Acting National Communications Commission (NCC) Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) yesterday denied that he was scolded by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) for mismanaging a case involving Taiwan Optical Platform, adding that the commission is an independent agency that is ruled by consensus.
At a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee, lawmakers asked Chen about files sent to the media in a suspected cyberattack on the Presidential Office. The office has said that the files were doctored.
Among the files, one said that Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) had allegedly proposed that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) take back the right to make policy decisions, adding that she should not let Su have the final say in an NCC personnel matter.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The files alleged that Su scolded Chen Yaw-shyang for mishandling a case involving Taiwan Optical Platform’s plan to establish a TV news station, and that Su only kept him in charge of the NCC because Chen Yaw-shyang would obey him.
The document also said that two nominees for NCC commissioners have in the past generally aligned themselves with the pan-green camp’s agenda, and they could help the commission handle issues with CtiTV News, which is widely seen as in favor of the pan-blue camp.
Asked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) whether he was verbally reprimanded by Su and was considered “an observing government official,” Chen Yaw-shyang said he was surprised to see this information in the news, and that the document contained fabricated information.
Chen Yaw-shyang also denied that he was instructed to handle any specific news media.
“The NCC is an independent agency, and commissioners rule on cases by themselves,” he said.
Asked if he was asked to take the reins of the proposed digital ministry, Chen said that the decision to establish a new government agency would have to be made by the Executive Yuan.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ho Shin-chun (何欣純) said that, as one of the stakeholders in the incident, Chen Yaw-shyang should defend the commission and himself if the information is not true.
While KMT lawmakers tried to batter the commission with the leaked information, DPP legislators also questioned the commission’s handling of Chinese over-the-top (OTT) content providers iQiyi (愛奇藝) and WeTV, after it was determined at an interdepartmental meeting on Friday last week that they had breached 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) by illegally releasing advertisements in Taiwan to attract subscribers.
Ho and DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said that the commission had given people the impression that it could only handle matters related to OTT providers by stipulating a specific law to regulate them.
Chen Yaw-shyang said that iQiyi and WeTV are from China, so the act applies to them.
The commission’s proposed law would regulate all other OTT operators, at home and overseas, he said.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
SOVEREIGNTY: The rigs show that Beijing ‘rejects Taiwan’s jurisdiction’ by building in areas where Taipei demands permission to build or alter installations Chinese oil rigs have been sighted just 26 nautical miles (42km), from Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), posing a threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty if left unchallenged, a brief published by the Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday said. Pratas Island, 444km from Kaohsiung, is northeast of the South China Sea and houses a Taiwanese garrison. The brief, titled “Rigging the Game: PRC Oil Structures Encroach on Taiwan’s Pratas Island” — referring to the People’s Republic of China — analyzed photographs and said that Beijing’s tools to pressure Taiwan now include oil rigs. “Oil rigs now constitute part of Beijing’s
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
RSS