Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) and Representative to the WTO Cyrus Chu (朱敬一) were among the 21 new foreign associates elected to the US-based National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on Tuesday.
However, Chen and Chu’s country of citizenship is listed on the NAS Web site as “Taiwan, China” — a mistake Chen has asked Academia Sinica to call to be corrected.
The last time a Taiwanese academic was made an NAS foreign associate was in 2005.
Photo: courtesy of AU Optronics Corp
Academia Sinica research fellow Chen Ding-shinn (陳定信), who was elected a foreign associate in 2005 and recommended Chen Chien-jen to the US organization, said he would ask the NAS to correct the information on its Web site.
Established by the US Congress in 1863, the NAS is a non-governmental organization that advises the US government on issues related to science and technology, according to its Web site.
The organization has 2,290 active members — who must be US citizens and are responsible for nominating and electing new members and foreign associates — and 475 foreign associates, the Web site said.
Aside from Chen Ding-shinn, Chen Chien-jen and Chu, there are three other Taiwanese NAS foreign associates — Kenneth Hsu (許靖華), Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆) and Tsui Lap-chee (徐立之).
Chen Ding-shinn said he was one of several individuals who recommended the vice president to NAS members, adding that an effort to nominate Chen Chien-jen began more than a year ago.
The NAS has consistently used “Taiwan” as the nationality on record for its Taiwanese foreign associates, Chen Ding-shinn said, adding that he was listed as a Taiwanese citizen after his election in 2005.
The error might have been a clerical one by NAS employees who are not familiar with Taiwan and relied on the UN’s designation of the nation as “Taiwan, Province of China,” he said.
Chen Ding-shinn said he would request that corrections be made, while expressing surprise at the mistake.
The NAS Web site listed Chen Ding-shinn’s nationality as “Taiwan” in its announcement for the 2005 election results, while Wu’s nationality was listed as “Taiwan (Republic of China)” in 2004.
Earlier yesterday, Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was pleased that two Taiwanese academics had received such an honor, saying their election was evidence of international recognition for the nation’s contributions to knowledge.
In a later statement, Lin said the vice president found the mistake unacceptable and that Academia Sinica had contacted the NAS to demand corrections.
Chen Chien-jen said on Facebook that he was informed of the NAS election results late on Tuesday night through a congratulatory message from Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智).
He said the honor belongs to God and Taiwan.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying