The Legislative Yuan today rejected all four nominees for the National Communications Commission (NCC), as the opposition caucuses utilized their majority to vote against confirmation.
The commission has been unable to convene and rule on any case for the past 11 months, as it lacks the mandated quorum of four members.
The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus said they voted against the nominees, as they suspected they would just “carry out the Democratic Progressive Party’s will.”
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus also said they decided to block all four nominations.
At the end of July, the Executive Yuan nominated National Cheng Kung University computer science and information engineering professor Chiang Jung-hsien (蔣榮先), Soochow University law professor Cherng Ming-shiou (程明修), National Chengchi University professor Vivian Huang (黃葳威) and Shih Hsin University assistant professor Lo Huei-wen (羅慧雯) to serve as members of the NCC.
Chiang would serve as NCC chairman, while Cherng would serve as vice chairman, the Executive Yuan said.
Cherng is a member of the KMT, while the other three do not have party affiliations, it said.
The Legislative Yuan’s Transportation and Education and Culture committees reviewed the nominations last month, leaving the legislature to vote on the case today.
TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) condemned Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) for “deceiving the legislature” and “maliciously delaying” the nomination of NCC members.
Cho had said he would submit the nominee list in April or May, but failed to do so until July, Huang said.
Cho had waited for the recall referendums on July 26 and Aug. 23 to be held, which if they had been successful, would have enabled the DPP to regain its legislative majority to pass the NCC nominations, he said.
KMT Legislator and Transportation Committee convener Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said that the process of nominating NCC members had been delayed for a year.
The KMT cannot respect nominees who do not respect freedom of the press, Hung said, adding that future nominations should be made openly and transparently.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS