President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday approved the resignation of Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠), amid an ongoing investigation into Wong’s role in an insider trading scandal involving biotech company OBI Pharma Inc (台灣浩鼎).
Wong offered his resignation on March 29 when traveling in the US, but Ma did not accept it at the time and demanded instead that Wong return to Taiwan to respond to the allegations.
Allegations of improper conduct began after Wong endorsed a new OBI Pharma cancer drug, despite discouraging clinical trial results in February, and it emerged shortly afterward that his daughter is a major shareholder in the company.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
It also emerged that Wong, on behalf of his daughter, sold 10,000 of the firm’s shares before the trial results were publicly released.
Explaining his behavior to the Legislative Yuan last month, Wong said he decided not to resign in order to uphold Academia Sinica’s reputation.
However, Ma decided to approve Wong’s resignation — also to uphold the institute’s reputation — after considering public opinion, according to a statement issued by the Presidential Office yesterday.
“Wong’s decision to stay on in the post to uphold Taiwan’s reputation and prevent turmoil in [Academia Sinica’s] administration was a superfluous consideration,” the statement said.
With prosecutors probing the case, the public thinks Wong should resign over his involvement in the scandal, and an informal agreement has been reached between president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and legislators across party lines that Wong should resign and cooperate with the prosecutors’ investigation, the statement said.
Although Ma did not accept Wong’s resignation at first, Wong has been in “standby status awaiting resignation approval” since he submitted his resignation, the statement added.
Ma has decided to accept a controversial three-person list of candidates to replace Wang submitted by the institute’s selection committee last month, and has asked Academia Sinica to arrange interviews with the candidates before he steps down on Friday next week, according to a Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) report yesterday.
After the interviews, Ma would discuss his pick with Tsai, and the appointment of Academia Sinica’s next president would be made if they agree on the candidate, the report said.
However, if Tsai disagrees with Ma, the appointment would be left to her after she assumes office, the report said.
Typically, the candidate winning the most votes from members of the selection committee is appointed the institution’s president. According to details on the candidates leaked to the media last month, University of California Los Angeles department of chemistry and biochemistry director James Liao (廖俊智) is leading the race.
According to the list, Liao is followed by Academia Sinica institute of atomic and molecular sciences director Chou Mei-yin (周美吟) and then by City University of Hong Kong president Kuo Way (郭位). However, Kuo has withdrawn from the selection process.
Regarding Ma’s last-minute approval of Wong’s resignation, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Yang Chia-liang (楊家俍) said the party respects Ma’s authority over the appointment of Academia Sinica’s president, but Ma has delayed the issue until nine days before his term expires.
“The DPP last month already asked Ma to deal with the issue as early as possible, and he owes the public an explanation for the delay. Ma is also urged to reconsider making a hasty decision of appointing the next Academia Sinica president in such a short time,” Yang said.
TWO CASES: The five allegedly conspired with conglomerates, threatening the nation’s governance and subverting the rules of ethical conduct, a deputy chief prosecutor said Taipei prosecutors yesterday charged three legislators and one former lawmaker with contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) in a case linked to former Pacific Distribution Investment Co (太平洋流通) chairman Lee Heng-lung’s (李恆隆) battle with the Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) over ownership of the Pacific SOGO Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) chain, while independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) was indicted in a separate case involving two funeral services companies and a plot of land in a national park. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) and Sufin Siluko (廖國棟), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) and former New Power Party legislator
PENGHU INSPECTION: Taiwan cannot let its enemies strut around in its airspace, Tsai said, one day after a Chinese spokesman denied a median line exists in the Taiwan Strait Following China’s assertion on Monday that there is no “median line” in the Taiwan Strait, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday pledged to defend the nation’s airspace during a visit to an air force base in Penghu, saying that Taiwan cannot allow others to flex their military muscle in its territorial airspace. Tsai praised the “heroic performance” of the pilots of the Indigenous Defense Fighters who have been intercepting Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force planes in recent days. “I have a lot of confidence in you. As soldiers of the Republic of China [ROC], how could we let enemies strut
Swedish Member of Parliament Hampus Hagman is pushing for changing the name of the nation’s trade office in Taipei to signal improved relations with “Asia’s perhaps foremost democracy.” Hagman on Wednesday last week proposed renaming the Swedish Trade and Invest Council to “Sweden’s Office in Taipei,” following similar changes by other nations. The Swedish Trade and Invest Council, part of Business Sweden, is owned by the Swedish government and Swedish industry. Taiwan and Sweden share important values such as respect for democracy, human rights, the rule of law and freedom of speech, Hagman said in the motion, adding that the two nations
EFFICIENCY: The rules for Philippine arrivals were revised after 17.6% of arrivals with symptoms tested positive, compared with 0.7% of those with no symptoms Starting today, Chinese spouses who hold a reunion permit can apply to enter Taiwan and travelers without symptoms from the Philippines do not need to be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival, but are to be tested after a 14-day quarantine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that from today, Chinese who are married to a Taiwanese citizen and hold a reunion permit can apply to the National Immigration Agency for entry into Taiwan. Chinese who are married to a foreign national and hold an accompanied reunion permit
RSS