The Ministry of Education will have a definitive solution by tomorrow regarding the eligibility of National Taiwan University president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) to assume the position, Minister of Education Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆) told the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.
Kuan was on Jan. 5 elected the university’s president and was to assume the post on Feb. 1, but the ministry deferred ratification of his appointment, citing three points of contention: It was alleged that Kuan withheld information from the committee that he was an independent member of Taiwan Mobile’s board of directors; there were doubts about the fairness of the election committee’s procedures; and there were questions about the legality of a teaching position Kuan held at China’s Xiamen University while he was a government-contracted professor.
The controversy led to the resignation of former minister of education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠), who cited politically motivated attacks on the ministry.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Kuan’s capability, as well as his eligibility, to head the nation’s most prestigious university has come under question as he has withheld important information regarding his candidacy, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said.
Cross-strait academic exchanges by Taiwanese universities should observe the regulations, and the ministry should strictly regulate these exchanges while applying the same standards and principles across the board, Chen said.
A speedy resolution to the issue is necessary, but the final decision should not be made for the sake of expediency, DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said.
The Chinese are helping Kuan conceal many of his dealings due to parlous state of cross-state relations, she said, adding that Taiwanese investigators should stick to the evidence that has come to light.
The president of the NTU is the leader of Taiwanese academia and any solution regarding such a position should be reach with the utmost care, Rosalia Wu added.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said there seemed to be a double standard as to how the ministry handled the controversy, while accusing Wu Maw-kuen of purposefully highlighting procedural flaws during the election to provide the premise for asking the university to hold a new election.
A second cross-departmental meeting was convened yesterday, demanding that Academia Sinica and the university provide the files on Kuan’s application to visit China, Wu Maw-kuen said.
The ministry would not approve Kuan’s election if his actions have broken the law, he said.
The legislature’s Education and Culture Committee has passed a motion demanding that the ministry provide uniform regulations for the evaluation of cross-strait academic exchanges.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Service said that up until May last year, 1,516 civil servants have been found to hold part-time jobs illicitly, of which 42 had been impeached by the Control Yuan.
It said last year it launched an investigative platform to probe whether civil servants are working in part-time jobs in China, but added that the platform has proven to have many “blind spots.”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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