An investigation report released by the Control Yuan yesterday cleared the names of former National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) president Chang Chun-yen (張俊彥) and Polaris Securities Co (寶來證券) chairman Wayne Pai (白文正), saying Chang did not receive financial support from Pai.
Chang was originally nomination by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) last July as Examination Yuan president.
Chang, however, withdrew his nomination after the body of Pai was found in Penghu.
Speculation was rife that Pai committed suicide because of a Next Magazine report, which alleged that Chang had been taking money from Polaris since 2004, when the university conferred an honorary doctorate on Pai.
Chang said he did not withdraw because he couldn’t stand the pressure, but because he was distressed by the media and political machinations that distort humanity.
At the time, some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators had given Chang the cold shoulder because of his ties to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Chang was an adviser to Chen in the run-up to the 2000 presidential election.
Chang later appealed to Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄), asking to have his name cleared, which Huang did in a report yesterday.
The result of the investigation not only recognized Chang’s contribution to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, but also confirmed that Pai’s honorary degree from NCTU was well deserved.
Committee members at the Control Yuan said the university should be blamed for its failure to limit the damage resulting from Pai’s suicide.
The report said Chang been instrumental in promoting Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and training many high-tech talents. His contributions are recognized by NCTU faculty, student, and alumni. Pai’s honorary doctorate degree was also given according to the standard evaluation process, the report said.
In response to the Control Yuan’s report, Chang issued a statement yesterday, saying "belated justice is still a justice...but for Pai, the justice came too late."
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS