Academia Sinica member Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆) has been appointed minister of education, Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) announced yesterday.
Hsu praised Wu, who is scheduled to take office on Thursday, for his distinguished contributions and experience in the areas of higher education and scientific research, saying he is “very suitable to serve as education minister.”
The physicist was named to take over the post left vacant by Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠), who resigned last week over a controversy surrounding his alleged interference in the appointment of National Taiwan University (NTU) president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔).
Premier William Lai (賴清德) approved Pan’s resignation on Saturday.
Lai the next day said that the role of the education minister carries heavy responsibility, and that whoever takes over the position is tasked with far more duties than simply resolving the NTU predicament.
Wu, 68, has a doctorate in physics from the University of Houston and has served as head of the now-defunct National Science Council, at the Institute of Physics at the Academia Sinica and at National Dong Hwa University in Hualien County.
The National Science Council was in 2014 upgraded to the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Pan drew public criticism over his refusal to approve the appointment of Kuan, who was on Jan. 5 elected to succeed Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池), whose tenure as NTU president ended in June last year.
However, Kuan has since been accused of plagiarism and a conflict of interest, which has cast doubt on the legitimacy of his election and prevented him from taking office on Feb. 1 as scheduled.
Last month, more allegations surfaced accusing Kuan of having illegally taught in China since 2005.
Although the accusations were later resolved, Pan continued to ask Kuan to answer the allegations.
Due to the delay in approving Kuan’s appointment, the education ministry was accused of interfering in NTU’s autonomy.
A group of NTU professors, students and alumni on Thursday last week jointly filed a complaint with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office accusing Pan of nonfeasance.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we