Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) yesterday accepted an apology from political commentator Chen Hui-wen (陳揮文) and decided not to sue him for calling him a professor from a “third-rate university.”
“With the desire not to waste judicial and media resources on an issue that does not pertain to public interest, I willingly accept the apology,” Lo’s statement read. “[I] hope the incident will end here and not happen again.”
The statement came in response to Chen’s open letter published in the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday, in which he offered an apology for having recently used the term “third-rate university” to describe Soochow University, where Lo teaches political science.
Criticizing Lo’s recent visit to China in his capacity as an academic, Chen said on his radio show on Friday: “If you were simply a political science professor at a third-rate school, would they [China] invite you?”
The comment drew a response from Lo, who said that he would file charges against Chen for defamation and slander.
Chen’s remark also sparked off heated comments from faculty and students from the university’s department of political science.
According to Chen Li-kang (陳立剛), a Soochow graduate, the connection made by Chen Hui-wen of the university to the political pan-blue and pan-green standoff was unfortunate, adding that whether Soochow is a third-rate school was for the public to judge.
“The issue can’t be decided by the comments of one pundit. If so, then how do you rate a pundit?” Chen Li-kan said.
Soochow’s department of political science student council head Chou Cheng-wei (周政偉) said that Chen Hui-wen’s comments completely ignored the hard work of the student body and teachers in the department.
Referring to a quote often attributed to French philosopher Voltaire, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” Chou said he recognized Chen Hui-wen’s right to freedom of speech, but also added that the premise of that freedom is that such comments should not impact others.
Chen Hui-wen’s “third-rate university” comments had already hurt Soochow University’s name, Chou said, adding that students have set up a Facebook page and held a signature drive in a display of protest.
Chou cited many of Soochow’s famous graduates, including Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and Lo Shu-lei (羅淑雷), as well as former Council for Cultural Affairs minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁). Former premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) was once the dean of the university, Chou added.
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,