At least 10 Academia Sinica members are Chinese nationals who do not possess Republic of China (ROC) citizenship, researchers at the institution said yesterday, calling for staffing rules to be amended.
“The current situation — allowing Chinese to hold research positions at Academia Sinica — does not help Taiwan become more international,” Academia Sinica academician Liaw Yun-fan (廖運範) said, adding that the rules should be amended to bar Chinese from becoming research fellows at the institution.
Academia Sinica members are peer-elected and any changes to the institution’s regulations must be decided by a meeting of all of its fellows, it said in a statement.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
However, Article 4 of the Academia Sinica Organic Law (中研院組織法) states that fellows should be chosen from among those with “outstanding achievements within the nation’s academia,” Liaw said, adding that this implies that fellows should be ROC citizens.
The Control Yuan last year asked the institution how many of its members were Chinese, but was told by an Academia Sinica representative that it “does not ask nominated members their nationality.”
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) on Thursday last week asked the institution for information on fellows of Chinese nationality, but did not receive a response.
Following Fan’s inquiry, several fellows issued a joint statement calling for the institution’s organizational rules to be amended so that it clearly stipulates that ROC citizenship is a requirement to become a fellow.
“Allowing Chinese to be elected as academicians is laughable,” Liaw said. “Chinese academics have already stolen technology in the US. Do not assume that Taiwan has no research secrets.”
Academia Sinica has a system for recognizing honorary fellows, which it uses to invite researchers to the institution from all over the world, he said, adding that amending the institution’s rules would not affect international exchanges.
Echoing Liao’s sentiment, academician Lin Ming-chang (林明璋) said that the organizational rules should be amended as existing regulations make it easy for Chinese-language speakers from anywhere to gain a position at the institution, which is “unfair to Taiwanese academics who do good research.”
A rule change would not discriminate against any particular group and would not affect international exchanges, he added.
A former Academia Sinica member from China was only permitted to be a visiting foreign scholar at Beijing’s Chinese Academy of Sciences after he gave up his Chinese citizenship for US citizenship, Lin said, but added that Academia Sinica permitted him to remain a fellow, despite the change in citizenship.
The example shows that Academia Sinica does not follow normal international practice regarding academic posts, Lin added.
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