The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus yesterday questioned whether the buyer of three media outlets owned by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is a Chinese-owned company.
The KMT confirmed on Monday that it had sold China Television Co (CTV), the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) and the Central Motion Pictures Corp (CMPC) to the China Times Group.
The group paid a total of NT$9.3 billion (US$280.68 million) to the KMT for the firms, including NT$5.3 billion in debt held by the three companies.
TSU Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) yesterday requested that the KMT make public the transaction process and that government agencies concerned investigate how the buyer obtained the NT$9.3 billion because the company's registered capital is just NT$400 million.
Lo asked KMT Deputy Secretary-General Chang Che-chen (張哲琛) to offer an account of a trip he took to Hong Kong prior to the sale.
"I am very curious to know whether Chang went there to discuss the sale with a Hong Kong group headed by local tycoon Li Ka-shing (
Instead of returning its improperly acquired party assets to the state and the people, Lo said the KMT has sealed six sales since April this year, valued at a total NT$15.7 billion.
TSU caucus whip David Huang (黃適卓) said he suspected KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had taken advantage of the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣播電視法) to legalize the sale of the party's stolen assets at reduced prices.
"I suspect that he is taking the money raked in from the sales to fund the legislative elections in 2007 and presidential election in 2008," he said.
"I suspect they intend to use the money not only to seize power in 2008, but also to help Beijing get its hands on Taiwan," he added.
The law required the government to release its shareholdings in terrestrial TV stations by Monday. As of Monday, political parties and party-funded corporations are no longer allowed to fund radio or TV stations, directly or indirectly.
In response, Ma yesterday denied that his party had sold the three media companies for a low price, and urged other political parties to follow the KMT's lead and divest themselves of their shareholdings in television and radio stations soon, instead of trying to "shift the focus" by criticizing the KMT.
"The KMT held itself to a high standard and became the first [party] to divest ourselves of investments in media outlets ? Our goal is to tell the public that the KMT's reform is not fake," he said.
With most of Taiwan's political parties, government and military having failed to meet Monday's deadline to withdraw from media outlets, Ma said the key issue should be whether shareholdings were released. The resignation of top media officials does not mean much, he said.
On Sunday, executives of Taiwan Television Enterprise Ltd and China Television System, who were appointed by the DPP government, offered their resignations, saying the gesture was made to show support for the government's media reforms.
Ma denied that the sale of the party's shareholdings in the television stations involved any capital from Hong Kong or China, and said the deal was not made solely on price concerns.
"The KMT has more than 1,300 party workers, and we hope to cut the number down to 600. With the cutback of more than 1,000 members, we need to pay at least NT$5 billion ? This is one of our concerns when solving the party asset issue," he said.
In related news, a media watch group yesterday requested both the governing and opposition parties to apologize for failing to meet the legal deadline to free the media from political, partisan and military influences.
They also called on the legislature to pass a bill regulating the release of government shareholdings in terrestrial TV stations during Friday's plenary legislative sitting.
Kuang Chung-hsiang (
Meanwhile, the Government Information Office (GIO) will ask the Ministry of Economic Affairs and national security agencies to probe the KMT's recent sale of three news media outlets to determine whether any Chinese capital was involved, the GIO head said yesterday.
The GIO also demanded that the China Times Group explain the purchase within three days.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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