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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new