National Science Council Minister Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) will seek compensation of NT$100 million (US$3 million) from the Chinese-language China Times for not publishing a correction and an apology for an editorial it published last week which contained what he said were untruthful allegations against him.
The newspaper's editorial published last Friday referred to a thesis written by a doctor at the National Taiwan University Hospital, of which Chen was listed as a co-author.
The author was caught copying statements from other theses in the preface section when he submitted his research to the medical journal Cancer.
The editorial said that the "NSC chairman was also a perpetrator of this plagiarizing incident. While the council's ethics committee had taken harsh measures in other similar cases, it dared not do anything when its own chairman was involved."
Chen held a press conference yesterday and said that he has written an official letter to the China Times requesting it correct these false statements.
Chen said the paper promised to print the letter he wrote without any editorial changes.
Chen said the paper eventually published the letter last Saturday and placed it on page 6. He said they also deleted some statements that he deemed crucial. He said that this was unacceptable.
Chen said that the scathing editorial might do damage to his career as well as to his reputation. He said, however, that he is willing to settle the lawsuit if the newspaper prints a correction and an apology.
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