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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 TAIPEI 004883 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/RSP/TC AND EB/ITC 
STATE PLEASE PASS AIT/W AND USTR 
USTR FOR WINELAND, WINTERS AND STRATFORD 
USDOC FOR 4430/ITA/MAC/AP/OPD/JKELLY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EINV ECON TW
SUBJECT: BLUE DOMINATES TAIWAN'S NCC COMMISSIONER'S 
 
¶1.  Summary: Taiwan's National Communications Commission 
(NCC) Review Committee held public meetings to review all 
18 NCC nominees from December 9-11 and then selected 13 NCC 
Commissioners who will take office before the end of 
December.  Because the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and 
People's First Party (PFP) dominate the review committee, 
the eight nominees recommended by these parties were all 
selected, leaving five seats for the ruling Democratic 
Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU). 
Driven by the recent flap over TV broadcast license 
renewals and the government's implicit threat to close one 
station that had been airing reports critical of the 
government, most observers are focusing on the NCC's role 
in media regulation and forgetting that the NCC will also 
play a key role in the development of Taiwan's telecom 
market as the pace of convergence between broadcast and 
telecom services increases.  End Summary 
 
Make-up of Review Committee Determines Commissioners 
============================================= ======= 
 
¶2.  The NCC Organic Law was passed by the Legislative Yuan 
(LY) on October 25 and promulgated by President Chen Shui- 
Bian on November 9.  The new law requires the LY to 
nominate 11 scholars and experts to form an NCC Review 
Committee which will review and select candidates to become 
NCC Commissioners.  The composition of this review 
committee is based on each party's representation 
in the LY.  The ruling Democratic People's Party (DPP) 
nominated four members, the KMT also nominated four, the 
PFP nominated two, and the Taiwan Solidarity Union 
nominated one member.  Because the opposition pan-blue 
parties control the legislature, they also were able to 
exercise a majority on the NCC review committee.  A few 
review committee members have some background in 
broadcasting, including DPP nominated Lu Shih-Hsiang, 
currently the CEO of the Foundation for the Advancement of 
Media Excellence.  Lu also was a journalist and chief 
editor the United Daily News and Economic Daily News.  The 
KMT nominated Shao Yu-Ming for the review committee.  Shao 
is a former Government Information Office Governor and 
Board Chairman of the KMT-owned Central Daily News.  The 
review committee, however, lacked members with experience 
in telecommunications. 
 
New Commissioners to Take Office Before End of Year 
============================================= ===== 
 
¶3.  Following the establishment of the Review Committee, 
the Executive Yuan (EY) nominated three NCC Commissioner 
candidates, with political parties in the LY nominating an 
additional 15 candidates, based again on proportion of 
seats in the LY.  The DPP nominated six candidates, the KMT 
also nominated six, with the PFP nominating two and the TSU 
nominating one candidate.  The Review Committee then had 20 
days to select 13 NCC Commissioners.  Once selected, the 
names of the Commissioners must be transmitted to the EY 
and then passed to the LY for final approval.  The 
statutory deadline for completing the process is December 28. 
 
And the Winners Are... 
============================================= ====== 
 
¶4. Three days of public hearings, in which the nominating 
committee's questions focused primarily on how the 
Government Information Office (GIO) had mishandled an inquiry 
of satellite television operator TVBS, was followed on 
December 11 by a vote to determine which nominees would 
become NCC Commissioners.  As expected, all eight pan-blue 
nominated candidates were chosen, while only five of the 
ten pan-green candidates were selected. Below is a list of 
the new Commissioners, their backgrounds, and the 
nominating party. 
 
Executive Yuan Nominated 
------------------------ 
Ms. Weng Hsiu-Chi 
-- Major: Broadcasting 
-- Current job: Professor, Department of Journalism, 
National 
Chengchi University 
-- Edu: Ph.D., Broadcasting, Mainz University in 
   Germany 
-- Age: 57 
 
Mr. Chen Ming-Syan 
-- Major: Telecommunications 
-- Current Job: Dean of Graduate Institute of Communication 
Engineering, National Taiwan University 
-- Edu: Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of 
Michigan, 
Ann Arbor 
-- Age: 46 
 
DPP Nominated 
------------- 
Mr. Shi Shi-Hao 
-- Major: Law 
-- Current Job: Dean of Institute of Financial and Economic 
Law, 
National Dong Hwa University 
-- Edu: Ph.D., Law, Hamburg University 
-- Age: 40 
 
Mr. Lu Chung-Jin 
-- Major: Telecommunications 
-- Current Job: Dean of Electronics Department, National 
Tsinghua 
 
SIPDIS 
   University 
-- Edu: Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of 
Southern 
California 
-- Age: 46 
 
KMT Nominated 
------------- 
Ms. Liu Yu-Li 
-- Major: Broadcasting/Journalism 
-- Current Job: Professor, Department of Radio & TV, 
National 
Chengchi University 
-- Edu: Ph.D., Telebroadcasting, Indiana University 
-- Age:48 
 
Mr. Lin Tung-Ttai 
-- Major: Broadcasting/Journalism 
-- Current Job: Professor, Graduate Institute of Mass 
Communications, National Taiwan Normal University 
-- Edu: Ph.D., Broadcasting, University of Ohio State 
-- Age: 55 
 
Mr. Lin Yi-Ping 
-- Major: Telecommunications 
-- Current Job: Professor of National Chiao Tung University 
and 
adjunct research fellow of Academia Sinica 
-- Edu: Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Washington 
-- Age: 44 
 
Mr. Su Yeong-Chin 
-- Major: Law 
-- Current Job: Professor, Department of Law, National 
Chengchi 
   University 
-- Edu: Ph.D. in law, Munich University 
-- Age: 54 
 
Mr. Liu Kung-Chung 
-- Major: Law 
-- Current Job: research fellow, Academia Sinica 
-- Edu: Ph.D. in law, Munich University 
-- Age: 44 
 
Mr. Wu Chung-Chi 
-- Major: Industrial Economics/Consumer protection 
-- Current Job: Professor, Economics Department, National 
Taiwan 
   University 
-- Edu: BA in Economics, National Taiwan University 
-- Age: 59 
 
PFP Nominated 
------------- 
Mr. Liu Zong-De 
-- Major: Law 
-- Current Job: Professor, Department of Law, National 
Chengchi 
   University 
-- Edu: Ph.D. in Law, Nogoya University, Japan 
-- Age: 51 
 
Mr. Lee Tzu-Yuan 
-- Major: Broadcasting 
-- Current Job: Chairman of Taipei Journalists Association, 
former President of Taiwan TV Co. 
-- Edu: MA degree in Diplomatic Studies, National Chengchi 
University 
-- Age: 62 
 
TSU 
 
SIPDIS 
--- 
Hsieh Jin-Nan 
-- Major: Telecommunications 
-- Current Job: Technology Advisor of Fu Yan Media 
Technology Co. 
-- Edu: Ph.D, National Taiwan University of Science and 
Technology 
 
The new Commissioners have backgrounds in telecoms (4 
commissioners), broadcasting (4), law (4), and consumer 
protection (1).  Interestingly, 3 of 4 broadcasting experts 
were nominated by the pan-blue parties, while 3 of 4 
telecoms experts came from the pro-green camp.  Three of 
the four legal scholars are pan-blue nominees. 
 
Chosen on Party Lines, but Free from Pressure? 
=========================================== 
 
¶5.  Given the political (and physical) battles that 
surrounded the passage of the NCC law by the LY, it was 
widely expected that the 13 NCC Commissioners would be 
selected strictly along party lines.  The Chairman of the 
Commission has yet to be selected but will almost certainly 
be from the pan-blue parties.  In spite of the heated 
partisan origins of the NCC, KMT Legislator and former 
Disney executive Joanna Lei insisted to AIT/T that 
Commissioners would be free from political pressure since 
once appointed their terms were fixed at three years 
(although the law allows them to be reappointed once.) 
 
¶6.  DPP legislative whip Ke Chien-Min said that the DPP's 
nominees were all top scholars and experts, and noted that 
none are DPP members.  He decried the blue-dominated NCC as 
the result of blatant political engineering that threatened 
freedom of the press in Taiwan.  The KMT tried to downplay 
its nominees' party membership and paint them as untainted 
by ties to business.  A KMT spokesman said that the party 
had rejected 7 persons recommended by business 
conglomerates, such as Eastern Multimedia Group. 
 
¶7.  Many candidates with strong backgrounds and good 
reputations reportedly refused to become NCC Commissioner 
nominees.  These people are said to include Wu Fong-Shang, 
the former Chairman of the Public TV Foundation; Wang Jian- 
Hsuan, a former Finance Minister; Wang Chin-Fong, a Vice- 
Presidential Candidate in 1996; and Lin Charng-Shen, 
President of Uni-President Group.  One reason for their 
reported refusal could be the restrictions on NCC 
Commissioners.  For example, serving on the NCC requires 
commissioners to refrain from any other employment.  When 
their terms of office are completed, commissioners are 
prohibited from taking a job with a telecom/broadcast- 
related company for 3 years. 
 
Not Enough Telecom Experience? 
============================================ 
 
¶8.  One concern from local telecommunications industry 
representatives has been that the parties and government 
are focusing on broadcasting to the neglect of crucial 
telecom regulatory issues.  KMT Legislator Joanna Lei 
confirmed that broadcasting regulation was first in the 
minds of most LY members.  The GIO decision to refuse to 
reissue broadcast licenses for several cable channels, 
followed by the threat to close TVBS in the wake of its 
investigative reports alleging government corruption, 
pushed the LY to pass the NCC bill as a way to stop the GIO 
from interfering with press freedoms, she said.  Chunghwa 
Telecom Chairman Ho Chen Tan urged that the NCC should at 
least have 4 members with a strong background in 
telecommunications. 
 
¶9.  Comment: The NCC appears to be relatively evenly 
divided between Commissioners with a strong background and 
interest in broadcasting, telecom and law.  However, with 
the power in the committee wielded by the broadcast-heavy 
pan-blue faction, the NCC may find it difficult to deal 
with the concerns of the telecommunications industry.  This 
could potentially cause problems for Taiwan's leading 
position in telecommunications technology as telecom and 
broadcast companies move towards convergence of the two 
industries.  Taiwan needs an NCC that can provide a 
positive regulatory environment to allow the continued 
development of Taiwan's telecommunication industry - in 
both services and equipment.  An NCC that is overly focused 
on broadcast standards or political battles over free- 
speech or control of the media will not be credible as an 
independent telecom regulator.  End Comment. 
PAAL