Taiwan's Legislature Faces Criticism Over Possible Sabotage of Cross-Party Talks

The opposition questions NCC's chief secretary for negotiating the budget, the Executive Yuan responds: all committee members are absent.

The Legislative Yuan officially kicked off the cross-party negotiations for the 115th annual budget today, with the National Communications Commission (NCC) having all its committee members absent. As a result, the chief secretary of the NCC, Wen Jun-yu, attended the meeting, which drew criticism from the People's Party's leader, Chen Qinglong.

Chen Qinglong stated at the meeting that the absence of NCC committee members contradicts normal procedures and regulations. Chen questioned the Executive Yuan as to why no proxy committee members or commission chair were appointed to attend the meeting, and whether this was an intentional attempt to disrupt the normal course of negotiations.

The Executive Yuan responded in a late-night press release, stating that the absence of all NCC committee members resulted in the inability of Premier Cho Jung-tai to lawfully appoint an acting commissioner. The Executive Yuan therefore deemed it the most rational option for the chief secretary to handle related affairs.

However, this explanation was disputed by the People's Party. They argued that the absence of committee members should have prompted the Executive Yuan to arrange proxy committee members or the commissioner to attend the meeting in advance. This would have ensured normal negotiations and avoided the inconvenience caused by the absent members.

In reality, the issue of NCC committee members' absence is not new. In recent years, such cases have become more frequent. This situation not only affects the normal operations of the NCC but also has a significant impact on Taiwan's media and communication industries.

It is reported that the NCC's committee elections in this year were marred by controversy over the allocation of party votes. Premier Cho Jung-tai eventually announced that he would appoint the commissioner as per the party vote, but this decision was strongly opposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the People's Party.

The DPP and the People's Party argued that this approach contravened the principles of NCC committee elections. Committee elections should be conducted through direct democratic means, rather than party votes, which would lead to increasing committee member absenteeism and affect the NCC's normal operations.

People's Party leader Chen Qinglong emphasized at the meeting that the Executive Yuan should resolve the committee election issue as soon as possible to ensure normal committee attendance, and at the same time, arrange proxy committee members or a commissioner to attend the meeting to avoid inconveniences caused by absent committee members.

The opposition parties have shown strong attention and opposition to the issue of NCC committee members' absence. However, it remains to be seen whether this situation can be improved once the Executive Yuan and the NCC resolve the committee election issue.

In summary, today's cross-party negotiation meeting has highlighted the impact of NCC committee members' absence on Taiwan's media and communication industries. The Executive Yuan and the NCC should resolve the committee election issue as soon as possible to ensure normal committee attendance and avoid the inconveniences caused by absent committee members.