Legislators yesterday approved amendments setting a starting date that limits National Communications Commission (NCC) members to two terms effective Dec. 1, paving the way for the dismissal of NCC Acting Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) and potentially suspending the body’s work for the time being.
The amendments passed their third reading with the combined 55 votes of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) against the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) 48 votes.
The changes to the National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) setting term limits and removing clauses regarding extensions or reappointments were initially passed in July, but did not include a timeline for when they would go into effect.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The Executive Yuan thus appointed then-NCC vice chairman Wong as acting chairman on July 30, the day before then-chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) completed his term.
NCC Secretary-General Huang Wen-che (黃文哲) said that at present, only three of the seven NCC commissioners remain in office after four departed upon completing their term at the end of July.
Once Wong leaves, the three commissioners would not be able to administer the body’s 104 tasks and functions, since a quorum of at least four members is needed to convene decisionmaking meetings, Huang said.
The opposition parties have opposed reviewing and confirming nominees for NCC commissioners presented by the DPP government.
The amendments state that commissioners would be appointed to a four-year term, which can only be extended once.
While Article 16 of the act stipulates that “the promulgation date of the act is to be set per order of the Executive Yuan,” the opposition-backed amendments state that “the promulgation date of the act would be set for Dec. 1,” blocking Wong from continuing to serve as commissioner as he had completed his term at the end of July and terminating his post as acting chairman at the start of next month.
The KMT and the TPP have opposed Wong serving as acting chairman, deeming him a political appointee who guides and steers the commission’s policies and guidelines in favor of the DPP government.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) accused the opposition parties of trying to stop the NCC from carrying out its work.
Without the NCC supervising or regulating telecommunications and Internet affairs, all Taiwanese would be affected, she said.
“The NCC has to manage regulations and measures that affect people’s daily lives and economic activities, including media and broadcasting, Internet and mobile phone services, signal transmissions and cellular networks. Unfortunately, the opposition is using politics to paralyze the NCC, which harms all citizens,” Wu said.
The four commissioners who had completed their terms at the end of July are Wong, Chen, Lin Li-yun (林麗雲) and Wang Wei-ching (王維菁).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
RSS