Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) yesterday called on National Taiwan University (NTU) president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) to respond to allegations that he had illegally worked in China, saying that Kuan’s appointment would not be approved if a government task force found the allegation to be true.
Kuan was elected the university’s president on Jan. 5 and has since been accused of conflict of interest, plagiarism and having illegally taught in China.
He was originally scheduled to take office on Feb. 1.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The Ministry of Education will not approve Kuan’s appointment if he were found to have illegally worked in China, Pan told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
According to the Act of Governing the Appointment of Educators (教育人員任用條例), public university professors cannot hold part-time positions at institutions in China, he said.
On March 16, the ministry received reports that Kuan had illegally worked in China on 28 occasions, Pan said.
“No one knows better about what happened than professor Kuan himself, but he has not said anything to help clarify things. The ministry therefore had to put in extra effort to form an interministerial task force to investigate the allegations,” he said, adding that the task force is expected to reach a conclusion later this month.
The minister urged Kuan to follow the example set by Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮), who faced similar allegations.
“Just as Minister Yeh has explained the situation as soon as an allegation surfaced, it is important that the accused help clarify things. It is their right and obligation to do so,” he said.
The education ministry welcomes Kuan to provide information about the allegations, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧) on Tuesday accused Yeh of having taught illegally at Zhejiang University’s Guanhua Law School from Dec.19, 2011, to Jan. 15, 2012, while he was a professor at NTU.
Yu, who is running for a Taipei City Council seat, posted on Facebook a screenshot of the university’s Web site showing Yeh as a lecturer for a course.
Yeh denied having illegally taught in China, saying he did not receive payment for the lectures and that the course’s instructor was the law school’s then-vice president Zhu Xinli (朱新力).
It was the only time he lectured in China, he said, adding that he has given speeches on several other occasions.
Asked whether there is a double standard in the way the education ministry handled Kuan’s and Yeh’s cases, Pan said he was not defending Yeh.
The ministry’s Department of Personnel found that Yeh’s explanation matches NTU’s attendance and business trip records, he said.
However, the Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday alleged that Yeh had also taught at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in China’s Hubei Province.
The report, which included a screenshot of the university’s Environmental and Resources Law Institute Web site listing Yeh as one of its “academics,” increased calls for investigations into Yeh’s career history.
The interior ministry yesterday reiterated that Yeh had only given lectures at the Zhejiang institute and said the latest screenshot does not prove that he was a lecturer at the Hubei institution.
Yeh is a renowned academic and has given many talks around the world, the ministry said, adding that the institutions might list his name on their Web sites to promote talks or other academic events.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique