Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) yesterday proposed two bills to establish an exit mechanism for the state public prosecutor-general and National Communications Commission (NCC) members.
Tsai said his proposed amendment to the Organic Act of Court Organization (法院組織法) would authorize the legislature to approve or reject a “no-confidence vote” proposed by the minister of justice should the minister have difficulty working with the state public prosecutor-general.
Tsai said such an option was necessary because there had been a problem with the ranking of the justice minister and the state public prosecutor-general because of how they were nominated.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The president nominates the state public prosecutor-general and the nomination is approved by the legislature, while the premier nominates the justice minister, whose appointment is approved by the president.
Tsai’s proposal would require either the justice minister to either resign or propose a no-confidence vote to resolve a conflict with the prosecutor-general.
Tsai’s proposed amendment to the Organic Act of the NCC (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) would introduce a similar mechanism for the commission’s chairman, vice chairman or members.
Under this proposal, the chairman, vice chairman or NCC members would have to immediately tender their resignation to the premier after a no-confidence vote proposed by the premier or if one-fourth of the commission members wins the support of more than half of the members.
Tsai said changes were needed to the NCC law because the commission’s handling of the China-based Want Want Group’s takeover of China Television Co (CTV) and CTiTV in the past two weeks was “controversial.”
The commission approved the takeover last Wednesday but set several conditions, including barring the management, directors and supervisors from either TV station concurrently holding a similar position at the other station.
The commission ruled that each network should have at least one independent board director without an affiliation to either the Want Want Group or the China Times Group, the two stations’ parent firm.
The China Times Group was purchased by the Want Want Group last year.
The NCC also stipulated that the two stations’ advertising, sales and programming departments must be separate, and each network must generate its own programming.
In addition, the two networks are not allowed to jointly bid for advertising contracts.
The China Times Group has accused the NCC of abusing its authority.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
RSS