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.”
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
RSS