National Science Council Minister Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) will seek compensation of NT$100 million (US$3 million) from the Chinese-language China Times for not publishing a correction and an apology for an editorial it published last week which contained what he said were untruthful allegations against him.
The newspaper's editorial published last Friday referred to a thesis written by a doctor at the National Taiwan University Hospital, of which Chen was listed as a co-author.
The author was caught copying statements from other theses in the preface section when he submitted his research to the medical journal Cancer.
The editorial said that the "NSC chairman was also a perpetrator of this plagiarizing incident. While the council's ethics committee had taken harsh measures in other similar cases, it dared not do anything when its own chairman was involved."
Chen held a press conference yesterday and said that he has written an official letter to the China Times requesting it correct these false statements.
Chen said the paper promised to print the letter he wrote without any editorial changes.
Chen said the paper eventually published the letter last Saturday and placed it on page 6. He said they also deleted some statements that he deemed crucial. He said that this was unacceptable.
Chen said that the scathing editorial might do damage to his career as well as to his reputation. He said, however, that he is willing to settle the lawsuit if the newspaper prints a correction and an apology.
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