No. 7, September 26, 2019

President Tsai Ing-wen's doctoral dissertation had gone missing for 35 years, raising public scrutiny.
(Photo from: United Daily News)

● Featured News: KMT To Set Up Investigatory Committee To Probe Authenticity Of Tsai’s Dissertation

● Featured Editorial: Doubts About Tsai’s Dissertation Cannot Be Wholly Resolved Through Lawsuit
● Featured Opinion: Releasing Dissertation After Three Months Tarnished Tsai’s Image
● This Week in Taiwan: Other Important Events This Week

KMT To Set Up Investigatory Committee To Probe Authenticity Of Tsai’s Dissertation

China Times, September 20, 2019

 

The Kuomintang (KMT) caucus of the Legislative Yuan held a press conference on September 20 and announced its plan for setting up a document request committee to probe the authenticity of President Tsai Ing-wen’s doctoral degree. The proposal was raised amid speculations about Tsai’s doctoral dissertation and thus concerns over her integrity as President. New Taipei City Councillor Lin Jin-chieh (林金結) also said not to rule out the possibility of his taking legal actions if Tsai’s fake degree led to false entries by civil servants.

 

The KMT caucus whip Tseng Ming-chung (曾銘宗) called for public release of President Tsai’s dissertation, otherwise public trust in the president would be affected. Tseng said the citizenry were eager but failed to see the document which Tsai claimed to be so well-written that she deserved one and a half doctoral degrees. The KMT had to make an official proposal for the establishment of a document request committee to look into the issue.

 

KMT Legislator Chen Yi-Ming (陳宜民) questioned why one had to roll with the punches to see Tsai's doctoral dissertation like Dr. Hsu Yung-ta (徐永泰) did when he requested for a viewing. Besides, no photocopies were allowed, and someone watched over him during the viewing. All these are contrary to the belief that a research paper is supposedly welcoming for referencing, and that the more often it gets cited, the higher academic value it receives. What is more, in the dissertation, not only did Hsu identify some missing pages, but netizens also compiled a list of 15 questionable points including many typographical errors.

 

Legislator Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said that the privacy act should not be used to skirt around public scrutiny of President Tsai's doctoral degree since Tsai has benefited a lot from the degree for her associate professorship and presidency. In regards to the information about Tsai's academic credentials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, and Central Election Commission, Lin was told that her request could not be met without the party’s (Tsai’s) consent.

 

KMT Legislator Kong Wen-ji (孔文吉) said that whether or not a president has a doctoral dissertation is not a matter of competence but that of integrity which should not be compromised. Any presidential candidate is to submit their proof of academic qualifications. If Tsai's is forged, she should not only apologize but also resign from the presidency immediately.

 

Lin Jin-chieh added that the authenticity of President Tsai's doctoral dissertation has stirred a heated debate among scholars in the academia. As Tsai's comment on the issue remains ambiguous, it is crucial to establish an investigation committee. If Tsai's dissertation is valid, a public release of it would clear her name. However, if it is forged, Tsai would need to apologize to the public. If Tsai's degree is fraudulent and has led to false entries by civil servants, she would need to bear the consequent legal responsibilities.

 

In response to the Tsai Campaign's query whether or not the KMT legislators dare to waive their privilege of speech publicly in a press conference outside the Legislative Yuan, Tseng criticized President Tsai's trespass on the public's right to know by not disclosing the relevant information but filing charges. If she were to file a lawsuit, the KMT would definitely sue Tsai for malicious accusation.

 

Editor’s note: On September 23, under much public concern and pressure, President Tsai offered to release her doctoral dissertation and diploma, which will be digitalized before they become available for public access at the National Central Library.

 

From: https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20190920001567-260407?chdtv

 

After three months of controversy, Tsai finally decided to make public her doctoral dissertation.
(Photo from: China Times)

Doubts About Tsai’s Dissertation Cannot Be Wholly Resolved Through Lawsuit

United Daily News Editorial, September 20, 2019

 

President Tsai Ing-wen’s doctoral dissertation has come under scrutiny in the past few months, leading some to question whether or not she has a doctoral degree at all. While holding advanced degrees is not in itself a requirement for competence, especially since President Tsai is near the end of her first time, the issue at hand is that Tsai herself once taught at universities and boasted about her accomplishments. She stated that her examiners were so impressed by her dissertation that they decided to award her with “one and a half” doctoral degrees. Under these circumstances, there should be no ambiguity, and the truthfulness of her claims directly relate to her integrity as both President and Professor. 

 

Recently, two people, both doctoral degree holders, went personally to the London School of Economics (LSE) to examine Tsai’s dissertation: Hwan Lin, a Taiwanese economics professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Dr. Hsu Young Tai, who resides in Oxford, England. What they found was that the copy of the dissertation submitted by Tsai had some notable irregularities: new bindings, missing pages, and handwritten amendments. There are also strict rules in place with regards to its access, setting it apart from the open and transparent rules that apply to other dissertations. Even though Tsai has taken legal action against the two other professors (Professor Lin and Professor Emeritus De-fen Ho of National Taiwan University) who are challenging the validity of her dissertation, the suspicion surrounding her dissertation is gaining traction. If Tsai cannot clarify all these queries, it will cast serious doubt over her integrity.  

 

Of all the inquiries into her dissertation, Tsai has to clarify at least five major issues: 

 

First of these concerns is the unusually short time of her studies. According to the records put forward by President Tsai, she pursued a master degree in law at the London School of Economics from 1980 to 1982. Then, from 1982 to 1984, she earned a doctoral degree from that same school. This is a notably short time for a degree in humanity unless it was not a degree course that she took. President Ma for example took 5 years to earn his doctoral degree from Harvard, a length of time which is considered normal. 

 

Second is the question of why the dissertation was so hard to find and only resubmitted recently. The dissertation currently in the LSE library was deposited June 28 of this year, with new bindings. It became available in the digital search system on July 13 shortly thereafter. This was likely due to the fact that it was during this time that Tsai’s missing documents were called into question by pro-independence talk show hosts, leading her to urgently send the dissertation to the library. As it is not the original, there are clear shadows cast by fax or photocopying, and also, missing pages (5-10 in the first chapter). Why after 35 years has this dissertation appeared instead of the original? 

 

The third issue is the names of the advisors. One advisor named is Michael Elliot, while the other two names were not published for unknown reasons. This is difficult to understand. Michael Elliott graduated from the University of Oxford, with what degree it is uncertain. However, when he was lecturing at LSE, he was still only in his 30’s, which begs the question how he was able to supervise Tsai to complete a dissertation within such a short period of time? He left LSE the same year to join the Economist as a journalist. Regrettably, he passed away in 2016 and therefore cannot testify on the matter.  

 

Fourth is the question of why Tsai’s dissertation is filled with handwritten amendments and missing pages. Ph.D. dissertations usually required strict formats and submission rules, short of which they are not accepted. However, the copy of the dissertation sent to LSE by Tsai was filled with handwritten edits, misspellings, and missing pages. Is it the case that the dissertation was not submitted after the oral examination 35 years ago and therefore not fully proofread? 

 

Finally, for six years, Tsai has taught at both National Chengchi University (NCCU) and Soochow University. For these positions, she would have been asked to submit relevant credentials for review. If so, why have these universities not kept her dissertation and degree certificates on file? According to United Daily News records, Tsai penned an article on October 20, 1973, entitled “The Export of Color Television Sets and Anti-dumping,” identifying herself as a Ph.D. in international economic law as her title and naming LSE. This was six months before she officially obtained the degree.

 

By the Tsai administration’s own standards, as we saw with the case of President Kuan Chung-min of National Taiwan University, any one of the above five issues will be difficult to resolve and understand. Why is it that the thesis is only available as a copy with poor formatting? Will NCCU or Soochow Universities shed light on the matter? The Taiwanese people want to know.

 

From: https://udn.com/news/story/11321/4057796

Releasing Dissertation After Three Months Tarnished Tsai’s Image

United Daily News, September 24, 2019

 

“Where is President Tsai’s doctoral dissertation?” “Is it real or not?” The subject matter has been a topic of public since June this year. Although the Office of the President provided relevant evidence to emphasize that the president’s doctor degree is legitimate, why did she not simply present her original dissertation for the public to see, as former Vice President Annette Lu had suggested. This could have been easily done, but why did the Office of the President not reveal Tsai’s doctoral thesis until three months later? How much social attention was wasted along this process?

 

President Tsai Ing-wen’s educational background has been verified by relevant institutions multiple times due to her many years of service as faculty, in public service, and her participation in elections. However, this recent issue arose out of President Tsai’s dissertation. Many people have traveled far to the London School of Economics to read this doctoral thesis, and many questions have been raised. Not only are the papers in the library not the original copy, many pages are also missing, causing speculation. Yesterday, the truth was finally revealed. Apparently, the Office of the President gave the school a copy of the thesis this June.

 

“The academic way is to seek the truth,”says a Chinese proverb. Many professors have studied President Tsai’s thesis in the spirit of this motto. However, many people within the DPP criticized that these speculations as being too trivial. As the subject of this matter, the president herself has chosen the less intuitive path of action including slapping lawsuits on the professors and utilizing the judicial system to prove her own innocence. In reality, if the president wanted to prove her truth, she owns the original copy of the thesis, and could have just simply revealed it to the public.

 

Yesterday, at the press conference held by the Office of the President, they presented the original copy of President Tsai’s thesis from 35 years ago, along with evidence to refute the outside rumors. However, if she were open and honest with the public from the very beginning, it would not have wasted so much in terms of social resources. The Office of the President passively watched the spectacle and debate for three months. The president even litigated against citizens and wasted judicial resources. Even if the controversy of the thesis ended with revelation of the original copy, this whole incident magnified the Office of the President’s inability to deal with crisis, and the president’s image has been greatly tarnished.

From: https://udn.com/news/story/11311/4064580

 

September 17: Director Brent Christensen of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said that if China controls 5G infrastructure, it can secure unique access to data that flows and even the ability to potentially shut down the Internet of other countries. Taiwan and the United States will for the first time conduct large-scale joint cyber-security drills in November, Christensen announced.

September 17: Former Vice President Annette Lu accepted the nomination of Formosa Alliance and registered as an independent presidential candidate. Peng Pai-hsien, former magistrate of Nantou, will be her running mate. Independent candidates have until November 2 (i.e. 45 days) to collect 280,384 valid petition signatures (1.5 percent of the 2016 legislative electorate) to continue their presidential bid.

September 20: After Solomon Islands, Kiribati also decided to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan and switch allegiance to China. Now, only 15 states officially recognize the Republic of China (Taiwan). Tuvalu, another diplomatic ally in the Pacific, recently changed prime ministers, which may further undermine support for Taiwan in the region. Reportedly, China agreed to provide a $70 million civil aircraft to Kiribati as a gift, inducing Kiribati to establish diplomatic relations.

September 20: According to the Kinmen County Government, China will resume accepting applications for personal travel to Kinmen, Matsu, and Penghu (Taiwan’s outlying islands) through the Mini-Three Links from some 20 cities in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Guangdong provinces. China had suspended personal travel from Taiwan since August 1, which has impacted Kinmen economically. From September 1 to 10, Kinmen saw a 74 percent decline in mainland Chinese tourists through the Mini-Three Links, compared with the same period last year.

September 20: Zantac, a popular heartburn medication produced by the well-known pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, was detected to contain ingredients which may cause cancer. Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration ordered the pre-cautionary recall of 38 medications which contain ranitidine as a key ingredient amid concerns that they contain a chemical which may cause cancer.

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