President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen said Academia Sinica should remain the driving force behind Taiwan's continuing progress.
In his speech, delivered at the opening of the 24th annual assembly of Academia Sinica members, Chen urged Academia Sinica to continue its work as a reservoir of world-class researchers who will make further contributions to securing sustainable development for humankind.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"Under the capable leadership of President Lee Yuan-tseh during the past five years, Academia Sinica has successfully made major breakthroughs ... in many research fields," the president said. "And many of its research achievements are widely recognized in international academic circles, which proves its world-class status." The president added that he believed the nation's top research institute was likely to continue to excel in many fields, especially science and technology, culture, and education.
Chen repeatedly praised Acad-emia Sinica and stressed his strong support for Lee, which some interpreted as designed to head off criticism from opposition politicians that the research level of Academia Sinica was below that of a second-class University in the US.
Lee was a devoted supporter of Chen during the presidential election campaign and came under severe attack from other candidates for allegedly violating the widely-held principle that academics should not publicly voice political opinions.
President Chen promised to help expedite passage of the Academia Sinica Organization Bill, which has faced delays in the Legislative Yuan.
Chen also promised that he would push for the granting of whatever funds Academia Sinica needed for research development and that he would help the institute to secure land near its present location in order to allow it to expand in accordance with its plans.
The 24th assembly of Academia Sinica members opened yesterday at the academy in the Taipei suburb of Nankang, with more than 150 members and ranking officials from the government -- including Premier Tang Fei (
Also addressing the opening, Academia Sinica president and Nobel laureate, Lee Yuan-tseh, expressed his delight at the record-high number of members taking part in this year's assembly.
Lee also explained that he had decided to get involved in the presidential election in order to support the current process of social change, saying that three factors had prompted him to step out of academic circles -- the 921 quake, the change in Taiwan's political scene, and globalization.
"We have to consider how to give something of our expertise back to society during this time of great change," Lee said.
Many of the participants have come from abroad for the four-day assembly. These include David Ho (
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