Ma's thesis
contained more than 1,000 mistakes: report
MISSPELLED, MISATTRIBUTED: A
retired teacher said she was so shocked by the president's thesis at Harvard
that she carefully analyzed it, finding all kinds of errors
By Richard Hazeldine
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 07, 2009, Page 1
President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) Harvard University doctoral thesis contains more
than 1,000 errors that violate the university's freshmen writing guidebook, a
report on the Boston-based Web site examiner.com said yesterday.
The news could come as an embarrassment to the president, who prides himself on
his English ability and served as former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國)
interpreter shortly after graduating.
Ma’s thesis, which discussed issues surrounding the Diaoyutai Islands, was
titled Trouble Over Oily Waters: Legal Problems of Seabed Boundaries and Foreign
Investments in the East China Sea. It helped Ma graduate from the university's
Law School as a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) in 1981.
The errors came to light after a retired teacher interested in Ma's views on the
islands looked up the thesis, the story said.
It reported that the retired teacher was so shocked at the “sloppy scholarship”
that she spent a whole year studying the document and checking all the
footnotes.
The results of her work turned up more than 1,000 errors, including
misspellings, missing words, grammatical problems and misattributed material and
footnotes, the Web site report said.
The report, by Michael Richardson, said that although the teacher had yet to
discover evidence of plagiarism, “she is suspicious and continues digging into
the paper.”
The teacher had contacted Ma's former faculty advisor, Detlev Vagts, to voice
her concerns, the report said.
It added that Vagts, who said he didn't keep a copy of the work, told the
teacher in writing: “Although I would like to be helpful with Ma Ying-jeou’s
thesis my ability to do so is limited.”
Nevertheless, he assured the teacher that he had “high standards for approval”
and was “fully satisfied that Ma Ying-jeou met those standards.”
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said the value of a doctoral
thesis should be its viewpoints and contributions to the specific field.
The fact that the president received an SJD from Harvard was the best proof of
the quality of his doctoral thesis, he said.
Chen's office says court has
failed to provide recordings
By Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 07, 2009, Page 3
Former president Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) office accused the Taipei District Court
yesterday of failing to provide videotapes of 50 questioning sessions related to
Chen's case, and said it would soon release details on prosecutors' allegedly
illegal actions.
Chen’s lawyers asked the court for recordings of all questioning sessions
related to his case and discovered the court had only videotaped 298 of the more
than 300 sessions conducted, the office said in a press release.
The questioning of former Chinatrust Financial Holding Co vice chairman Jeffrey
Koo Jr (辜仲諒), former minister of the interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲), Quanta
chairman Barry Lam (林百里), former Taipei Financial Center Corp chairwoman Diana
Chen (陳敏薰), former Hsinchu Science Park Administration chief James Lee (李界木),
former first lady Wu Shu-jen’s (吳淑珍) friend Tsai Ming-che (蔡銘哲) and Chen aide
Tseng Tien-tsu (曾天賜) were only recorded in writing, and no videos or DVDs were
provided to Chen's lawyers, the office said.
For example, the only record of prosecutors questioning Yu on Oct. 21 last year
was a written one.
In the written statement, Yu, who prosecutors said had admitted leaking the
names of the evaluation board for the Nangang Exhibition Center project to
potential contractors, asked to become a prosecution witness.
Chen's office condemned the court for failing to provide videotapes of the
session, and demanded the court explain why Yu decided to turn witness.
Chen's office also asked the court to provide recordings of the questioning of
Yuanta Financial Holding Co chief operating officer Michael Ma (馬維辰) on Nov. 27.
Ma was named as a defendant on suspicion of helping Chen and Wu transfer money
to overseas accounts.
In the written record, Ma accused former Central Investment Corp chairman Chang
Che-chen (張哲琛) of asking for bribes during negotiations for the purchase of the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-owned enterprise.
Ma told prosecutors that Chang, who has served as head of the KMT's
administrative and management department, had asked for a NT$2 billion (US$57.5
million) commission based on the NT$16 billion purchase price.
Chen's office said his defense team wanted to view the videotape of Ma's
interrogation to learn more about Chang's alleged bribe taking.
Sutter urges US to rethink policy
CHINA AND TAIWAN: A Georgetown University professor says the recent
cross-strait rapprochement means Washington needs to review its policy toward
Taipei and Beijing
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA, WASHINGTON
Saturday, Mar 07, 2009, Page 3
Georgetown University professor Robert Sutter has called on the US government to
change its cross-strait policy amid easing tensions between Taiwan and China,
saying the situation might prevent the US from achieving its “goal of balance”
in the region.
Sutter, a professor at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, made the call in
an article titled “Cross-Strait Moderation and the United States — Policy
Adjustments Needed” released on Thursday by the Pacific Forum CSIS (Center for
Strategic and International Studies).
Although US policy supports President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) efforts to ease
cross-strait tensions through moderation and accommodation, the US may need to
reconsider its policy regarding Taiwan and China as a result of the changing
power dynamics in the region, Sutter wrote.
In both Taiwan and the US, Sutter said, attention is focused on progress in
further easing tensions through Ma's policy of interchange with and reassurance
of China.
Rapidly developing cross-strait economic and social contacts are complemented by
much slower progress regarding Taiwan’s international profile and the military
buildup China continues to direct at Taiwan, he wrote.
The positive US approach to China and US support for Ma's strong efforts to
reassure Beijing, however, have not directly addressed changing realities of
power and influence regarding Taiwan, he said.
While the US supports Ma’s strong efforts to reach out to China and promote
cross-strait stability, China's influence in Taiwan is growing and deepening,
Sutter said.
Consultations among policy experts in and out of the US government and recent
developments suggest that the longstanding notion of a US-supported balance in
the Taiwan Strait is no longer viable in the face of ever-increasing Chinese
influence over Taiwan, he said.
Sutter observed that some officials and policy specialists in Washington and
Taipei are saying privately that the recent easing of tensions and cross-strait
trends support longer-term US interests regarding Taiwan, and they assert that
support for those trends should supersede traditional US concern with sustaining
a balance of power.
But Sutter said the US government has not yet made such a case effectively and
the situation is not well understood by many congressional officials, media and
others with an interest in US policy toward Taiwan, who still see US interests
based on seeking an appropriate balance that is influenced by the US.
A review of US policy options that takes account of the full implications of
China's markedly increased influence over Taiwan along with the perceived
benefits of reassuring Beijing in the interest of cross-strait stability is
needed, he said.
More tricks
in the Chen legal circus
Saturday, Mar 07, 2009, Page 8
The trial of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) brings disrepute to the
judicial system with every passing week.
For those non-plussed at why prosecutors have not been thoroughly investigated
for leaking material to the media, there is always the smorgasbord of other
bizarre circumstances to consider: ludicrous arguments for keeping Chen in
detention; a switching of judges that put Chen back in detention; faulty
recording or informal summaries of “testimony” by witnesses who likely made
deals with the prosecution; mandatory taping of meetings between Chen and his
legal team by detention center officials; prosecutors mocking their target in
theatrical skits; prejudicial comments by Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng
(王清峰) and at least two members of the legislature’s judiciary committee; threats
by legislators against dissenting judges elsewhere in the legal system; and so
on, and so on. It's a genuine feast.
This week saw a few more morsels of legal incredulity added to the heap. On
Thursday, prosecutors objected to defense requests for the calling of witnesses
because, among other reasons, doing so might benefit the defendants of the day.
That this nonsensical component of the objection was not immediately overruled
by the judges is most interesting.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Chen's office wants to bring
international attention to the issue. With massive pressure on defense counsel
coming from the largely pro-blue-camp media, a foreign perspective could give
Chen’s team a more solid footing in the media war against his political foes.
This newspaper has also concluded that international attention is necessary —
not for Chen's sake, but for the sake of a credible, independent judiciary. The
proceedings to date in this most vital of trials have been so badly compromised
that expert analysis from the International Council of Jurists, for example, may
be essential to demonstrate the gravity of the problem.
For a government that basks in international attention when it occasionally
graces our shores, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration seems
awfully reticent when it comes to receiving criticism from expert quarters. Such
was the case with Professor Jerome Cohen, an eminent jurist who came to
castigate elements of Taiwan’s judicial system. We can only assume that his
close relationship with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) spared him from the genuine
wrath of the KMT legislative caucus.
With intellectual property rights law playing such an important part in
relations with the US, for example, it is ironic that the justice minister would
object to expert overseas scrutiny of the judiciary on any pertinent case. Yet
this is exactly what Wang did, warning Chen’s office that any complaint to the
foreign press would discredit the nation.
Meanwhile, one of those legislative committee members, convicted criminal Chiu
Yi (邱毅), warned — in all seriousness — that holding such a press conference
could result in the judges extending Chen's detention. The ramifications of a
person of Chiu’s visibility being able to say things as contemptuous of natural
justice as this, and with impunity, are frightening, though few seem to care.
Wang need not be concerned about Chen's office discrediting the judiciary,
because in light of the circus involving so-called professionals and officials —
not least this relentlessly inept minister — Chen's men simply cannot compete.