The National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) Student Association yesterday accused the university of lying after it denied having mobilized employees and students to attend a news conference held by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on Thursday to announce his bid to run for president.
Wang, an NTNU alumnus, was greeted by hundreds of supporters at the news conference on the roof of the Taipei International Convention Center.
However, some members of the audience — introduced as “industry representatives” — were employees or students at the university, the association said later, adding that five employees from the university’s Center of Public Affairs, including the director, were present, as were the university’s ambassadors and taekwondo team members.
The university on Friday denied having mobilized students and employees to attend the event during office hours, saying they attended of their own accord.
The student ambassadors were there to care for elderly alumni, while Wang invited the taekwondo team, it said.
However, the association yesterday said it had received word from students alleging that the school had given them gift certificates issued by Pacific Sogo department store for attending the news conference.
The university initially asked them to fill out a form to take official leave, but later reversed the order and asked them to take annual leave, informants were quoted as saying, adding that the students who had already been granted leave were required to have it revoked.
NTNU, as a national university, has breached administrative neutrality, and should own up to its mistake and publicly apologize, the association said in a statement.
The university said it is tradition to pay its ambassadors whenever they are requested to attend an event, whether it is arranged by the government or, in this case, at the request of the NTNU Alumni Association.
It would give the association a clearer account of the gift certificates, the university added.
When asked for comment about the mobilization accusations yesterday, Wang said: “Why would I do such a thing?”
All the attendees were there on their own initiative, he said, adding: “I even asked [Kaohsiung Mayor] Han Kuo-yu [韓國瑜] not to come.”
Additional reporting by Yang Chin-cheng
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard