The People First Party (PFP) legislative caucus yesterday threatened to mobilize 1 million people to take to the streets if the government "dares" to revoke the operating license of cable station TVBS.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus, however, said that the majority shareholders in TVBS are Hong Kong investors, and are therefore equal to Chinese investors. It is illegal for foreign investors to own a majority in a television company.
The DPP also said the firm owed the public and the government an explanation as to why it had failed to pay taxes for the past three years.
Chiu Chuei-chen (邱垂貞), chief of the DPP's Welfare State Alliance faction, yesterday called on the pan-blue alliance to stop politicizing "a legal matter."
Chiu said that although he realized the government's drastic approach might sabotage its image, national dignity would be undermined if the matter was not dealt with.
"No matter if its investors are from Hong Kong or from China -- it's foreign investment," Chiu said. "We refuse to tolerate any intimidation exerted by a media outlet that is entirely controlled and financed by Chinese investors, and we are asking the GIO [Government Information Office] not to quail in the face of this bully and to continue to probe into the matter."
Chiu also cast doubts on the station's claim that it suffers from financial problems, allowing it to abstain from paying taxes over the past three years.
The pan-blue alliance yesterday lambasted the government for "trampling on the freedom of the press," and vowed to mobilize the public to stage a protest.
"We are safeguarding not only the freedom of TVBS, but that of all media, no matter what their political stance is," PFP caucus whip Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交) said. "We are strongly averse to the DPP government's ruthless suppression of TVBS, and committed to guarding press freedom."
Hwang said that the GIO does not have the right to smear the image of the TV station, unless TVBS has committed a criminal act.
Calling the government an "authoritarian regime," PFP Legislator Li Yong-ping (李永萍) criticized the government for "stringently clamping down on press freedom."
"Shame on the GIO, shame on Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and shame on GIO Minister Pasuya Yao (姚文智)," she said.
If the station's capital structure was flawed, Lee said that she was curious to know why the GIO's review committee approved the station's license-renewal application in July.
She also questioned the GIO's argument that the station has violated media regulations restricting foreign shareholders from holding more than a 50 percent stake, saying that the law regulates only "direct foreign investment."
Lee said that her caucus will team up with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and refuse to review the GIO's budget, and will ask the legislature to pass a resolution to ask the GIO to keep its hands off the media, letting its successor, the national communication commission (NCC), take care of the matter.
PFP Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) asked Yao to offer an apology and step down.
Meanwhile, the KMT caucus yesterday made public a phone number for the GIO. It asked the public to call the agency and voice grievances.
They also asked the public to stage a protest, and called on the GIO to "rein in its horses" before it is too late.
The premier, however, said the TVBS case should be dealt with according to the law.
Hsieh made the remarks after attending an event promoting nationwide disaster-prevention efforts.
The premier said that if legislators considered the law unreasonable, then efforts should be made to request that the Legislative Yuan amend the law.
The controversy began on Sunday, when Hsieh called for TVBS, which recently broadcast evidence concerning a former presidential aide's possible involvement in a profiteering scandal, to reveal its shareholder structure.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats