TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Culture Minister Li Yuan (李遠) on Thursday defended Public Television Service Chair Hu Yuan-hui (胡元輝) after Hu was asked to leave a legislative Education and Culture Committee meeting over questions surrounding his legal status.
Citing recent changes to the Public Television Act, KMT Legislative Caucus Secretary-General Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) argued that Hu’s term had expired in 2025 and asked him to leave the meeting, per UP Media.
Li defended Hu’s presence, saying he continues to perform duties necessary for the operation of the organization under the Foundations Act. This allows the current board to remain in place until a new one is elected, per Storm Media.
In a Facebook post, Li described the opposition’s move as humiliating. Hu was only able to return to the meeting after DPP lawmakers insisted they should be allowed to question him, per ETtoday.
Li said the creation of the Taiwan Broadcasting System, which oversees PTS, was intended to remove party politics from public broadcasting. He urged opposition parties not to use caucus negotiations to determine the composition of the board.
Hu also defended his continued tenure, saying he remains in office to ensure the normal operation of PTS, per Tai Sounds. He argued that responsibility for selecting a new board does not rest with the current board and that TBS should not be paralyzed because of delays in appointing successors.
The KMT caucus responded Thursday by disputing Li’s interpretation, per FTNN. The caucus argued that if the act already authorized Hu to remain in office, the DPP would not have needed to include a specific extension clause in the 2023 amendments to the Public Television Act.
The caucus also called for caucus negotiations to determine PTS board nominees. It argued that the requirement for nominees to receive support from two-thirds of the board review committee was intended to promote cross-party cooperation on appointments. The composition of the review committee is based on the party makeup of the Legislative Yuan.
Campaign for Media Reform condemned Hu’s removal from the meeting, saying he has a strong legal basis to remain chair, per Newtalk. The group also accused the opposition of attempting to influence media organizations through legislative pressure.
The DPP-controlled legislature amended the Public Television Act in 2023, reducing the PTS board size to between 11 and 15 members, lowering the approval threshold for appointments from three-fourths to two-thirds of the review committee and permitting the incumbent chair to remain in office until a new board is elected, per PTS.
At the time, then-KMT lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) argued that lowering the threshold for review committee approval could allow the ruling DPP to install preferred nominees through its legislative majority. In 2026, the KMT and TPP repealed the clause allowing indefinite tenure extensions for the PTS chair, saying it had disrupted the organization’s operations, per CNA.
Opposition-nominated review committee members recently resigned days before a scheduled review meeting, per UDN. They had previously urged the culture ministry to allow opposition participation in nominating new board members, but the ministry rejected the request, saying the law does not require such participation.
The ministry argued that the opposition’s boycott of review meetings amounted to political blackmail, citing opposition lawmakers’ rejection of DPP nominees for the Central Election Commission as a reason for its wariness of the cooperation, per UP Media.
Former National Chengchi University professor Cheng Tzu-lung (鄭自隆) said the DPP should negotiate with opposition parties because it lacks enough support to approve nominees on its own, per FTNN. He added that the original higher threshold for board approval was intended to encourage cross-party dialogue, regardless of which party holds power.
