New Power Party (NPP) Chairman Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) yesterday called for the recusal of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐) from the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee, saying that Cheng is facing allegations of plagiarism and could be the subject of a Ministry of Education investigation.
Cheng, together with the KMT, should issue a public apology to Hsinchu County voters, Hsu said at a news conference in Taipei.
Former NPP legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said at a news conference last week that Cheng had plagiarized 50 percent of his doctoral thesis at Chung Hwa University.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The NPP is calling out Cheng, because the university has said it would only look into the matter if there is proof, unlike National Sun Yat-sen University, which is actively looking into claims of plagiarism against KMT Kaohsiung mayoral by-election candidate Jane Lee (李眉蓁), Hsu said.
Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media on Thursday last week said that Lee plagiarized 96 percent of her master’s thesis.
Whether Cheng’s thesis is valid has brought his title of assistant professor into question, Hsu said, adding that he suspects Chung Hwa University has cut corners when reviewing Cheng’s paper.
The Ministry of Education is responsible for conferring the title of assistant professor on academics after three separate reviews by the institution they are enrolled in, Hsu said.
Cheng being granted the position could be an indication that the university had not duly reviewed his credentials, Hsu said, calling on the ministry to investigate the matter.
Hsu added that Cheng should recuse himself from the legislature’s standing committee, as his presence on the committee could hinder the ministry from launching an investigation.
He said this move would follow precedents of legislators being barred from joining the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee if they are involved in ongoing legal cases.
Chung Hwa University, cofounded in 1990 by former Hsinchu mayor Lin Cheng-tze (林政則), appears to be a favorite of politicians and businesspeople in the Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli area, NPP Hsinchu City Councilor Liao Tzu-chi (廖子齊) said.
As Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), Hsinchu County Commissioner Yang Wen-ke (楊文科) and Miaoli County Commissioner Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) obtained their degrees from Chung Hwa University, the public might also question the authenticity of their theses, Liao said.
Soochow University School of Law professor Hu Po-yen (胡博硯) said that ultimately, it is up to the ministry to resolve the issue because it is all interconnected.
The validity of academic degrees is based on the Degree Conferral Act (學位授予法) and per Article 17 of the act, any act of plagiarism will result in the revocation of the degree, Hu said, adding that the title of assistant professor is conferred by the ministry, which is based on the validity of the individual’s doctoral thesis.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS