Academia Sinica issued a statement on Friday responding to the recent tumult over one of its researchers being accused of dereliction of duty for participating in the Sunflower movement and called on society to “have a positive view” of researchers’ public expression of opinions.
The Anti Taiwan Independence Historical View Alliance staged protests for two days last week against Academia Sinica researcher Huang Kuo-chang’s (黃國昌) participation in the Sunflower movement — the student-led protest that occupied the Legislative Yuan’s chamber on March 18 for three weeks over the handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement.
The alliance accused Huang, a researcher at the institute and thus a civil servant, of violating the Civil Service Administrative Neutrality Act (公務人員行政中立法) by participating in politically charged protests during business hours and asked the institute to look into his attendance and academic record.
Academia Sinica responded in the statement that — as the nation’s top research institute — it has always respected its researchers’ value judgements and choices, and avoided forcing particular points of view upon its individual workers.
“The institute, to substantiate the freedom of speech protected by a democratic society, also respects each researcher’s public expression of views about public issues based on his or her values and beliefs,” the statement says.
While the researchers, as civil servants, are bound to comply with the Act, “Huang had used holidays and taken days off for his participation in non-political-party-initiated activities and therefore had not run afoul of the regulations,” it said.
Regarding whether Huang, could be disciplined by the Act of Disciplinary Sanctions of Public Functionaries (公務員懲戒法), the institute clarified that Huang does not hold an administrative position in the department and is therefore not punishable, as the law is not applicable to those who do not hold administrative positions.
“Academic research cannot be segregated in the ivory tower or isolated from the people, the nation’s development and the society’s movement. It should be the manifestation of the human pursuit of eternal values.”
“That the scholars’ freedom to propose their ideas based upon their studies and knowledge should be protected is an undisputed aspect of a democratic society,” it said. “Academia Sinica as a public research establishment strives to maintain its impartial stance and values plurality and richness of views voiced by individual researchers. Those who do not hold administrative power or are not involved in the distribution of administrative resources should be allowed to express their opinions publicly and their action be positively appraised.”
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal