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.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
PLANE HIT: The Israeli military said it shot down an Iranian Air Force fighter over Tehran, while an Iranian warship sank off Sri Lanka, with no cause known The US and Israel yesterday hit Iran’s capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on the fifth day of the war with Iran. Israel targeted the Iranian leadership and security forces, while the Islamic Republic responded with missile barrages and drone attacks on Israel, and across the region. Tehran residents woke to dawn blasts and Iranian state television showed the ruins of building in the center of the capital. The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were also targeted. With fighter jets roaring overhead, those still in Tehran looked anxiously to the skies. One man, who ran a clothing shop,
Taiwan pineapples are to be exported to the US for the first time later this year, after the US yesterday announced importation requirements, the Ministry of Agriculture said today. The US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service yesterday published a draft of requirements to import Taiwanese pineapples, with a 62-day comment period, the ministry said in a news release. The US maintains strict requirements for imported fresh fruit, it said. The ministry’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency applied to export pineapples to the US in 2020 and has since cooperated with the US to provide all the necessary information and reports, it
RSS