After months of controversy, Ming Hwa Yuan Taiwanese Opera Troupe director Chen Sheng-fu (陳勝福) was officially sworn in as Taiwan Public Television Service (PTS) acting chairman yesterday, prompting some members of the PTS board to threaten legal action.
“My main responsibility will be to give PTS back to the public. First of all, I will keep cash flow at PTS transparent,” Chen told a press conference yesterday morning.
“Although I only have a [little more than a] three-month term, I will do my best and I will not receive a cent in salary. When my term ends on Dec. 14, I will just leave,” he said.
Chen was elected by the 13 PTS board members as provisional chairman after seven other members, including former PTS chairman Cheng Tung-liao (鄭同僚), were barred from attending board meetings by a court last week.
The controversy surrounding operations of the PTS Board of Directors arose two years ago when the Government Information Office (GIO) — under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government that took office in May that year — unilaterally changed six PTS board members that represented the GIO.
Cheng, the six board members and a number of civic groups protested, saying the appointment should be decided by the board rather than the GIO. However, the GIO said that because the six board members represented the GIO, and not themselves, the GIO had the right to make unilateral changes.
Last year, the KMT-dominated legislature revised the Public Television Act (公共電視法) to increase the number of seats on the PTS board from 13 to 21, increasing the government’s representation on the board.
The conflict between those in support of Cheng and those who opposed his position dragged on.
As the conflict continued, Cheng and six other board members continued to hold regular board meetings without the rest of the board members, who had launched a boycott.
Earlier this year, the GIO took legal action against Cheng and the six members, accusing them of calling meetings illegally, as the number of people in the board meetings was below the minimum required.
The Taipei District Court ruled in favor of the GIO last week, banning Cheng and the other six members from participating in the functions of the board of directors.
Regarding Chen’s appointment, the PTS Board of Supervisors said questions remained as to whether proper procedures were followed.
“We will talk to our attorneys and may file a lawsuit on Monday,” PTS Board of Supervisors member Huang Shih-hsin (黃世鑫) said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS