Pro-opposition Taiwan broadcaster pulls out from major radio

A veteran broadcaster Wednesday announced his withdrawal from the operation of Taiwan's largest radio station, Broadcast Corporation of China (BCC), citing unfair suppression by the government. "I hereby announce my withdrawal from the operation team effectively today. I don't want to play the game any more," said BCC Chairman Jaw Shau-kong in a news conference. Jaw, a politician-turned broadcaster, accused the government of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of "doing all it can to suppress us" and "making it difficult for us to operate." He said the operation of the BCC has been seriously hampered by various actions of the DPP government. "Until today, I am still not the official responsible person of the station because the Economics Ministry has yet to approve the change of the ownership of the radio station," he said. The station used to be owned by the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT), which was forced to give up its operation late last year in line with a government decree that no political party, government and military could run electronic news media. Jaw, a former KMT lawmaker who also owns several popular but smaller radio stations, acquired BCC shortly before the government deadline, but the price of the acquisition - ranging from 500 million Taiwan dollars to 3.2 billion Taiwan dollars (15 million - 90 million US) was not revealed. Jaw called on Hua Hsia Inc, a KMT-owned cultural business which sold the station to him, to negotiate the cancellation of the acquisition contract in two weeks. He said technically the contract is not valid because the acquisition has never been approved by the government. He said BCC's financial director Lung Ming-chun would be acting president of the station. Meanwhile, Cabinet spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey denied that the government has suppressed BCC or made its operation difficult, saying all government dealings with the station were made in line with the law. dpa le jh