The Control Yuan yesterday announced it will investigate the government's handling of the Taiwan contest for the 2000 International Biology Olympiad. The event has become the focus of a scandal after a contestant's father claimed he was asked to pay for sexual services for an education official and provide loans for a teacher in return for his son being selected to participate.
Control Yuan members Ko Min-mou (
Hsieh told reporters yesterday that they will interview Tseng Chu-ming (曾哲明) and Tang Ping-yuan (湯炳垣).
Tseng is the former director of Kaohsiung City Government's bureau of education, who was the judge and senior organizer of the contest and who is alleged to have made the demand. Tang is a teacher at Taipei's Chienkuo High School (
Hsieh said they would also interview staff of the Ministry of Education and National Taiwan Normal University.
Hsieh said that the fairness of the contest is important to all participating high school students since it can have a decisive influence on which university they attend. "The government's role should be to bolster the credibility of the contest. Scandals such as this only damage its credibility, and that's the last thing parents want to see," Hsieh said.
The focus of the investigation, said Hsieh, will be whether the contest's procedures can guarantee fair competition.
He added that if the ministry had not planned its oversight of the contest well, and then failed to scrutinize the contest effectively, "There must have been negligence during the process."
Meanwhile, officials from the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the Public Prosecutors' Office yesterday visited the education ministry and the Ta Tung Information Enterprise (大同資訊公司), which is in charge of the computer scoring for the contest, to investigate the competition's procedures. The Taipei branch of the investigation bureau also interviewed Chen and an assistant of Tang.
An official from the bureau said that Chen had presented, at the bureau's request, condoms and audio tapes to support his charges.
The official added that the bureau will interview Tseng and Tang as soon as this evidence has been examined.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source