The Executive Yuan yesterday “condemned” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators for storming the National Communications Commission (NCC) building during its review of cases related to Mirror News.
The NCC was yesterday to review the news channel’s applications for changes in management, corporate guidelines and licenses, as well as its application to be aired on channel 86 on cable.
KMT lawmakers have questioned the process by which the commission granted the broadcasting license to Mirror News, and asked the commission to halt its reviews until all issues have been addressed.
Photo: CNA
After holding a news conference at the entrance to the NCC building yesterday morning, KMT lawmakers rushed into the building to attempt to stop the commissioners’ meeting.
The commissioners, meeting over videoconferencing, ruled to continue the reviews at a later date, as they wanted to hear directly from new Mirror News chairman David Cheng (鄭優) on his plan to manage the channel, NCC Secretary-General Huang Wen-che (黃文哲) said.
Cheng requested medical leave last week as he was advised by doctors to avoid any public appearance after a recent surgery, Huang said.
He added that the continuance was not related to the lawmakers’ protest.
“As an independent agency, we will not allow any external pressure to disrupt our review of cases,” Huang said. “Lawmakers should respect the commission’s authority to review the cases independently.”
The commission was required to review the Mirror News applications yesterday as the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) requires government agencies to complete the review of cases within a designated period of time, he said.
Although Cheng requested medical leave last week, the commissioners could have decided if yesterday’s meeting was to proceed without or without his testimony, he said.
The NCC said in a statement that “it is unacceptable that lawmakers intruded into government offices, interrupted proceedings of a meeting and asked the government agency to cancel meetings and intervene in review of an individual case.”
Acting Executive Yuan spokesperson Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said that the NCC followed the act in reviewing cases within the stated deadline.
As such, all lawmakers should respect the commission’s right to exercise its authority, Lo said.
“We also solemnly condemn certain KMT lawmakers for breaking into the NCC building and intervening in the review of an individual case,” he said. “It sets a negative example with legislators publicly intervening in the operation of an independent agency.”
The KMT should restrain its members, he added.
KMT caucus whip Tseng Ming-tsung (曾銘宗) accused the Executive Yuan of intervening in the operation of the commission, adding that the party would continue to oversee the NCC’s review of Mirror News.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS