The Taipei High Administrative Court on Wednesday fined Lee Duu-jong (李篤中), a professor of chemical engineering at National Taiwan University (NTU), NT$30,0000 for accepting unauthorized funding from Beijing, reversing the Taipei District Court’s verdict.
Lee’s unauthorized collaboration with the National Natural Science Foundation of China contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the high court said in the ruling.
The act prohibits Taiwanese from working with or receiving funds from any person, group or institution affiliated with the Chinese government, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army or the Chinese Communist Party.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The fine is proportionate to the negative effects of Lee’s actions, the high court said.
In 2020, Lee ran for the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology presidency, but dropped out of the election after it came to light that he had received the Chinese funding from 2009 through 2019.
The following year, the Ministry of Education fined Lee for unapproved work undertaken for the Chinese institution from 2016 to 2019.
In 2021, Lee appealed the administrative disciplinary action via administrative litigation at the Taipei District Court, and the fine was removed.
The district court found that the ministry had shown either impropriety in judgement or applied the rules disproportionately by singling out three years of Lee’s decade of collaboration with China without taking action for the remaining seven years he received unauthorized funding.
Lee’s attorney, Wu Po-hung (吳柏宏), said on Wednesday that his client has not received a copy of the verdict, adding that the outcome of the second trial was unacceptable.
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