Legislators across party lines yesterday lauded the National Communications Commission (NCC) for its regulatory self-discipline, but at the same time condemned the Ministry of Transpor-tation and Communications (MOTC) for the growing scandal over the Electronic Toll Collection's (ETC) bidding process.
The commission drew up a self-disciplinary agreement that covers a wide range of measures to preclude the possibility of illegal lobbying during the commission's first day of operation. The commission's action was praised by the legislative caucuses as a good example for other government offices to follow.
The NCC measures include requiring members to put their property in a trust, prohibiting them from concurrently holding two or more positions, accepting gifts and holding private meetings with businesses, among others.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) policy committee director Tseng Yung-chuan (
"The Financial Supervisory Com- mission suffers by comparison," Tseng said, referring to Lee Chin-chen (李進誠), the former director-general of FSC's Examination Bureau, who resigned last July over suspected involvement in the illegal trading of Power Quotient International Co shares.
Another KMT caucus whip, Tsai Chin-lung (
Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Chen Chin-jun (
"The more reluctant the MOTC is to make the footage known to the public, the stronger will the suspicion be that the bidding was unfair," Chen said.
People First Party caucus whip Lee Hung-chun (
"The NCC's self-disciplinary agreement is worthy of study, but we need more to regulate all political figures," Lee said.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
Taiwan’s Li Yu-hsiang performs in the men’s singles figure skating short program at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday. Li finished 24th with a score of 72.41 to advance to Saturday’s free skate portion of the event. He is the first Taiwanese to qualify for the free skate of men’s singles figure skating at the Olympics since David Liu in 1992.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a ceremony marking the delivery of its 11th Anping-class offshore patrol vessel Lanyu (蘭嶼艦), saying it would boost Taiwan’s ability to respond to Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Chung-Lung (張忠龍) presided over the CGA event in the Port of Kaoshiung. Representatives of the National Security Council also attended the event. Designed for long-range and protracted patrol operations at sea, the Lanyu is a 65.4m-long and 14.8m-wide ship with a top speed of 44 knots (81.5kph) and a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles (3704km). The vessel is equipped with a
DEFENSE: The US should cancel the US visas or green cards of relatives of KMT and TPP lawmakers who have been blocking the budget, Grant Newsham said A retired US Marine Corps officer has suggested canceling the US green cards and visas of relatives of opposition Taiwanese lawmakers who have been stalling the review of a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget. The Executive Yuan has proposed the budget for major weapons purchases over eight years, from this year to 2033. However, opposition lawmakers have refused to review the proposal, demanding that President William Lai (賴清德) first appear before the Legislative Yuan to answer questions about the proposed budget. On Thursday last week, 37 bipartisan US lawmakers sent a letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the heads
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