A candidate for the post of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) president yesterday dropped out of the race following a report questioning his links to Chinese academia and government programs.
Lee Duu-jong (李篤中), a professor at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) chemical engineering department, was a member of China’s Changjiang Scholars’ Program in 2006 and was on the list of its Thousand Talents Program in 2017, a report by Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine said yesterday.
The article said that Lee is suspected of having held a part-time job at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China and was the recipient of as much as 6.5 million yuan (US$958,000) in Chinese research grants.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
Lee, who had previously served as NTUST vice president, issued a statement denying that he had held a part-time position in China.
The NTUST had looked into the matter and confirmed that he was not listed under the Thousand Talents’ Program, he said, adding that all his research collaborations in China and across the world were in full compliance with Ministry of Education regulations.
NTUST professors urged the ministry to clarify regulations to prevent a repeat of the NTU debacle.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
From 2018 to January last year, the NTU’s presidential seat was left vacant as the ministry refused to recognize the validity of the election of Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), citing a conflict of interest and allegations that he had held positions at Chinese universities.
Despite the controversy, Kuan took office as NTU president in January last year.
The ministry yesterday reiterated an Executive Yuan statement in 2018 that employees at universities, as well as public and private research facilities, cannot take part in projects funded by the Chinese government, including the Thousand Talents Program and its subsequent Ten Thousand Talents Program.
This is a standing policy that has been communicated to universities nationwide multiple times, the ministry said in a statement.
It urged the NTUST presidential review committee to ask Lee to provide details to address these issues.
It also asked NTU, Lee’s current employer, to convene a committee to determine whether he had contravened regulations on taking a post at a Chinese university.
The ministry’s statement said that academics who have not obtained approval before taking a position at a Chinese university would be in contravention of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), or Article 34 of the Act Governing the Appointment of Educators (教育人員任用條例).
A Central News Agency report said that the ministry declined to respond to its questions on whether it has a list of Taiwanese academics on the Changjiang Scholars’ Program or the Thousand Talents Program.
The ministry also remained silent on whether there was precedent to college presidents retaining a part-time job in China and what ministry processes were involved in making such identification.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fonglian (朱鳳蓮) said that as of November last year, there were 72 academics listed on the Thousand Talents Program, and there were 1,600 Taiwanese teachers employed in Chinese schools.
The Thousand Talents Program was an initiative launched by Beijing in 2008 to attract top academics and scientists from abroad. It has recently attracted controversy amid reports that it encourages intellectual property theft by program participants to boost development of emerging technologies and industries in China.
Additional reporting by CNA
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary