Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) resigned yesterday amid an uproar over his alleged connection to an academic who has had dozens of his papers retracted from an international journal due to suspected manipulation of the peer-review process.
“After reflection overnight, in order to safeguard my own reputation ... I have decided to resign as education minister,” Chiang told a press conference in Taipei.
Chiang said he will return to his teaching post at National Central University. He was president of the university in Taoyuan County’s Jhongli Township (中壢) before joining the Cabinet in February 2012.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Chiang said he decided to resign not only for the sake of his own reputation, but to prevent the scandal from disrupting the Ministry of Education’s operations, given the wave of public criticism triggered by last week’s announcement by the Journal of Vibration and Control’s publisher that it was recalling 60 papers contributed by Chen Chen-yuan (陳震遠), whom it accused of creating false e-mail accounts to give his work favorable peer reviews.
Chiang was listed as a coauthor on five of the papers published in the journal that were retracted earlier this month by US-based SAGE Publications.
The Washington Post on Friday quoted SAGE spokesman Daniel Sherman as saying that: “In some instances, real academic names were used and we believe e-mail addresses were set up for assumed and fabricated identities at genuine institutions.”
“We believe some of the coauthors may be innocent parties as they may not have had anything to do with the submission process or may not have known they were co-authors on the papers,” he said.
Chen, also known as Peter Chen, resigned as an associate professor at National Pingtung University of Education in February, several months after the launch of a probe into claims of a “peer review ring.”
Chiang, who worked at National Central University when the papers were written, said after the scandal erupted that he had no knowledge of Chen’s actions. However, there were immediate calls from the media, officials and Chiang’s former colleagues for him to resign.
His resignation has been accepted by Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), Executive Yuan spokesman Sun Lih-Chyun (孫立群) said.
Vice Minister of Education Chen Der-hwa (陳德華) will take over as acting education minister until a formal replacement is named, Sun said.
Presidential Office spokesman Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) respected Chiang’s decision and appreciated his efforts to reform the pre-school and vocational education systems and promote the government’s 12-year education program.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said further investigation of the scandal is needed, adding that Ma and the premier owe the public an apology for appointing Chiang to the position.
“In addition to probing the academic papers, we think that judicial and administrative investigations should also be opened because fraud is a criminal act and Chiang has changed his story repeatedly over the past four days, which implies that he lied,” Huang said.
Huang said if a dissertation in which Chiang was listed as a coauthor were funded by the government, Chiang could be guilty of fraud and forgery of documents, charges that carry a possible prison term of up to five years each.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) also condemned Chiang and said that the implementation of his key policy during his tenure as minister — the 12-year national education program — should be suspended so that it can be overhauled.
The Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office said it has launched an investigation into the allegations against Chen, adding that he could face forgery charges if the allegations are true.
Additional reporting by Chris Wang, Diane Baker and AFP
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
BACK TO WORK? Prosecutors said they are considering filing an appeal, while the Hsinchu City Government said it has applied for Ann Kao’s reinstatement as mayor The High Court yesterday found suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) not guilty of embezzling assistant fees, reducing her sentence to six months in prison commutable to a fine from seven years and four months. The verdict acquitted Kao of the corruption charge, but found her guilty of causing a public official to commit document forgery. The High Prosecutors’ Office said it is reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal. The Taipei District Court in July last year sentenced Kao to seven years and four months in prison, along with a four-year deprivation of civil rights, for contravening the Anti-Corruption
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
RSS