Taiwanese authorities said Tuesday they would not tolerate any attempt by rival China to control a television station here via a Hong Kong business.
Local newspapers said China plans to acquire Hong Kong's TVB, which has a 47-percent stake in Taiwan's TVBS cable news network, sparking serious concerns from the Taiwanese government.
"Should this happen we would by no means stand idly by," Joseph Wu, the island's China policy maker said.
"We would handle that in accordance with the law," added Wu, head of the Mainland Affairs Council, without going into details.
TVBS brushed aside the warning, saying "TVBS's operation is transparent as it is a listed company on the Hong Kong stock market. It can be verified."
Taiwan's state media regulator last year fined TVBS one million Taiwan dollars (29,760 US) on charges of violating a media ownership law.
Yao Wen-chih, then head of the Government Information Office, insisted TVBS had breached a regulation which bars foreign firms from controlling more than 50 percent of any domestic TV station.
Yao said the restriction on foreign media ownership was necessary for Taiwan to safeguard its national security and protect its culture.
Critics said the fine was retaliatory after a popular TVBS phone-in show exposed a major labour and construction scandal, allegedly involving a former presidential aide and several senior government officials.
TVBS argues that it is 47 percent controlled by Hong Kong's TVB International via a company headquartered in Bermuda, with the remaining 53 percent held by a Taiwan-registered company which the government said is also controlled by TVB.
The government dropped the fine after TVBS appealed to the cabinet.
Taiwan and China, split in 1949 at the end of a civil war, are still technically at war despite the commencement of civil contacts in 1987.
