Scores of pirate radio station operators protested vociferously against the National Communica-tions Commission (NCC) yesterday in a continuation of clashes that have simmered since June.
Held back by rows of police in riot gear, angry protesters spat at pictures of commission members and burnt copies of the Constitution over what they said was the NCC's lack of legitimacy.
"The threshold that the NCC has set for licensed stations is NT$50 million [US$1.5 million] in assets and capital, which puts licensing totally out of reach of independent operators," said Tsai Chi-feng (蔡吉豐), a pirate radio station owner.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
"Local and non-mainstream Taiwanese voices are being silenced," Tsai said, adding that the crackdown was part of the NCC's "secret scheme to let the pro-China media monopolize the media market" in the country.
The commission has been cracking down hard on pirate stations, which are generally considered more sympathetic toward Taiwan independence.
So far this year, the commission has shut down more than 500 such outfits, according to Hsu Ming-tse (
The commission itself was declared unconstitutional by the Council of Grand Justices in July because of the party-based nomination method for its members.
However, the current members will serve until the end of their term in January 2008.
"They have no authority to shut us down when they have constitutional problems themselves," Hsu said.
"We will be willing to work with the next group of commissioners, elected constitutionally, but not the current NCC," Hsu said.
The commission did not respond to the protest.
An administrator who declined to be named told the Taipei Times that the commission did not meet with the protesters because the protesters did not submit their complaints in the proper manner.
Despite the fact that stations are continually being shut down and their equipment confiscated, Tsai said station owners continue to play cat and mouse with the commission.
"We will keep fighting ... we are regrouping and rebroadcasting as soon as soon as they shut us down," Tsai said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,