Former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) has been accused of allowing the institution to get involved in politics when he was head of it. True, Lee has supported Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidates since 2000, but his political activities always took place outside Academia Sinica.
Academia Sinica was unaffected by Lee’s political leanings, both in terms of its administration and its research. In fact, since Lee’s presidency, the institution has been free of political influence.
Back in the authoritarian days, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government often interfered with the institution’s affairs. Researchers were under strict surveillance by the intelligence agency — commonly known as “the second HR office” — which was still operational during the term of former Academia Sinica president Wu Ta-you (吳大猷). Due to its intervention, many new employees were suddenly sacked or denied entry when they tried to return to Taiwan from overseas.
The top echelons of the KMT in the late 1970s forced the institution to establish a branch dedicated to the study of Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) “Three Principles of the People.” Academician Hsiang Wu-chung (項武忠) said that then-Academia Sinica president Hu Shih (胡適) refused then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) request to establish such an institute — but, that is a fabrication by Hsiang and is simply not true.
Some people have accused former Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) of aligning the institution with big business. The truth is that while Wong’s own research does have great market potential, research results are still governed by technology transfer regulations, which clearly stipulate how the profits of such research should be divided among the government, Academia Sinica and the researcher.
Though many of the institution’s biotechnology and information technology projects can be brought to the market, most basic research projects are not profitable. The institution has never reached any kind of quid pro quo deal with any corporation.
Some have made the unsubstantiated claim that the institution is unsupervised. While Academia Sinica is under the control of the Presidential Office, it must follow the Organization Act of Academia Sinica (中央研究院組織法) approved by the legislature, and its budget must follow the regulations set by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, be reviewed and approved by the legislature on an annual basis and audited by the Control Yuan’s National Audit Office.
In terms of its personnel management, during Lee’s term as president, regulations regarding promotion, renewal of employment contracts and other human resource matters were clearly set to provide strict control over its researchers’ performance and promotion.
Some people have said that the institution has been a fiasco for the past 20 years. In reality, since Lee became president in 1994, the number of research branches has grown by one-third from 21 to 32, and the number of researchers has also increased by nearly one-third, from 724 to 922. Almost all researchers are incredibly hardworking and dedicated to their work.
Chiu Hei-yuan is an adjunct research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Sociology.
Translated by Tu Yu-an
A gap appears to be emerging between Washington’s foreign policy elites and the broader American public on how the United States should respond to China’s rise. From my vantage working at a think tank in Washington, DC, and through regular travel around the United States, I increasingly experience two distinct discussions. This divergence — between America’s elite hawkishness and public caution — may become one of the least appreciated and most consequential external factors influencing Taiwan’s security environment in the years ahead. Within the American policy community, the dominant view of China has grown unmistakably tough. Many members of Congress, as
After declaring Iran’s military “gone,” US President Donald Trump appealed to the UK, France, Japan and South Korea — as well as China, Iran’s strategic partner — to send minesweepers and naval forces to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. When allies balked, the request turned into a warning: NATO would face “a very bad” future if it refused. The prevailing wisdom is that Trump faces a credibility problem: having spent years insulting allies, he finds they would not rally when he needs them. That is true, but superficial, as though a structural collapse could be caused by wounded feelings. Something
Former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founding chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday, making headlines across major media. However, another case linked to the TPP — the indictment of Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) for alleged violations of the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) on Tuesday — has also stirred up heated discussions. Born in Shanghai, Xu became a resident of Taiwan through marriage in 1993. Currently the director of the Taiwan New Immigrant Development Association, she was elected to serve as legislator-at-large for the TPP in 2023, but was later charged with involvement
Out of 64 participating universities in this year’s Stars Program — through which schools directly recommend their top students to universities for admission — only 19 filled their admissions quotas. There were 922 vacancies, down more than 200 from last year; top universities had 37 unfilled places, 40 fewer than last year. The original purpose of the Stars Program was to expand admissions to a wider range of students. However, certain departments at elite universities that failed to meet their admissions quotas are not improving. Vacancies at top universities are linked to students’ program preferences on their applications, but inappropriate admission
RSS