Originally invited to make a special presentation to the Legislative Yuan over controversial investments in OBI Pharma Inc (台灣浩鼎), Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) offered his resignation twice in the past two days.
“Currently in the US, Wong spoke to President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] on the telephone yesterday [Tuesday] afternoon, saying that, for health concerns, he would like to resign as Academia Sinica president,” Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) told the media yesterday. “Ma did not agree to it on the telephone, and said that he hopes Wong would return as soon as possible to clarify any questions that the public might have and to defend the name of Academia Sinica.”
According a report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily, Wong told Ma that he had been hospitalized in San Diego, California, and the doctor had advised him against flying to Taiwan.
Having been refused on Tuesday, Wong again tendered his resignation to the president by fax, the report said.
Wong has been under fire in recent weeks because his daughter was found to have purchased a large number of OBI Pharma shares with money Wong gave her, after Wong had publicly spoken in favor of the company, triggering accusations of a conflict of interest and legal questions.
Wong has been in the US to attend academic conferences and receive an academic award.
Originally scheduled to return to Taiwan today, the Education and Culture Committee has invited Wong to make a presentation on the investment controversies.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖), who was to chair today’s meeting, confirmed that he has been informed by the Academia Sinica that Wong would be absent from the meeting and that Academia Sinica vice president Wang Fan-sen (王汎森) would attend on Wong’s behalf.
“However, I think Wong should face it himself,” Chen said. “As long as he is still head of Academia Sinica, I will continue to request his attendance. I will wait for him.”
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
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
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
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
RSS