Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday rejected a bill to advance the government’s nominations of four new members of the National Communications Commission (NCC).
All nine KMT members of the legislature’s Procedure Committee voted against scheduling floor time to consider the nominations, while the committee’s eight Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members voted in favor and the one Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) member abstained.
The vote came after the Executive Yuan on Tuesday last week announced four nominees for the seven-member communications regulator, with three replacing commissioners whose four-year terms expire on July 31.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
NCC Deputy Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) was nominated to lead the agency, while communications experts Chen Ping-hung (陳炳宏) and Lo Huei-wen (羅慧雯), along with Department of Platforms and Businesses head Chan Yi-lien (詹懿廉) were nominated for seats on the commission.
The KMT’s move to block the nominations in committee means they are likely to remain stalled, unless negotiations can be held to ease their opposition or the government rescinds the appointments.
The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that if no deal is reached, the four outgoing NCC commissioners, including NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥), will remain in their positions until their successors are confirmed.
The NCC has been a frequent target of KMT criticism in the past few years, most notably for its refusal to renew the broadcast license of CTi News channel in December 2020, effectively shutting it down.
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
RSS