National Taiwan University’s (NTU) university affairs committee yesterday passed a proposal to name a campus plaza in honor of NTU Mathematics Department graduate Chen Wen-chen (陳文成), a well-known victim of the nation’s past authoritarian regime in a move lauded as a step toward transitional justice. The plaza is also to include a monument for Chen.
Born in 1950, Chen went to the US for his doctorate after leaving NTU and worked as an assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s department of statistics.
Like many of the young people who went abroad to study at the time, Chen closely followed political developments in Taiwan and participated in US-based Taiwanese student associations and human rights groups.
Photocopied by Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
He returned to Taiwan for a visit in 1981.
A supporter of Taiwan’s democratic movement who had made donations to the pro-democracy Formosa Magazine, Chen was found dead next to the NTU graduate library on July 3, 1981.
He had been taken by the Taiwan Garrison Command for questioning the previous day.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
His death remains unsolved.
At the NTU committee meeting yesterday, the proposal was discussed and put to a vote.
With 75 votes in favor and 22 against, the motion passed.
The plaza next to where Chen’s body was found is to be named “Chen Wen-chen Incident Memorial Plaza.” A monument inscribed with Chen’s story is to be built as well.
NTU president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池) said the move is a milestone in the nation’s democratic development.
NTU Graduate Students Association president Sherry Chou (周芷萱) called it the university’s first step to transitional justice, and said that there is a wide consensus that the monument should be erected as soon as possible.
An event held every year on July 3 in memorial of Chen will continue to take place to inspire people to remember the nation’s history, she added.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary