As soon as the Kuomintang nominated Ke Zhi'en to be the mayor of Kaohsiung, the "Ondari" on the network flank of the Green Camp attacked Ke Zhien's academic credentials for similarities in the summaries of Ke Zhien's two papers. As a result, the KMT has just nominated the current mayor of Hsinchu Lin Zhijian to elect the mayor of Taoyuan, and the KMT Taipei City Councilor Wang Hongwei also came out to break the news, saying that Lin Zhijian's master's thesis published at Chung Hwa University in Taiwan was suspected of plagiarizing a research report commissioned by Hsinchu Science Park in June of the same year.
Another day later, Du Zhenhua, a retired professor at the New Party and National Taiwan University, broke the news that Lin Zhijian's master's thesis at National Taiwan University was also suspected of plagiarism, which was almost the same as the thesis of Yu Zhenghuang, another graduate student who graduated from the university the previous year. Subsequently, media personalities Huang Yangming and Taipei lawmaker Xu Qiaoxin followed up, digging up Lin Zhijian's academic scandal more and more, making it the hottest political focus on the island this week.
Lin Zhijian (left) and Tsai Ing-wen (right) Source: Taiwan Strait Network
The issue of Lin Zhijian's thesis is not just plagiarism, it involves issues such as embezzlement of the government's public property, and it also draws people's attention to the traditional shady curtain of taiwanese politicians and academic circles for many years, so that people with academic backgrounds in the Green Camp dare not defend it, for fear of setting themselves on fire. Of course, Lin Zhijian's former boss, Ke Jianming, still actively jumped down to help him defend him, and even held a press conference to smear a large number of KMTs and engage in negative elections, but he seems to have forgotten how the Green Camp treated kmt candidate Li Meizhen in the first place. In addition, whether Lin Zhijian copied the paper in the end, Ke Jianming avoided talking about it.
During his studies at Chung Hwa University in Taiwan, Lin was also An assistant to Ke Jianming during his time in the legislature. At that time, Hsinchu Science Park commissioned the Department of Science and Technology Management of Chung Hua University to conduct a research project on the satisfaction of residents outside the science park. The research fund is 450,000 yuan (NT$, all below). Afterwards, some people analyzed that the reason why Chung Hua University won this project is likely to be related to the help of Ke Jianming, an influential person in Hsinchu, so it is also natural that this project helped Lin Zhijian complete his thesis.
It is said that the two professors in charge of the project only asked Lin Zhijian to help distribute the questionnaire, and the result was that the report formed by the project, both in title and content, was almost the same as Lin Zhijian's so-called master's thesis he had completed. Turning research results purchased by the public service into its own papers is not only a matter of plagiarism, but also involves the embezzlement of public property.
Although according to Lin Zhijian's argument, the professors involved in the research all thought that Lin Zhijian's use of the commissioned research content he participated in to make a master's thesis was "reasonable", but this is very much like some kind of classic game dilemma, or Lin Zhijian copied the report that the government paid for, suspected of academic fraud and embezzlement of public property; Either the professors in charge of the project took Lin Zhijian's personal research report and fraudulently claimed research funds. In any case, there is no such thing as Lin's argument that because of his own participation, he can turn a public research project into his own thesis.
And Lin Zhijian's plagiarism case at National Taiwan University is even more ridiculous. Because the paper discussed the analysis of Lin Zhijian himself who was elected mayor of Hsinchu that year, Lin Zhijian did have detailed poll data. At that time, Lin Zhijian's guidance professor was Chen Mingtong, who is now in charge of security affairs on the island. Chen Mingtong helped him ease his cheeks, saying that because Yu Zhenghuang had encountered a bottleneck in writing a paper, he was the one who took Lin Zhijian's poll information to Yu Zhenghuang for reference, and Yu also thanked Lin Zhijian for his help in the preface to the paper. But the problem is that the abstracts of Yu and Lin's two papers are as high as 70%, and there are at least seven large-scale plagiarisms in the "research concepts" and "research methods", the repetition rate is as high as 88%, and even the English part is completely consistent, and even the typos in the text are the same, so there is always one person copying another person.
On July 5, Lin Zhijian (left) held a press conference to explain the suspected plagiarism of the paper. Source: Taiwan media
First of all, in any case, Yu Zhenghuang graduated in front, and the thesis was also in front, and the claim of plagiarizing the latecomers was quite absurd. Secondly, Chen Mingtong, as a supervising professor, actually let the students pass two papers that were so similar. In any case, it is impossible to explain. What is also more strange is that this Yu Zhenghuang is missing, and no reporter has found him so far. Some people inquired through the Network and found that there was an investigation cadre in Chen Mingtong's department at that time named Yu Zhenghuang, who was also a graduate student on the job, and it was suspected that he was the same person, so it was not ruled out that Chen Mingtong sacrificed Yu to protect Lin Zhijian. After all, Lin Zhijian is the so-called "little English boy" cared for by Tsai Ing-wen, and the future is immeasurable.
Chen Mingtong (data map) Source: Straits Herald
Chen Ming-tong was the director of the Taiwan Development Research Institute of National Taiwan University and supervised 173 master's and doctoral students, including many Green Camp politicians, including Zheng Wencan, Pan Meng'an, Chen Meiling, and Qiu Chuizheng, vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council; and the Green Camp people's representatives including Qiu Zhiwei, Guo Guowen, Shen Fahui, and Gao Jiayu; in addition, dpp chairman Hong Yaonan, senator Guo Kunwen, Tsai Ing-wenwen, Li Tuozi, wife of Huang Chongyan, director of Tsai Ing-wen's office, Lin Bingyi, and so on; and Zou Jingwen, editor-in-chief of the green media Liberty Times, was also a student of Chen Mingtong. But some people have also found that most of the electronic files of these politicians' papers are not public, and they are afraid of revealing a horse's foot similar to Lin Zhijian. This thus also unveiled a dark curtain in Taiwan's political arena and academic circles, politicians went to schools to mix a diploma, and professors also exchanged various resources, even including access to the political system. Taking Chen Mingtong as an example, while "peach and plum full of green camps", the officials are getting bigger and bigger.
As things got worse, the Hsinchu Science Park Authority finally issued a statement on July 6, saying that it would launch an internal investigation to track down the content of the final report commissioned by Chung Hua University and why it became the content of the thesis of Chung Hwa University's master's students. In addition, Hsinchu Science Park also sent a letter to Chung Hua University, asking for clarification of the contract of the outsourced research case and asking for a detailed explanation, which is a direct slap in the face to Lin Zhijian's so-called "reasonableness" determined by the professors.
Because of the heavy setback to the reputation of NTU, it could not sit still, announcing that a review team would be set up to conduct a thorough investigation, and promising to produce results within two months. If the investigation is completed as scheduled, it may have a fatal blow to Lin Zhijian's election. Interestingly, the current president of NTU, Guan Zhongmin, was initially blocked from taking office by the Green Camp, and even sacrificed three heads of education departments. The convener of this review committee is Professor Su Hongda, the current dean of social sciences at National Taiwan University. Professor Su was harassed by the Green Camp's investigation department simply because he questioned the forbidden city in Taiwan to move cultural relics south, and even threatened to "bring him to justice." Now that the Heavenly Path is reincarnated, some media people are teasing that "it is really retribution."
The verdict has just been pronounced in the case of collective bribery of the People's Congress
Tainan Mayor Huang Weizhe was also involved in bribery
On July 6, the Taipei District Court pronounced a verdict in the case of the People's Congress for collective bribery, regardless of whether it was blue or green, and the judge sentenced su Zhenqing (a member of the Democratic Progressive Party) to 10 years' imprisonment, Liao Guodong (a member of the Kuomintang) to 8 years and 6 months' imprisonment, Chen Chaoming (a member of the Kuomintang) to 7 years and 8 months' imprisonment, and Xu Yongming (a member of the Times Force) to 7 years and 4 months in prison in accordance with the Regulations on the Punishment of Corruption. Zhao Zhengyu (no party member) is sentenced to 6 months' imprisonment, which can be fined (that is, the original sentence is replaced by paying a fine). These blue-green politicians are involved in using white gloves such as Guo Keming to accept or agree to accept bribes from Li Henglong, the former chairman of Pacific Circulation Corporation, and help them regain control of a certain shopping mall through legislative questioning, holding hearings, and exerting pressure on officials. Among them, it was determined that Su Zhenqing was involved in accepting bribes of 25.8 million yuan, Liao Guodong was 7.9 million yuan, Chen Chaoming was 1 million yuan, and Xu Yongming was involved in agreeing to accept bribes of 2 million yuan, and it was not too late to fall into the bag. After the verdict was pronounced, none of these people pleaded guilty and appealed.
Su Zhenqing (data map) Source: Taiwan media
This incident also shows that the so-called blue-green divergence in Taiwan's political arena is often a form of performance, and obtaining benefits is their real consensus, such as the so-called vaccine research and development in Taiwan before there was a big shady scene. Although the media scolded each other. In the end, it was found that many blue-green politicians invariably held shares in certain companies. And this collective bribery case is also regardless of whether it is blue or green, and it is up and down together.
One of the most ironic is Xu Yongming, who for many years has participated in various political activities and scolded the powerful in the media, as if it were a clear stream. As a result, just after becoming a people's representative, he eagerly asked for bribes. The forces of the times, a political party that gained political prestige through the "sunflower," once made a lot of noise, as if a third force was really going to appear in Taiwan's political arena, but after it really participated in politics, it was full of ugliness, and it fell apart in four years.
Xu Yongming (data map) Source: Straits Herald
In addition, 3 million yuan of cash was found in Xu Yongming's home, and Xu Yongming said that he borrowed it from Lin Jialong, the mayor of Taichung at the time, and was recognized by the court, which also implied that Lin Jialong's ambitions were actually very large, and he was obviously plotting to gather political forces outside the DPP.
Tainan's Kuomintang candidate, Hsieh Long-chieh, went to Taipei on July 7 to hold a press conference and pointed out that Tainan Mayor Huang Weizhe sent lawyers to collect 7.2 million yuan from local Lingku Pagoda operators. Xie Longjie said that Huang Weizhe and his lawyers and the industry had dinner twice, and when the industry told Huang Weizhe about the appeal, Huang said to the industry, "You have to help others, others will help you", and Huang Weizhe's lawyer also offered Li a price of 10 million yuan on the same day, and the two sides discussed paying 7.2 million yuan in the name of a consulting fee of 200,000 yuan for three years, and then paying the remaining 2.8 million yuan after completing the purpose. The firm subsequently paid 7.2 million yuan to the law firm in three tranches. In the past three years, the industry and the Wong Wai Chee camp have met six times. At the press conference, the details of the day's meal were also announced, such as Huang Weizhe's early departure, but when he left, he packed the food for the dinner party to take away, which is indeed very similar to Huang Weizhe's past image of loving small and cheap. In the past, he was either accused of stealing other people's bento boxes, or stealing coffee from the opponent's camp, and so on.
Mayor of Tainan Huang Weizhe
However, Huang Weizhe also had unclear things in the past, such as in 2018, his office director was accused by businessmen of not only asking for bribes, but also being exposed that he did not help with money. Huang Weizhe said it was a personal economic dispute with the director of the office. Later, Huang Guochang also broke a recording, saying that Huang Weizhe had a relationship with Tsai Ing-wen's celebrity Gu Lixiong Wang Meihua and his wife Qiao (that is, mediation and arbitration) to prove that Huang Weizhe intervened in this matter. But in the end, Taiwan's prosecutors proved that Huang Weizhe was unaware, and his office director did not fail to collect money. At that time, in the Tainan mayoral election, the DPP engaged in the nomination within the party, and it was not ruled out that some people would use Huang Guochang to attack Huang Weizhe. However, if a person is always involved in these unclear political and business cooperation, he really has a very bad impression.
This year is another election year on the island, and elections are very expensive. Although there are strict regulations on how to finance the elections on the island. But in fact, there are various ways to circumvent these provisions. Election funding has become a bottomless black hole for every candidate. And how to make those sponsors willingly come up with a large amount of real money and silver, obviously does not rule out that there are many benefits exchanged. It's just that some people do it very secretly, while some people, with a big grin, don't care about the consequences. Especially the politicians of the Green Camp, because they understand the mentality of the Green Camp voters. For example, when Chen Shui-bian's corruption is so conclusive, a large number of Green Camp supporters still believe that Ah Bian is persecuted; Another example is Su Zhenqing, when the bribery case is investigated, he can still be a voter. Huang Weizhe's suspicion of bribery is really not a problem for Tainan's green to bone marrow voters. Huang Weizhe's real problem is that he is not green enough.
The author 丨 Xu Yi, Shenzhen Satellite TV direct news special chief writer
Typography 丨 Qiu Hui