The Executive Yuan yesterday nominated National Communications Commission (NCC) Acting Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) as its new chairman and former NCC vice chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) to return to his previous post.
The Cabinet also nominated three new commissioners: NCC Chief Secretary Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏), National Taiwan University Graduate Institute of Journalism professor Lin Lihyun (林麗雲) and National Taiwan Normal University Graduate Institute of Mass Communications professor Wang Wei-ching (王維菁).
The Cabinet said that it considered various factors in choosing nominees, such as gender equality, political party affiliation, experience, bringing in outside voices and ensuring that commissioners serve staggered terms.
Except Hsiao, whose term would last from Aug. 1 to July 31, 2022, the remaining four commissioners would serve from Aug. 1 to July 31, 2024, if confirmed it said.
All nominees are qualified based on the National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法), as they have extensive experience in law, telecommunications or mass communications, the Cabinet said.
“We hope that the Legislative Yuan will quickly review their qualifications and confirm their appointments, so that the commission can continue to operate,” it added.
A source familiar with the matter said that the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee could start reviewing the appointments in the second half of this month, as the nomination process requires a 10-day public notice period.
Chen has been the agency’s acting chairman since May last year after former NCC chairwoman Nicole Chan (詹婷宜) and Wong, who briefly served as acting chairman after Chan, resigned.
Chan stepped down after she was criticized by the Cabinet for failing to curb the spread of misinformation before the nine-in-one election in November 2018, where the ruling Democratic Progressive Party suffered major setbacks.
Lin, who was an outspoken critic during the nation’s 2012 to 2013 media anti-monopolization movement, specializes in issues related to the concentration of media ownership.
Wong and Hsiao have handled telecommunications matters since working in the Directorate General of Telecommunications, which in 2006 became part of the NCC.
This is the first time that the Executive Yuan has nominated two NCC commissioners who have served as telecommunication officials.
Industry observers said the move signaled the direction the government was taking, particularly after a 5G spectrum auction earlier this year.
Wong and Hsiao understand telecoms and are on amicable terms with them, they said, adding that communication between the commission and telecoms are expected to be efficient and productive.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS