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NCC nominee review
hits a snag
BEIJING TIES: Lawmakers suspended the review of
Wang Yung-ho for NCC commissioner because of questions over her family’s
business connections
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
National Communications
Commission (NCC) Chairperson Howard Shyr, left, attends the legislature’s
Transportation Committee review yesterday, accompanied by NCC nominees Wang
Yung-ho, center, and Chiang Yu-feng.
Photo: CNA
The legislature’s Transportation Committee
yesterday approved one nominee for the National Communications Commission (NCC),
but suspended the review of another because of questions over her
qualifications.
Chiang Yu-feng’s (江幽芬) nomination as NCC commissioner is to be confirmed at the
plenary session, the committee said, but Wang Yung-ho’s (汪用和) nomination was
held up as lawmakers questioned her family’s business ties to Beijing.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said that Wang Yung-ho’s
uncle Wang Chao-yong (汪潮涌) works for a Beijing-based investment firm called
ChinaEquity Group and is also an investor in a firm owned by Wang Yung-ho’s
father that invests in value-added telecoms services.
These connections make Wang Yung-ho “an agent who helps Chinese investors invest
in telecom services in Taiwan” and she should not be an NCC commissioner, Kuan
said.
Wang Yung-ho said that Wang Chao-yong was a distant relative and that she calls
him “uncle” out of respect for the elderly.
As to her father’s business, she said: “I am not sure whether the telecom
services [that he invests in] fall under the NCC’s jurisdiction.”
DPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers then reached a consensus to
discontinue the review of Wang Yung-ho’s nomination. She was also asked to leave
the meeting.
According to Ministry of Economic Affairs data, the company owned by Wang Yung-ho’s
father, Wang Da-hua (汪大華), provides conference and exhibition services.
Faced with mounting criticism from the committee over the Executive Yuan’s
vetting procedures for the NCC nominee, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Steven
Chen (陳士魁) promised to hand in a report within two months.
The controversy over Wang Yung-ho’s qualifications has persisted since the
nomination was announced last year.
The new commissioners are to fill in and complete the terms left by the
resignation of former commissioners Chang Shi-chung (張時中) and Chen Yuan-ling
(陳元玲), who were supposed to serve until next year and 2016 respectively.
Though Wang Yung-ho has extensive experience as a TV news journalist and
anchorwoman, her nomination as an NCC commissioner was viewed by many as a
political favor. Aside from her being the wife of former KMT legislator Justin
Chou (周守訓), Wang Yung-ho’s father also held key positions in the KMT and her
brother ran for Taipei City councilor under the KMT banner.
Yesterday, Wang Yung-ho was also questioned if she opposed media monopoly and if
she would finish her term.
“I absolutely oppose media monopoly and am determined to serve a full term,” she
said.
Asked if she was willing to cancel her KMT membership to be able to serve as a
commissioner unfettered by political affiliation, she said: “I don’t think
allegations that I was nominated as a political favor would disappear even if I
quit the KMT.”
“However, the fact that I am a KMT member will not affect my job as NCC
commissioner. I intend to use my performance to win the public’s recognition,”
she said.
While Wang Yung-ho’s nomination was riddled with controversy, Chiang sailed
through the process, because she has been working as a legal expert at the
commission since its establishment in 2006.
Prior to joining the commission, Chiang participated in the deliberation and
amendments of three broadcasting acts and the Telecommunications Act (電信法).
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