Former president Chen Shui-bian’s show canceledBy Cheng Shu-ting, Wang Chun-chung and Jason Pan / Staff reportersFormer president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) political talk show on a local cable TV channel was canceled before its first airing yesterday, as authorities cited possible contraventions of medical parole. The interview-based program was scheduled to premiere on Mirror TV’s YouTube channel and be broadcast at 10am every Sunday. After Mirror TV advertised the new program on its YouTube channel in the past few days, the cancelation came as a surprise, Chen wrote yesterday morning on his Facebook page as he apologized for “having to disappoint everyone.”Former president Chen Shui-bian is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: Screen grab from Chen’s Facebook pageAlthough the National Communications Commission green-lighted it, “Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) ordered that the program be canceled,” Chen wrote, adding that otherwise he would be “sent back to prison.”The Ministry of Justice’s Agency of Corrections Director Lin Hsien-ming (林憲銘) told him about the order in a phone call, Chen said. Chen, 75, has been out on medical parole since Jan. 5, 2015, after serving more than six years of a 20-year sentence, a consolidated term stemming from multiple corruption-related convictions involving actions during his two terms as president from 2000 to 2008.

Source: Taipei Times January 04, 2026 17:14 UTC