National Communications Commission (NCC) Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) yesterday told lawmakers that his one-hour meeting with US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brenden Carr on Wednesday afternoon did not touch on the topic of the Chinese video platform TikTok.
Carr has suggested that the US government ban the use of Tiktok, citing data security risks.
“Whether TikTok should be banned is within the authority of the US government. The situation in Taiwan and the US differs, so we did not touch on this particular issue,” Chen told Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷).
Photo courtesy of the National Communications Commission
Carr is the highest-level US official to visit the NCC since its founding in 2006, marking a major step forward in Taiwan-US relations, Chen said at the meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
However, as both the NCC and the FCC are collegial bodies — in which decisions are made by members reaching a consensus — any policy should be stipulated collectively by the commissioners, he said.
“Carr specializes in telecommunications and cybersecurity issues, and we arranged for NCC commissioners with relevant expertise to meet with him as well,” he said.
The NCC also shared with Carr its experience in supervising broadcast media, the commission said in a statement, adding that they exchanged views on issues related to spectrum management, satellite communications and data management.
Separately, Chen told Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) that the NCC would strive to decide on two telecom mergers within three months in view of mounting consumer complaints over telecom services.
The applications for mergers between Far EasTone Telecommunications and Asia-Pacific Telecom (APT), and between Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star were filed in February and March respectively.
The commission has held two separate hearings for the mergers, but it has yet to issue final decisions.
Because of the proposed mergers, APT and Taiwan Star — which would cease to exist after the mergers — have stopped investing in infrastructure, Lin said.
“The less they invest, the poorer their telecom services become. However, subscribers to APT and Taiwan Star are afraid they would be penalized if they break their contracts,” Lin said. “We have therefore seen rising complaints from customers of the two telecoms.”
Taiwan Star has 2.8 million subscribers, which accounts for only one-10th of overall telecom service subscribers nationwide, but the number of complaints filed by its subscribers accounted for one-third of all telecom complaints, Lin said.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
RSS