Controversies Surface over New Education Minister|藍營爆吳茂昆 曾任中國研究機構顧問

Education Minister Pan Wen-chung tendered his resignation last week. On Apr. 16, the Executive Yuan announced Wu Maw-kuen, an Academia Sinica academician and former National Dong Hwa University president, as the new education minister. Shortly after the announcement, controversies about Wu began to surface. The Kuomintang revealed Wu worked for many years as an adviser at a research organization funded by China. But Executive Yuan Spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung said he spoke with Wu. Wu said he never worked as an adviser in China.


In 2016, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of High Energy Physics organized a conference on cooperation in high-temperature superconductivity materials for industry, academia and research institutions. Incoming Education Minister Wu Maw-kuen attended that conference, according to the Kuomintang. He was listed among the attendees as an Academia Sinica academician from Taiwan, and as a member of the collaboration committee. The committee was scheduled to meet every three months. The Institute of High Energy Physics was established in 1973 by then-Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. The KMT says Wu has broken the law if he regularly attended committee meetings during the past two years.

Has Wu Maw-kuen been forthcoming and spoken about this systematically and in full detail? If William Lai was fully aware of this and still appointed him, then it shows while political color is right, nothing matters.

The KMT also provided documents showing that Wu began working as an adviser at the China Center of Advanced Science and Technology World Laboratory in April 2010. The center is backed by China's Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Finance. Although Wu's information has already been removed from the center's webpage, his name appeared on the list of advisers as recently as this year. The KMT said an investigation should be launched, like the one Kuan Chung-ming was subject to. In response, Executive Yuan spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung claimed this is all a misunderstanding.

There's no such issue with working as a Chinese Academy of Sciences adviser. I just asked him and he said there's no such issue.

Hsu said Wu told him he never worked as an adviser in China, while the Academia Sinica said it is still trying to clarify the facts. Wu was announced as the new education minister on Apr. 16, and his appointment has been controversial.