The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday drafted a motion to create a review committee to assess the authenticity of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) doctoral diploma and dissertation.
Many people, including former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), have raised doubts about the authenticity of Tsai’s diploma and dissertation, so Tsai — who during her campaign for the 2016 presidential election touted her doctoral dissertation as being “worth one-and-a-half to two doctorates” — should present the documents to put an end to the speculation instead of just verbally assuring people that they are genuine, KMT caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Citing findings by academic Hsu Yung-tai (徐永泰), KMT Legislator Arthur Chen (陳宜民) said that the formatting used in Tsai’s dissertation seemed “ahead of its time” and the quality of the paper used was similar to that of fax paper.
Photo: CNA
In an article published on Wednesday by the Chinese-language Apple Daily, Hsu said that after having read Tsai’s dissertation at the LSE’s library on Sept. 13 and Sept. 16 he had uncovered several problems, including six missing pages and the apparently modern formatting, which he said was seemingly done by computer software instead of a typewriter, which is what Tsai would have used to write her dissertation in 1983.
KMT Legislator Yosi Takun asked why Tsai’s dissertation had been archived by the LSE in June, 35 years after her graduation, and whether the archived version was the original version.
KMT Legislator Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said she had requested authentication of Tsai’s dissertation from the Central Election Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but both agencies had turned down her requests, citing the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法).
At the news conference, Lin showed her “ministry-certified” master’s diploma from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, Chen displayed his Harvard University doctorate in public health and Yosi displayed his Loughborough University School of Social Sciences and Humanities doctorate and dissertation.
Responding to Tsai’s call yesterday for the caucus members to give up their legislative immunity and hold a news conference outside of the legislature, Tseng said: “What kind of response is that?”
Tsai’s remark was an insult to the public’s right to know the truth and if Tsai dares to sue the KMT lawmakers, the caucus would lodge a perjury countersuit against her, he said.
“The degree and the dissertation are authentic. What is authentic cannot be faked,” Tsai said yesterday.
The KMT’s smear campaign is detrimental to the elections, which should be a rational choice about policies and visions, she said.
Additional reporting by Hsieh Wu-hsiung
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS