Three researchers allegedly hold official positions in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and as such may be in violation of the Civil Service Administrative Neutrality Act (公務人員行政中立法), sources said yesterday.
The Civil Service Administrative Neutrality Act applies to public-school principals, teachers holding administrative positions and researchers at Academia Sinica.
Article 5 of the Civil Service Administrative Neutrality Act permits civil servants to join political parties, but forbids them from holding party posts.
Liu Kung-chung (劉孔中), a research professor at the Institutum Jurisprudentiae of Academia Sinica, allegedly was a party representative at the KMT’s 19th national congress last year.
The allegation was made by a researcher at Academia Sinica who declined to be named, who added that Liu also holds a position at the KMT-affiliated National Policy Foundation (NPF).
Meanwhile, two other academics have also been found to hold party representative positions in the KMT — Lin Chieng-fu (林建甫), deputy director of National Taiwan University’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, who is the convener of the NPF think tank’s financial policy group, and Chu Yun-peng (朱雲鵬), director of the Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development at National Central University, who is the convener of the NPF’s technology and economy group.
In response, the head of Academia Sinica’s personnel office, Wu Jung-ta (吳永大), said as far as Liu’s work with the think tank is concerned, the Ministry of Civil Service has said that the NPF is a foundation and not a party organization, so no law was broken. As for his role as party representative, Liu participated in a party election outside of work hours, so he did not violate any law.
However, Wu added that he would request that the ministry clarifies whether being a party representative is considered an official party post.
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