Taiwan’s business and political leaders yesterday lauded former Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) at a luncheon in recognition of his receiving a prestigious award and having his name cleared in a public prosecution case.
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) hosted the luncheon at a lounge in the Legislative Yuan to honor Wong, who in September received this year’s Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry, among the most recognized prizes in the field. Winners receive US$500,000.
You organized the event under the aegis of the Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry (IBMI), of which Wong has is the current chairman.
Photo: Liao Chen-Hui, Taipei Times
The event was also attended by former legislative speakers Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who was the founding chairman in 2002.
Leaders of Taiwan’s medical and biotechnology sectors were in attendance, along with directors of major hospitals and bosses of Powerchip Semiconductor, New Kinpo Group, Shinkong Textile, Qisda Corp and other industry heads.
You said that Taiwan is proud to be home to such an outstanding research scientist, while also making mention of Wong’s acquittal of bribery charges in 2018.
“We are delighted that the justice system acquitted Wong, and that the Control Yuan cleared his name in March ... The judiciary has restored his good reputation,” You said.
“Although justice delayed is justice denied, we are all happy about this result,” he added.
“I have witnessed Wong’s major contributions since 2007, when he served as Academia Sinica president, and pushed for Taiwan to develop the biotechnology and medical healthcare sectors,” Wang said.
“I have the utmost respect for Wong’s efforts to strive for these developments, and for his many accomplishments in science,” he added.
Wang added that it is the first time for three legislative speakers, past and present, to gather at a function to honor an important figure.
“It is unprecedented and might never happen again,” he said.
Wong stood to express his gratitude to You and the former legislative speakers, and for continuing to support the work conducted by IBMI, and for supporting him through “past unpleasantries.”
Wong said that information and communications technology industries are helping biotechnology and medical healthcare sectors integrate into the digital world.
“IBMI will serve as a platform for this development, and Taiwan has strong leading positions in these sectors for many new innovations,” he said.
Wong was indicted in 2017 for allegedly contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) for receiving 3,000 shares in OBI Pharma from the company’s chairman, Michael Chang (張念慈).
The Shilin District Court acquitted Wong and other company executives in 2018.
“My indictment resulted solely from prosecutors’ misconceptions about the technologies in question and the practices of technology transfers,” Wong said in a statement at the time.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
RSS