Academia Sinica is to confer coveted academician membership only to distinguished academics who are Republic of China (ROC) citizens starting next year, its spokesman Kenneth Wu (伍焜玉) said yesterday.
His comment came a day after the institution announced the change to qualification rules in a news release marking the opening of the 34th Convocation of Academicians.
Candidates for becoming academicians would be required to state whether they are Republic of China citizens in writing during the application process for next year, but the rule change does not affect this year’s convocation, he said.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
The institution is mulling the establishment of foreign and honorary academicians as separate honors from national academicians, which would require the legislature to amend the Organic Act of the Academia Sinica (中央研究院組織法), he said.
As the creation of new types of academicians would be a significant change for the institution, it would proceed cautiously with a mind to building a consensus, he added.
Academicianship is a lifelong, non-remunerated position granted to academics of Chinese descent in recognition of outstanding achievement regardless of their citizenship.
Citing the Nationality Act (國籍法), some academicians said that the nation’s citizenship laws are based on descent, which means anyone with a parent born in China before 1949 is legally a citizen of the Republic of China
“This qualifies half of China as potential candidates for academicianship,” they said, suggesting that Academia Sinica should specify that academicians must have a Republic of China passport or national identification card.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
RSS