The Control Yuan's decision to impeach Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (
"Tzeng's academic achievements and his dedication to Taiwan's educational reform leave no room for criticism. Nonetheless, the agreement reached on Monday [to impeach Tzeng] was due to his violation of the Nationality Law over the past eight years. It is simply a legal issue. There is no reason to politicize the entire matter," Lin said.
Lin's statement was made in response to fierce criticism by numerous educational organizations that said that the decision was unjust and politically motivated.
"I wonder why the Control Yuan has suddenly become so efficient as to pass this motion within such a remarkably short period of time? I suspect the decision was a political move," DPP lawmaker Chiu Tai-san (
Chiu, joined by representatives from dozens of educational organizations, held a news conference yesterday to garner support for Tzeng.
The Control Yuan's decision to impeach Tzeng for unlawfully serving in three positions at national universities while holding dual citizenship, has created a stir among the public.
Lin said that Tzeng had been negligent over the issue and that several notices from the Ministry of Education -- his direct supervisory unit when he served as administrator of National Cheng Cheng University (CCU) and National Yang Ming University (YMU) -- were sent to remind him to revoke his US citizenship.
However, Tzeng took no action, Lin said.
What makes him more vulnerable to the impeachement charges is that on June 29 of last year he promised to renounce his US citizenship within a year, when he began his stint as president of YMU, Lin said.
Though he filed the paperwork to renounce his US citizenship at the American Institute in Taiwan on June 5 of this year, the procedure was not completed until July 14, which was too late, Lin said.
Tzeng was accused of breaching Article 10 of the National Law Enforcement Statute when he served as the dean of the College of Social Science at CCU from August 1992 to May 2000. The statute stipulates that employees of state-run education facilities are considered public officials, and as such must revoke citizenship of other countries.
The statute was revised in February of this year, to state that only those who gain approval from their supervisors can hold dual citizenship and serve as president of a national university.
Tzeng, as president of YMU at the time, continued to violate the legal regulations because he never applied for approval from the education ministry.
Lin said the verdict was based on Article 1 of the Civil Servant Services Act (
The related documents are in the hands of the Judicial Yuan's Committee on the Discipline of Public Functionaries. It is up to them to decide how to deal with the case.
According to Article 9 of the Law on Discipline of Public Functionaries (
"Our next move will be directed at the education ministry, because it failed to monitor its subordinate organizations as a supervisory unit for all educational institutions of the country," Lin said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from