A National Communications Commission (NCC) official faced tough questioning yesterday at the legislature’s Transportation Committee over the commission’s review of the Want Want China Times Group’s proposal to purchase China Network Systems.
The session started off on a bad note as lawmakers were displeased to see that only one of the seven commissioners — National Communications Commission Chairperson Su Herng (蘇蘅) — was at the session.
The lawmakers asked Su why three of the commissioners had quit reviewing the case.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) asked whether the three commissioners were afraid to review the case, and suggested that since they had decided to avoid the case, then they should resign from their post.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuo Wen-cheng (郭玟成) said that having nearly half of the commissioners run away from reviewing a case was ridiculous.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) asked if the proposed merger would be decided by the four remaining commissioners — three of whom specialize in telecommunications or Internet communications.
Su said she had tried to invite the three commissioners back, but that according to regulations, the remaining four could continue the review process.
Legislators also expressed concern that approving the merger would lead to a media monopoly that could reduce media diversity and freedom of the press.
Citing the Rupert Murdoch and News Corp scandal, Lo said the commission should consider whether approving Want Want’s proposed merger would have the -effect of creating a media monster.
Yeh asked if the commission had done its research and investigated how many households would be affected by the merger.
When Su replied that the data had been provided by Want Want, Yeh said the commission should be more aggressive in acquiring information related to the case to win the public’s trust.
Yeh asked Su to set a clear deadline of when the commission could decide on a set of standards for reviewing the case.
“With no clear review standards, how can you tell us you will be able to review the case fairly,” Yeh said.
“You have to promise us that the decision would not be made before clear review standards are set,” Yeh said.
Su did not give Yeh a definitive answer except to repeatedly say: “We will make an effort,” adding that she would forward the lawmakers’ advice to the commission.
DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) asked if the commission knew about a memo between Want Want and China Network Systems that the merger deal would end if Want Want could not gain its approval before the end of this year.
She urged the commission not to rush into a decision when there were still so many issues that need to be resolved to address public concerns.
Su said she did not know about the memo, but that the commission would follow strict standards in reviewing the case.
As for the legislators’ questions about whether Want Want’s merger funds include Chinese money and whether this might affect its media content, Su said investigation of the funding sources was done by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Su also maintained during the session that she could not answer some of the lawmakers’ questions because she could not make public the content of the ongoing review process and that as the commission works as a collegiate system, she could not represent the commission.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
RSS