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."
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do