The National Security Council (NSC) yesterday rebutted a newspaper report that Formosa Television (FTV) general manager’s assistant Chen Shen-ching (陳申青) had met with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators on behalf of NSC Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), asking for the legislators to ensure the passage of the nomination of Control Yuan members.
The report was carried by the Chinese-language Liberty Times the Taipei Times’ sister paper) on Friday.
Chen was the alleged intermediary between King and the legislators, who were reportedly members of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) faction of the KMT, the report said.
It added that the legislators said that when Chen first met with them, he claimed to represent King and mentioned King’s hopes for zero opposition for all of the nominated Control Yuan members.
The confirmation vote was scheduled for yesterday.
Most KMT lawmakers failed to cast a ballot due to the boycott by opposition lawmakers.
Chen, in his position as a special assistant to FTV’s general manager, was unsuitable to act as a governmental representative seeking to interfere in Legislative Yuan affairs, the report quoted KMT legislators as saying.
KMT legislators involved in the controversy said they felt the heat of the pressure from how the incident had proceeded, adding that it was “improper for the upper levels to pull such a move.”
In response to the report, Chen said that he had contacted the legislators in hopes of pushing through the draft amendments to the Telecommunications Act, the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法), the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) and the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法).
The draft amendments had been drawn up to allow cross-investment in telecommunications, broadcasting and Internet operations, and allow for greater ease of access instead of monopolization.
Chen said he had also been in contact with DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union on the matter.
When asked by reporters why he would approach legislators about the draft amendments if they were already on the Legislative Yuan agenda, Chen only gave a vague answer saying that they once had a hope of being passed, but now did not.
The NSC characterized the report as ludicrous and regretted that the report cast allegations that attempted to create conflict.
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