KMT to review authenticity of Tsai’s doctorate

ARCHIVED DOCUMENT: The formatting used in President Tsai Ing-wen’s doctoral dissertation seemed to be ‘ahead of its time,’ academic Hsu Yung-tai said

By Sean Lin / Staff reporter





The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday drafted a motion to create a review committee to assess the authenticity of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) doctoral diploma and dissertation.

Many people, including former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), have raised doubts about the authenticity of Tsai’s diploma and dissertation, so Tsai — who during her campaign for the 2016 presidential election touted her doctoral dissertation as being “worth one-and-a-half to two doctorates” — should present the documents to put an end to the speculation instead of just verbally assuring people that they are genuine, KMT caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.

Citing findings by academic Hsu Yung-tai (徐永泰), KMT Legislator Arthur Chen (陳宜民) said that the formatting used in Tsai’s dissertation seemed “ahead of its time” and the quality of the paper used was similar to that of fax paper.

From left, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lin Yi-hua and Kung Wen-chi, KMT caucus whip William Tseng, KMT New Taipei City Councilor Lin Ching-chieh and KMT caucus vice secretary-general Arthur Chen show their diplomas and theses at a news conference at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

In an article published on Wednesday by the Chinese-language Apple Daily, Hsu said that after having read Tsai’s dissertation at the LSE’s library on Sept. 13 and Sept. 16 he had uncovered several problems, including six missing pages and the apparently modern formatting, which he said was seemingly done by computer software instead of a typewriter, which is what Tsai would have used to write her dissertation in 1983.

KMT Legislator Yosi Takun asked why Tsai’s dissertation had been archived by the LSE in June, 35 years after her graduation, and whether the archived version was the original version.

KMT Legislator Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said she had requested authentication of Tsai’s dissertation from the Central Election Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but both agencies had turned down her requests, citing the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法).

At the news conference, Lin showed her “ministry-certified” master’s diploma from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, Chen displayed his Harvard University doctorate in public health and Yosi displayed his Loughborough University School of Social Sciences and Humanities doctorate and dissertation.

Responding to Tsai’s call yesterday for the caucus members to give up their legislative immunity and hold a news conference outside of the legislature, Tseng said: “What kind of response is that?”

Tsai’s remark was an insult to the public’s right to know the truth and if Tsai dares to sue the KMT lawmakers, the caucus would lodge a perjury countersuit against her, he said.

“The degree and the dissertation are authentic. What is authentic cannot be faked,” Tsai said yesterday.

The KMT’s smear campaign is detrimental to the elections, which should be a rational choice about policies and visions, she said.

Additional reporting by Hsieh Wu-hsiung