation.
The Executive Yuan is supposed to send the list of nominees recommended by the review panel on Sunday.
However, since Lu Chung-chin (呂忠津), a professor from National Tsinghua University in Hsinchu, withdrew his name from consideration two days after he was recommended by the panel, the Executive Yuan said that it would like the panel to name another person to replace Lu before they send the list to the legislature for verification.
Under the Organic Law of the National Communications Commission (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法), the premier must nominate 13 NCC members seven days after the review committee presents its recommendations.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (
"We will indefinitely boycott negotiations over the government budget if the Executive Yuan fails to immediately send the recommended nominees to the legislature for confirmation," he said.
KMT Legislator Lai Shyi-bao (
"Their unadorned intervention in the NCC is clearly a scheme designed to make sure the Government Information Office [GIO] can continue to do its job," Lai said.
The NCC will take over part of the GIO's businesses after it is established. Currently, the media industry is regulated by the GIO while the telecommunications industry falls under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. The NCC will become the sole supervisory body for the nation's telecommunications and media industries.
Meanwhile, independent Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) yesterday said the GIO was making a last-ditch attempt to force TVBS to move to a new channel before the GIO enters the history books.
The GIO has been involved in a dispute with TVBS, and previously asked the station to alter its ownership structure, saying that it violates the law, and set a deadline of yesterday for the station to pay a fine for the violation.
Chiu said the GIO's move to change TVBS's channel was undemocratic and was not conducive to the nation's democratic development.
Vice President Annette Lu (
GIO Minister Pasuya Yao (姚文智) rejoined by saying he had no idea what Chiu was talking about and that he believed such talk was a "smoke screen" cooked up to divert public attention away from the station's dubious shareholder structure.
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