Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), in his capacity as Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman, was last week forced to intervene in an ongoing plagiarism scandal that threatened to engulf TPP Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如). Tsai’s master’s degree from Takming University of Science and Technology was on Thursday last week revoked after a review by its research ethics committee. Without admitting guilt, Tsai resigned on Friday, following guidance from Ko.
It is sometimes difficult to see where the real and widespread systemic flaws in Taiwan’s higher education end and the political parties’ baying for blood begins. It is good that the extent of the plagiarism issue has been unearthed, but as it is so widespread, the focus should be on addressing the underlying issues in higher education, rather than on the individual offenders.
However, that does not suit the objectives of the political parties seeking to attack their rivals in the run-up to next month’s local elections. Former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), who was the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate in the Taoyuan mayoral race, was the first to fall. He did not concede guilt either, although the results of a National Taiwan University academic ethics review committee made his position untenable. It must have been difficult for Lin to withdraw his candidacy, not only because it has put a major obstacle in his political career, but it also casts a pall over his previous achievements after two terms as Hsinchu mayor.
Tsai has been a prominent member of the TPP, and for her to fall on her sword at this point would be equally damaging to her reputation. This, and that gaining a legislative seat is no small feat, even if only on the party’s legislator-at-large list, would have made the decision to quit difficult. Ko’s continued support of her through the controversy had already opened him to accusations of double standards, considering his negative appraisal of Lin’s integrity in his case.
In terms of election strategy, having a major name such as Lin fall so early in the race at least allowed the DPP to regroup and rally behind a replacement candidate. Despite the political damage to the party as a whole, it can at least draw a line, albeit a messily scrawled one, under the affair. The focus on Lin’s personal integrity has since dissipated and spread instead to the issue of plagiarism itself, and to the next to be accused.
The scandal has also reached TPP Legislator Ann Kao (高虹安), standing for Hsinchu mayor, the position vacated by Lin, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taoyuan mayoral candidate Simon Chang (張善政), running for the job Lin was to campaign for. Chang would be a major scalp, having served as premier under former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and standing for vice president on the same KMT ticket as former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) in 2020. Kao and Chang remain in their respective races and therefore risk the controversy continuing to damage their reputations and chances.
How many more major scandals are being held in reserve by rival parties to claim scalps nearer the election?
The inescapable conclusion to this string of plagiarism controversies is that the problem runs deep, and is not exclusive to the political class, and certainly not, by some strange coincidence, to major political candidates that rivals are waiting for any chance to bring down. After the elections are over, perhaps the politicians can turn their attention to dealing with the core problem.
US$18.278 billion is a simple dollar figure; one that’s illustrative of the first Trump administration’s defense commitment to Taiwan. But what does Donald Trump care for money? During President Trump’s first term, the US defense department approved gross sales of “defense articles and services” to Taiwan of over US$18 billion. In September, the US-Taiwan Business Council compared Trump’s figure to the other four presidential administrations since 1993: President Clinton approved a total of US$8.702 billion from 1993 through 2000. President George W. Bush approved US$15.614 billion in eight years. This total would have been significantly greater had Taiwan’s Kuomintang-controlled Legislative Yuan been cooperative. During
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in recent days was the focus of the media due to his role in arranging a Chinese “student” group to visit Taiwan. While his team defends the visit as friendly, civilized and apolitical, the general impression is that it was a political stunt orchestrated as part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, as its members were mainly young communists or university graduates who speak of a future of a unified country. While Ma lived in Taiwan almost his entire life — except during his early childhood in Hong Kong and student years in the US —
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on Monday unilaterally passed a preliminary review of proposed amendments to the Public Officers Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法) in just one minute, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, government officials and the media were locked out. The hasty and discourteous move — the doors of the Internal Administration Committee chamber were locked and sealed with plastic wrap before the preliminary review meeting began — was a great setback for Taiwan’s democracy. Without any legislative discussion or public witnesses, KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), the committee’s convener, began the meeting at 9am and announced passage of the
In response to a failure to understand the “good intentions” behind the use of the term “motherland,” a professor from China’s Fudan University recklessly claimed that Taiwan used to be a colony, so all it needs is a “good beating.” Such logic is risible. The Central Plains people in China were once colonized by the Mongolians, the Manchus and other foreign peoples — does that mean they also deserve a “good beating?” According to the professor, having been ruled by the Cheng Dynasty — named after its founder, Ming-loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功, also known as Koxinga) — as the Kingdom of Tungning,
RSS