The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday approved Chunghwa Telecom’s proposed construction of a marine cable between Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen and Xiamen, a major city in Fujian Province, China.
The nation’s first direct cross-strait marine cable will be jointly funded by Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Telecom and Far EasTone Telecommunications, as well as Chinese telecoms operators China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom.
Chunghwa applied to build the marine cable on behalf of the nation’s two other telecoms operators and signed the contract with the Chinese telecoms operators. Based on the contract, each side will invest 50 percent in the deal.
The cable is scheduled to become operational in March, and it is expected to cost an estimated NT$1 billion (US$33 million) to lay.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said the marine cable would be an international cable no different from the other international cables Chunghwa already uses.
He said construction of the marine cable did not violate regulations banning Chinese investment in Taiwanese first-tier telecoms operators.
To dismiss national security concerns, Chen said the Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, the National Police Agency of the Ministry of the Interior and the National Security Bureau had also given their approval.
Chen said Taiwanese telecoms operators said they would not use any communications equipment manufactured in China.
“The direct marine cable could reduce the costs of cross-strait communication and help increase cross-strait communication volume as well,” Chen said.
Chunghwa said the new marine cable would help -increase the -overall reliability of -communications services.
Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific Telecom was fined NT$300,000 for installing fixed-network communications equipment without securing a permit from the NCC.
Although the equipment had yet to become operational, the company had violated the Telecommunication Act (電信法), officials said.
Chen said the company was fined because it had not secured a permit to install new communications equipment, not because it used equipment manufactured by China-based Huawei Technology Inc.
Aside from the fine, Chen said the company would be a given notice to comply with government regulations within a prescribed timeframe, based on Article 63 of the act. Article 63 also stipulates that failure to comply within the prescribed timeframe could result in consecutive fines until full compliance or an annulment of its franchise.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
RSS