During his first appearance yesterday in the Legislative Yuan as the Government Information Office (GIO) director-general, former Cabinet spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) faced a tough crowd of pan-blue legislators who questioned Lin's qualifications.
During questioning, Peoples First Party Legislator Diane Lee (
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Pan-blue legislators asked whether, as former Cabinet spokesman, Lin would transfer his party's doctrine over to his post as GIO head.
The committee meeting was held to discuss unfreezing parts of the GIO budget relating to national media operations, media relations and official government initiative promotions. Because of last year's controversy surrounding the "embedded marketing policy" supported by former GIO director-general Arthur Iap (葉國興), the Legislative Yuan's Education and Culture committee decided to freeze the GIO budget in those areas.
"Embedded marketing" refers to a policy that integrates government agencies' resources to buy air time and advertisement space to promote government initiatives.
Pan-blue legislators also took the hearing as an opportunity to question the GIO's function, saying that the embedded marketing policy and the amount spent on referendum advertising prior to the election clearly marked the GIO as a vehicle for ruling party propaganda.
Although pan-blue supporters unanimously voted to maintain the budget freeze on all three aspects of the GIO budget, enough pro-green legislators were present to push through the unlocking of the three parts.
When asked about his thoughts on his first report, the ever-smiling Lin said, "It went much more smoothly than I expected."
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as