Sun Yat-sen School, established last year after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) took control of the party, has come under fire for allegedly using an office on National Taiwan University’s campus to campaign for Hung in the party’s chair election on May 20.
Earlier this week, a student found that the school — founded to promote Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) teachings and facilitate Taiwan’s unification with China — has an office on the campus leased by Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), a professor of political science at the university and a close aide of Hung, who was reportedly behind her controversial “one China, same interpretation” framework for cross-strait relations.
In August last year, when the KMT was formulating its plan to establish the school, Hung said the party should fight against “cultural Taiwanese independence” by spreading the KMT’s core values, Chinese culture and the Republic of China’s historical viewpoint through the institution.
The party later said it would establish branches of the school at six major locations in the nation.
During a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) asked Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) whether it was legal to use the school as Hung’s campaign office.
Huang said he had received reports of people using telephones at the school to canvass for votes for Hung, adding that he dispatched assistants to verify the reports, which were found to be true.
He demanded that the Ministry of Education take corrective measures over the use of a school campus to conduct political activities.
Pan said the ministry was not aware of any political activities carried out by the Sun Yat-sen School, but added that the agency strictly forbids political groups from using campuses for campaigning.
The ministry is to consult the university over a possible breach of its policies by Chang, Pan said.
Chang earlier this week said on Facebook that a group borrowed the office to hold an event, during which some members of the group made telephone calls to their friends and discussed the KMT election.
However, university secretary-general Lin Ta-te (林達德) said that it was Chang who borrowed the office.
Following a review of the incident, the university has ruled that Chang contravened its policies and is to terminate the contract with the school and ban it from using the building, Lin said.
“It is the university’s unwavering stance to bar political campaigns from campus,” he said.
Additional reporting by Alison Hsiao
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of