Lin Chi-hung (林奇宏) yesterday assumed office as the president of the newly formed National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, promising to boost the school’s ranking and international participation on its inauguration.
Lin, who has a doctorate in biology from Yale University, took the post after receiving a certificate of appointment in a ceremony presided over by Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠), along with several incoming presidents of other universities.
Plaque-unveiling ceremonies for the university, a merger of National Yang-Ming University in Taipei and National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, were held in Taipei and Hsinchu respectively.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Describing the merger as a milestone in Taiwan’s higher education, Lin said he hopes that students and faculty of the two universities support the newly formed institution.
Lin said he plans to unveil a three-year blueprint within 100 days that envisions a consensus-based development project for the university over the next 10 years, focusing on improving the school’s ranking in different aspects and boosting cooperation with top peers worldwide, while enhancing student exchange programs.
After 20 years of effort, the Executive Yuan and the ministry in August last year approved the merger plan of the two top-ranking universities, which have 1,400 lecturers and nearly 20,000 students across nine campuses, totaling 19 hectares.
In the initial stage, the university would have 19 colleges, six newly established research centers and a hospital, and would operate 14 daily shuttle buses between Taipei and Hsinchu.
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
Vice President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that Beijing was trying to “annex” Taiwan, while China said its recent series of drills near Taiwan are aimed at combating the “arrogance” of separatist forces. The Ministry of National Defense earlier this month said that it had observed dozens of Chinese fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships and the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, operating nearby. The increased frequency of China’s military activities has raised the risk of events “getting out of hand” and sparking an accidental clash, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said last week. Asked about the spurt
Noting that researchers have found that 85 China-based blogs and accounts were spreading a conspiracy theory that a US “meteorological weapon” had caused recent fires in Hawaii, political observers in Taiwan said the nation also needs to be vigilant of Beijing employing similar disinformation campaigns against Taiwan. The untrue content concerning Hawaii was written in 15 languages and disseminated across a myriad of platforms including Facebook, YouTube and X, a report published in Gizmodo said, citing NewsGuard, an online news content ranker. The effort represented the most expansive Chinese informational operation to be uncovered by NewsGuard to date, Gizmodo said. The conspiracy theory