Text: Fang Wen
Peng Wenzheng, former director of the Institute of Journalism at National Taiwan University, He Defen, honorary professor of National Taiwan University, and Lin Huanqiang, a scholar in the United States, held an international press conference on "Tsai Ing-wen's Final Trial of Tsai Ing-wen's Papers" in Taiwan's "Legislative Yuan" in September this year, listing eight major pieces of evidence and angrily choking Tsai Ing-wen's doctoral dissertations for falsifying.
In fact, as early as 2015, the authenticity of Tsai Ing-wen's doctoral degree and dissertation was questioned by all parties. During the 2016 Taiwan election, some people found that Tsai Ing-wen's doctoral dissertation at the London School of Economics (LSE) in the United Kingdom was "missing" on the website of the Institute for Advanced Law, but no one in the Green Camp broke the news at that time, and the Blue Camp was suffering from not grasping the situation, and the matter could not be solved.
In early June 2019, Tsai Ing-wen was emboldened in her speech at the "Democracy Salon", telling a group of college students how she got "1.5" doctoral degrees in just over two years in the praise of three oral examination committee members, so "great achievements" once again aroused people's doubts.
Does Tsai Ing-wen have an LSE Ph.D.? Is there an LSE PhD thesis? This major question involving Tsai Ing-wen's integrity, morality and fraud has been staged on YOUTUBE almost every day for more than two years, attracting at least 200,000 people's attention every day.
Peng Wenzheng said that in order to "go up to the poor and fall into the yellow spring" of the thesis door, in-depth interviews, literature review, content analysis, etc., he later went to the London School of Economics and Political Science and visited the librarians of major libraries. "I asked them if a paper they couldn't find was lost. They say it's impossible. ”
On December 8, 2019, Xu Yongtai, a doctor at Oxford University, also exposed new evidence, one of which is that Tsai Ing-wen's paper annotation format appears in the "future format". Most APA (Research Paper Writing Format) has a format, and the APA format was launched in 1983 and the fourth edition in 1994. Tsai Ing-wen's 1983 paper should have been written in 1982, citing the third edition, and it would be amazing that the 1994 version of the format appeared.
Taiwan authorities spokesperson Cheung Hsiung-han (right) and Lin Jiaru, a spokesman for consultation with the Spokesperson's Office, presented the original manuscript of Tsai Ing-wen's doctoral dissertation at the University of London.
Lin Huanqiang said that after 2 years of British attack and defense, it has been clear that the LSE, the University of London, the Office of the British Information Commission and the Taiwan authorities have formed a cross-sea collusion for the escort gang. LSE said "Tsai Ing-wen is a doctorate, but it must be proved by the University of London"; the University of London said "LSE said that Tsai Ing-wen is a doctor, and I have documents but I can't give, there must be Tsai Ing-wen's consent", the Taiwan authorities said "LSE and the University of London both said that Tsai Ing-wen is a doctor", if the thesis door investigation team has been following the collusion to help the crowd go around in circles, things will continue to gel.
Lin Huanqiang said that the efforts of the thesis door investigation team are not deep enough and not broad enough, but because there is no administrative power, the undisclosed data cannot be seen, which is asymmetry in administrative procedures and information asymmetry, and has to be allowed to collude and help the public to talk about it casually. The same is true of Taiwan's 30 years and 6 months of sealing Tsai Ing-wen's personnel files.
In the face of many doubts, Tsai Ing-wen was forced to come forward to extinguish the fire. The Taiwan authorities handled the crisis internally, held a press conference with the outside world, claimed that the yellowed manuscript was Tsai Ing-wen's "real paper," and privately operated the LSE school to make relevant arrangements. Tsai Ing-wen's office first sued He Defen and Lin Huanqiang on suspicion of defamation; later issued a statement claiming that these questions cited false information maliciously misinterpreted by defamators throughout the questioning, with the intention of misleading public opinion and expressing strong protest.
Power cannot overwhelm the truth, and the people on the island are calling for the truth more and more intensely. Polls show that nearly 5 million people in Taiwan believe that there is something wrong with Tsai Ing-wen's doctoral dissertation. Some netizens joked, "So far, there are 4 things that have not been found in the world: one is the Jewish ark of the covenant, the second is the tomb of Genghis Khan, the third is the treasure of King Solomon, and the fourth is the paper of Tsai Ing-wen." More netizens have left messages: "Justice may no longer be there, but there will always be a day when the clouds will see the sun" "The dawn will eventually come, the blue sky will always be above the green space" "Professor come on, be careful in everything, the DPP government has issued a wanted notice to you." ”
Media reporters flipped through the original documents of Tsai Ing-wen's doctoral dissertation.
You Yinglong, chairman of the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation, pointed out in a Facebook post that perhaps the administrative and legal response and handling have built an unbreakable fortification, but the doubts in the depths of people's hearts will not end.
Freelance writer Shen Naixun said in the article "The Axe of the Candle Shadow of the Thesis Gate": "Tsai (English) issued a strong four-point statement through lawyers, changing the conservative attitude of always basing on the official certification of LSE. At the end of the article, it is also 'pointed out' that some people deliberately fabricate false and false information with fragments and false information, with the intention of misleading public opinion, and should pay attention to legal responsibility to avoid self-error... Setting out the attitude of 'whoever speaks again, I will sue whom', trying to silence public opinion from now on, makes people shudder. ”
The event recently saw a breakthrough. According to the November 26 decision of the Office of the Information Commission (ICO), the LSE's highest authority, the Council of Trustees, denied holding the list of Dr. Tsai Ing-wen's oral examination committee members and oral examination report.
In response, Tsai Ing-wen's lawyers issued a statement on November 30 that according to the ICO judgment, the University of London has said that it holds Tsai Ing-wen's oral examination and passing records and can confirm that it has been awarded a degree, and the oral examination records are kept by the University of London, not the London School of Economics (LSE).
Lin Huanqiang countered that LSE denied holding the list of Dr. Tsai Ing-wen's oral examination committee members and oral examination reports, but before that, the representative of the legal team within the LSE, Hain, provided the names of two oral examination members on December 18 last year and transferred them to the legal department, according to Hayne, this is found from the LSE to retain more than 280 student materials for Tsai Ing-wen, and now the LSE University Council has denied that LSE holds Tsai Ing-wen's doctoral oral examination committee and other related materials. So how did Hain make up something out of nothing, fictitiously presenting two Doctoral Oral Examination Committee members to Taiwan's legal department? The LSE's response to Tsai's paper was inconsistent and full of contradictions.
On November 30, He Defen held a press conference with Lin Huanqiang, who was stranded in the United States online in parallel with the physical and online methods. He Defen said that he suspected that Tsai Ing-wen did not obtain a doctorate in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science, but when he consulted the relevant materials with the "Ministry of Education", he was refused on the grounds that "the machine was sealed for 30 years".
Taiwan authorities spokesperson Huang Chong-tan explained the timing and process of Tsai Ing-wen's doctorate.
Peng Wenzheng said that the Taiwan authorities claimed that Tsai Ing-wen's academic qualifications had been recognized by LSE and strictly examined by the "Ministry of Education", but under the efforts of the investigation group for more than two years, it had long been confirmed that Tsai Ing-wen was an "associate professor of three noes" with no certificate, no literature, and no examination. He called on the people to sign an immediate request for the deceitful Tsai Ing-wen to step down, and filed a complaint against the criminal group that helped Tsai Ing-wen to lie.
Some commentators have said that whether there is a doctorate or not, of course, does not have to be qualified to sit in a big position. However, academic integrity and conscience are the chastity arches of scholars. Tsai Ing-wen is a scholar and is currently the leader of the Taiwan region, but in the face of questions about the authenticity of scholarship, she still has to face the test honestly.
At present, the thesis gate incident is far from over, Tsai Ing-wen has not passed the safety pass, and the negative image brought by this incident to Taiwan has a far-reaching impact.
Li Li, an associate professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Beijing Union University, pointed out that the First, the thesis gate incident involved the issue of Tsai Ing-wen's integrity. Her attitude of handling her has completely destroyed her credibility in the eyes of many Taiwanese people. Second, Tsai Ing-wen's handling of the thesis gate incident reflects her disability. She took the form of a vicious play and dragging the shed, letting herself sink into the mire. Curiously, the Tsai Ing-wen thesis gate incident was triggered from within the Green Camp. It can be seen that the dark green forces, including the "Power of the Times" and Annette Lu, hold on to the door of the thesis, which may be largely the outbreak of uneven political division within the Green Camp.
The thesis gate incident is far from over, and Tsai Ing-wen has not yet passed the safety pass.
On December 7, Lin Huanqiang announced the results of the paper gate poll through his Facebook account "Independent Observation", which was conducted from November 30 to December 6, with a total of 2,791 people participating in the voting, and the results showed that 96.8% thought Tsai Ing-wen was a fake doctor, 1.7% thought it was a real doctor, and 1.5% believed that it could not be determined.
In the whole process of thesis gate incident, Tsai Ing-wen's lies were repeatedly punctured, including her sister flying to the United Kingdom to accompany her in the oral examination, and as a result, the two of them traveled through time and space to Boston, the United States, and then the number of oral examination committee members, the date of the oral examination, the title of the paper, etc. There are doubts, as long as she is a normal person, who will believe that she is not a "fake doctor"?
However, those who will believe in Tsai Ing-wen have never been normal people, and as long as these people hear Chinese mainland, they will automatically turn off reason, intelligence, moral right and wrong, etiquette and shame, and only care about whether there is "resistance to China". The final authenticity of the thesis gate is small, but what about the future of Taiwan?