Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) yesterday reiterated that he would not order universities to boycott scandal-plagued food giant Ting Hsin International Group, saying that he would stand by his word, which he said would stand up to public scrutiny.
Wu made the remarks during a question-and-answer session with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) at yesterday’s meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
Huang said that he received a tip from a Ministry of Education employee on Monday about a draft statement calling on all schools to boycott Ting Hsin’s products that had reportedly been rescinded by Wu, and asked Wu, in his capacity of the top official governing school food safety, to make his stance on the boycott clear.
Without denying Huang’s allegation, Wu reiterated that the ministry would not use its administrative power to interfere with schools’ decisions on whether to boycott Ting Hsin.
Huang then compared Wu to National Taiwan University [NTU] president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池), who on Tuesday announced the university would continue sanctioning Ting Hsin, and said: “As the minister of education, you do not have the same level of courage as Yang.”
In response, Wu said: “It is exactly because I have the courage of my convictions that I have maintained my position,” adding that he welcomes public scrutiny of his decision.
DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said that despite the NTU announcement, National Taiwan Normal University and the National Tsing Hua University have announced that they would not boycott Ting Hsin.
Hsu asked Wu whether his reluctance to order schools to stage a boycott meant that he is against boycotting Ting Hsin, which Hsu said could sway schools’ decisions, and pressed him to publicly state his personal views on the matter.
Wu replied that he “morally and personally supports [NTU] president Yang’s move.”
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lai Chen-chang (賴振昌) said that Ting Hsin laid off all interns under a collaborative internship program with the NTU Institute of Food Science and Technology after the institute criticized the corporation over the food scare it caused by using adulterated oil in its products.
He said that Ting Hsin’s apparent retaliation against the institute shows that it is hostile toward the education sector, and asked Wu to follow Yang to call on schools to boycott Ting Hsin.
Wu rejected the request, and said that he would launch an investigation into Ting Hsin’s firing of the interns.
Huang then asked Wu to tally how many schools have decided to boycott the company, which Wu initially declined to, saying that he worried that doing so would lead the schools to believe the ministry is trying to interfere with their decisions.
Huang called on the ministry to live up to its role to educate society and instill a sense of responsibility among food companies, saying that it is the only way for food safety scandals to be eliminated.
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