Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Ann Kao (高虹安), the party’s Hsinchu mayoral candidate, yesterday drew criticism for remarks she made during a news conference the day before, at which she denied accusations that she used material for her doctoral thesis without proper citations, including work she had authored herself.
Kao, who holds a doctoral degree from the University of Cincinnati, touted her academic credentials, saying she is “not like someone attending night school at Chung Hua University, who then needed to attend National Taiwan University (NTU) to obtain a master’s degree,” an apparent reference to former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), whose master’s degree from NTU was revoked over plagiarism of content for his thesis.
Kao’s remarks were widely seen as belittling Hsinchu-based Chung Hua University as an inferior school to NTU — one of Taiwan’s top schools, from which she holds a master’s degree.
Photo: CNA
Kao said she graduated from Taipei First Girls’ High School and was admitted to NTU after scoring high in an entrance exam, before continuing her education in the US.
After her remarks were widely seen as elitist, she yesterday apologized to Chung Hua University.
“Voters in Hsinchu are to choose a mayor who will speak up for them,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokeswoman Huang Tsai-ling (黃彩玲) said. “How can someone so arrogant serve the people and attend to their needs?”
DPP Hsinchu mayoral candidate Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) said Kao has hurt the feelings of Hsinchu residents by belittling the local university, calling her an “egocentric person.”
“We know the TPP is good at idol-worshipping,” Shen said, likening Kao’s behavior to that of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the TPP’s chairman.
New Power Party Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) said she is also proud of her academic achievements, “but I never viewed myself as better or smarter than other people... I was just more lucky than others.”
She urged political candidates not to attack their opponents based on their academic credentials, as this would show that “an outdated belief of academic degrees being the most important” prevails in Taiwan.
“In past decades, many teenagers could not take university entrance exams, not because they were not smart, but because of their family background, she added.
Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) of the Social Democratic Party said that Taiwan is “blind to academic elitism,” calling it the “root of many conflicts in society.”
“The government provides funding to top schools such as NTU, my own alma mater, while people from rural communities hardly have a chance to get into such top schools,” she said, adding that without being from Taipei and having a middle-class background, she might also not have been admitted.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that a surge in respiratory illnesses in China has been caused by at least seven types of pathogens, and small children, elderly people and immunocompromised people should temporarily avoid unnecessary visits to China. The recent outbreak of respiratory illnesses in China is mainly in the north and among children, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Monday. Data released by the Chinese National Health Commission on Sunday showed that among children aged one to four, the main pathogens were influenza viruses and rhinoviruses, while among children aged five to 14, the main pathogens
A New Taipei City hotpot restaurant could be fined after a rat dropped from the ceiling and landed on a customer’s plate last week, the New Taipei City Department of Health said yesterday after conducting an inspection. A woman recently posted on the “I am a Banciao resident” (我是板橋人) social media group saying that she had been eating with a friend at Chien Tu Shabu Shabu Hotpot Restaurant’s Shuangshi B branch in Banciao District (板橋). “While still eating, a big rat suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, landing on a plate next to a hotpot,” she said. “Later on, a member of
A new poll of Taiwanese voters found the top opposition candidate for president jumping past the ruling party’s hopeful into the lead position ahead of January’s election — the latest twist in a drama-filled race. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had an approval rating of 31.9 percent versus 29.2 percent for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), ranked third with 23.6 percent, according to the survey conducted
Actress Hu Ling (胡伶) on Saturday became the first Chinese movie star to walk the red carpet of the Golden Horse Awards since 2019, when China boycotted Taiwan’s biggest awards show over political tensions. Beijing banned its entertainers from joining the awards, dubbed the Chinese-language Oscars, after documentary director Fu Yu (傅榆) voiced support for Taiwan’s formal independence in an acceptance speech in 2018. There were no films from China in the 2019 nomination list and several Hong Kong movies dropped out that year, while several big commercial productions were conspicuously absent at both the 2020 and 2021 awards. However, Hu, nominated for
RSS