Lin Chih-chien

Lin Chih-chien (; born 27 May 1975) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the mayor of Hsinchu City from 25 December 2014 to 8 July 2022.

Early life and education

Lin earned his bachelor's degree in business administration followed by a master's degree in technology management from Chung Hua University's College of Management in 2008. In 2017, he obtained a second master's degree from National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of National Development, where his thesis discussed the 2014 Hsinchu mayoral elections. Both master's degrees were rescinded by the respective institutions after investigations confirmed that Lin had plagiarized his theses for the two degrees.

Mayor of Hsinchu City

2014 Hsinchu City mayoralty election

Lin was elected as the Mayor of Hsinchu City after narrowly winning the 2014 Hsinchu City mayoralty election held on 29 November 2014.

2018 Hsinchu City mayoralty election

Lin won reelection in 2018.

Later political career

Being term limited for the Hsinchu City mayoralty, Lin proposed consolidating Hsinchu City and County to form a special municipality, though he stated in December 2021 that he would not contest the mayoralty for this proposed entity during the 2022 local elections. In June 2022, he accepted the Democratic Progressive Party nomination for the Taoyuan mayoralty. The following month, Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei claimed that Lin had plagiarized a research paper cowritten by Lee Yu-cheng and Wang Ming-lang while completing his master's degree at Chung Hua University's College of Management. Lin's adviser Ho Li-hsing and researcher Wang Ming-lang both signed written statements that asserted Lin had been on Wang Ming-lang's research team. Lin's second master's degree, obtained at National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of National Development, was called into question by political commentator Huang Yang-ming. Huang suggested that Lin had plagiarized from Yu Cheng-huang, while Lin and Chen Ming-tong, Lin's adviser at NTU, stated that Yu had utilized research material collected by Lin. National Taiwan University began into the allegations. The committee found that Lin plagiarized from Yu, and advised that Lin's master's degree be revoked National Taiwan University duly revoked his master's degree on 9 August 2022. Lin withdrew his nomination for the Taoyuan mayoralty on 12 August 2022. After the conclusion of investigations, Chung Hua University also revoked his master's degree on 24 August 2022.

Lin Chin-chien's paper plagiarism case

Lin Chih-chien's paper plagiarism case is an academic dishonesty incident in Taiwan's history. In July 2022, Lin Chih-chien, a recent Department of Science graduate and Technology Management of Chung Hua University and the National Development Institute of National Taiwan University with two master's degrees and who announced participation in the mayoral election of Taoyuan City was accused by Wang Hongwei and others of copying two thesis. Zhonghua University and Taiwan University, respectively, both concluded that Lin Chih-chien's thesis involved plagiarism and violated academic integrity, and their master's degree was revoked. Lin Chih-chien was involved in copyright issues for plagiarism, which were also filed in civil infringement and criminal proceedings.

Lin Chih-chien, who once served as a member of the Hsinchu City Council and the mayor of Hsinchu City is regarded as the future star of the youth of the Democratic Progressive Party. The controversy, which violates academic ethics, hurts Lin's Democratic Progressive Party in the 2022 Taiwanese local elections.

Accusations

When Lin Chih-chien ran in the 2018 Hsinchu mayoral election, some netizens were already discussing his master's degree from Chung Hua University (CHU), but it was not discussed more widely. During the 2020 Taiwanese presidential election, Hsu Yung-ming, a New Power Party legislator, accused Lin of plagiarism in his master's thesis. In response, Lin and his thesis advisor, Ho Li-hsing, said they had already clarified and denied the accusation. However, the New Power Party refuted Lin's statement, indicating that the press conference in July 2020 accused the legislator Cheng Chen-chien of plagiarism and did not mention Lin.

On 5 July 2022, Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei, a member of the Kuomintang, held a press conference to accuse Lin Chih-chien of plagiarism in his master's thesis at CHU She accused Lin of plagiarising from a 2007 report that Hsinchu Science Park commissioned from CHU called "Evaluating the surrounding resident satisfaction of Hsinchu Science Industrial Park in TCSI mode", authored by Li Yu-cheng and Wang Ming-lang. Wang Hung-wei hoped that CHU would properly investigate and suggested that Lin voluntarily "return" his degree. On 6 July, Wang and Taoyuan City Council candidate Ling Tao jointly held a press conference to announce that Lin was suspected of plagiarising from the December 2005 edition of Quality Monthly, and that the text similarity reached 94.1%.

Wang Hung-wei publicly announced it again on 28 July. She received a whistle-blower complaint showing that, at an international symposium held in Beijing in October 2008, Wang Ming-lang and two other graduate students, surnamed Wang and Chung, published a paper in English titled "Applying the TCSI model to evaluate the stakeholder's satisfaction nearby Hsinchu Science Industrial Park". Lin Chih-chien and his thesis guidance professor, Ho Li-hsing, were not named as authors. After comparison, the paper published in Beijing is the same as that published by Lin Chih-chien, Wang Ming-lang, and Ho Li-hsing in the CHU seminar. Other than that the former is in English, the figures in the papers are the same and in the same order, and the conclusions are exactly the same.

Response

Lin Chih-chien responded that he participated in the Hsinchu Science Park-commissioned research and also published a seminar paper with the same name as Ho Li-hsing and Wang Ming-lang. He thinks his behavior is not plagiarism, and Ho and Wang also issued a written statement in support of Lin. In response, Wang Hung-wei provided CHU's research application to Hsinchu Science Park. According to the application, Wang Ming-lang was responsible for planning, Wang Ming-lang and Ho Li-hsing were responsible for investigation and analysis, Wang Ming-lang and Li Yu-cheng were responsible for writing the report, and Lin Chih-chien was responsible for "assisting the investigation" as an unpaid research assistant. Therefore, Wang Hung-wei said that Lin Chih-chien "just helped send questionnaires" and did not author the paper. She said that the final report's cover lists "Dr. Li Yu-cheng, Dr. Wang Ming-lang" but not Lin Chih-chien.

On 24 July, Lin Chih-chien and lawmaker Cheng Yun-peng held a press conference, expressing in chronological order that his copyright ownership of the master's degree at the Discipline Management Institute of China is also his research process.

In addition, on 6 July, Lin Chih-chien's lawyer went to the Hsinchu District Prosecutor's Office to sue Wang Hung-wei for defamation. After the case was transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office, prosecutors declined to prosecute the case. Wang Hung-wei then sued Lin Chih-chien for the frivolous lawsuit; the case is still under investigation.

Academic review and results

In the examination and approval process, Lin Chih-chien once attended an explanation.

On August 24, Chung Hua University announced the results of the review, confirming that Lin Chih-chien's plagiarism was a serious violation of academic ethics, revoked Lin Chih-chien's master's degree, and also sent a letter to the National Library to remove Lin Chih-chien's paper from the shelves. According to the statement, He Lixing, the guiding professor of Lin Chih-chien's thesis, and Li Youzhi, the member of the oral examination, are the co-host and the host of the plan, respectively, but do not investigate the final report of his master's thesis and the plan, which is obviously negligent, and will be sent to the teaching evaluation committee for review.

In early October, Lin filed a lawsuit with the Ministry of Education over the administrative action of Chung Hua University to revoke his degree. 1After the trial of the lawsuit review committee, the Ministry of Education rejected the lawsuit filed by Lin Chih-chien with the decision on January 19, 2023, of Taiwan Education Law (3) No. 1110094222, believing that Chung Hua University was punished in accordance with the regulations and the cancellation of Lin Chih-chien's master's degree was not wrong. Lin Chih-chien also apologized on his personal Facebook fan page on February 14, 2023, for revoking the punishment of Zhonghua University, respecting the resolution of the Litigation Review Committee of the Ministry of Education, and not filing an administrative lawsuit.

Copyright problem

Ling Tao and Yang Zhi-dou, a KMT Taipei city councilor candidate, went to the Taipei District People's Office on July 6 to accuse Lin Chih-chien of violating the Copyright Law. Wang also accused the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office of Lin, his professors, and others of violating the copyright law.

According to the contract between the Hsinchu Science Park Administration and Chung Hua University, the property rights of the works in the closing report belong to the Bamboo Science Administration. In a statement, the bureau, on the evening of July 6, asked Chung Hua University to make an explanation. The administration has also publicly stated that no one has applied for authorization to use the closing report. Bamboo Science Administration Bureau and Zhonghua University have exchanged many official letters and discussions. On December 30, 2022, the bureau filed a civil lawsuit against Lin Chih-chien for violation of the Copyright Law and filed a criminal complaint to the Hsinchu Local Procuratorate in Taiwan on January 3, 2023.

Academic ethics norms have been tightened

National Taiwan University announced on 6 July 2022 that, from that day, all master and doctoral students must submit their theses to an "originality comparison" and have the results reviewed by their advisors.

Impact of the election situation

In mid-2022, Lin Chih-chien announced that he would represent the Democratic Progressive Party in the Taoyuan mayoral election. His paper was publicly accused of plagiarism by many people, and the first whistleblower, Wang Hongwei, from the KMT, became a hot topic in the election campaign after Lin Chih-chien announced his candidacy.。For example, the KMT suggested that Chen Ming-tong, president of GuoGuoan and party chairman, apologize for criticizing Lin for violating academic ethics and losing personal integrity

In the Democratic Progressive Party, Gao Jiayu, a member of the party, said that the dispute between Lin Chih-chien's paper and the Hsinchu Stadium would have a negative impact on the northern candidates in the 2022 Taiwanese local elections, so some people suggested replacing Lin Chih-chien. Zheng Yunpeng, a party official elected by Lin Chih-chien in Taoyuan and another member of parliament, opposed Gao's views and accused her of "apparently not reading the complete information and not understanding her party members."

On August 10, the next day after the cancellation of his degree by Taiwan University, Tsai Ing-wen, chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, said at a party meeting that "we are willing to believe that Zhijian did not copy" and instructed party members to believe Lin Chih-chien. "We will shout to everyone that Lin Chih-chien did not copy." However, on August 12, after the DPP held a temporary election response meeting, Lin Chih-chien said in a press conference that he would voluntarily withdraw from the election, with his assistant cadre Zheng Yunpeng taking over to participate in the Taoyuan mayoral election

In the 2022 Taiwanese local elections, the Democratic Progressive Party was greatly defeated. The post-election official review report submitted by the DPP pointed out that after the outbreak of Lin Chih-chien's paper plagiarism incident, the failure to timely and properly handle it caused public dissatisfaction. The hasty withdrawal from the election affected the trust of young people, and the whole incident had a negative impact on the election situation.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Chih-chien
1975 births
Living people
Democratic Progressive Party (Taiwan) politicians
Mayors of Hsinchu
National Taiwan University alumni