Following a conflict-of-interest controversy surrounding the election of National Taiwan University (NTU) president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), the Ministry of Education yesterday said it has again ordered the university to clarify the matter following requests from the Control Yuan and lawmakers.
A 21-member committee elected Kuan on Jan. 5. However, it was later revealed that Kuan was an independent director of Taiwan Mobile and company vice chairman Richard Tsai (蔡明興) was a committee member.
Kuan failed to disclose his connection with Tsai prior to the election, and Tsai did not recuse himself from the election.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The alleged conflict of interest prompted the Democratic Progressive Party caucus to issue a resolution yesterday demanding that the ministry “halt the appointment until the questionable [practice] involved in the selection of NTU’s president is investigated.”
Kuan is scheduled to take office on Thursday next week.
Asked if Kuan’s inauguration might be delayed, Department of Personnel Director Chen Kun-yuan (陳焜元) said the ministry “does not want any delay in the [inauguration] process and NTU has been urged to make an immediate response.”
The ministry has a standard procedure to deal with the controversial election of university presidents, he said.
That procedure was followed after the election in October last year of National Yang-Ming University president Steve Kuo (郭旭崧), whose eligibility was questioned as he was an associate professor instead of a professor, Chen said, adding that the university was asked to clarify the eligibility criteria and selection process.
Ordered by the ministry earlier this month to clarify the situation, the NTU committee on Jan. 11 said no rules were broken in the election.
As the Control Yuan on Monday ordered the ministry to probe the scandal, it has reissued the order to the committee.
“NTU has to respond to the issue in an appropriate manner,” Chen said.
Committee spokeswoman Yuan Hsiao-wei (袁孝維) reiterated the Jan. 11 statement, saying that there was no condition that would disqualify Tsai as a committee member.
As a secret ballot was used for the election, comments about committee members’ votes were purely conjecture, Yuan said.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
FATE UNKNOWN: The owner of the dog could face a fine of up to NT$150,000 and the animal could be euthanized if he cannot show that he can effectively supervise it A pit bull terrier has been confiscated by authorities after it yesterday morning bit a motorcyclist in Taipei, following footage of the same dog in a similar attack going viral online earlier this month. When the owner, surnamed Hsu (徐), stopped at a red light on Daan District’s (大安) Wolong Street at 8am, the dog, named “Lucky,” allegedly rolled down the automatic window of the pickup truck they were riding in, leapt out of the rear passenger window and attacked a motorcyclist behind them, Taipei’s Daan District Police Precinct said. The dog clamped down on the man’s leg and only let go
RSS