Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) yesterday confirmed that he had received an official notice from National Taiwan University’s (NTU) College of Social Science of its decision to revoke his master’s degree and said that he respected the decision.
During the campaign for the nine-in-one elections, New Party Taoyuan mayoral candidate You Chih-pin (游智彬) alleged that Cheng had plagiarized his master’s degree thesis for NTU’s Graduate Institute for National Development.
Cheng said that the institute did not require that students use plagiarism checker programs, adding that he had successfully defended his paper before a panel of three professors on how the democratization of the Chinese public would not lead to a governmental change to democracy.
Photo: CNA
At the time of the study, conducting empirical studies on the topic was impossible, Cheng said, adding that he had instead performed an analysis of existing literature.
Cheng said he stood by his statements to the university’s Research Ethics Committee that his thesis was original and that the lack of citation was an oversight, not plagiarism.
Cheng said that had the institute mandated students use plagiarism-checker programs, he would have found out about the missed citation and would have provided the proper footnotes.
He said that he did not have time to verify all his sources, adding that he did not have some of the documents on hand at the moment to note down his citations.
Cheng said he was sorry for the oversight, but he had no intention of plagiarizing.
The lack of citations does not take away from the originality of his research, he said.
NTU yesterday confirmed that it had concluded its investigation into the matter, but declined to reveal its results.
The university said that its investigation followed all relevant regulations, adding that they already notified Cheng of the results.
The university will not let standards slide on academic ethics, it said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to