Republic of China in-exile President Tsai Ing-wen’s academic timelines do not match University of London public announcement about her PhD degree. (credit: UK Watchdog)
UK Watchdog, an independent research team, has been studying the University of London controversy over the 1984 PhD award to Republic of China in-esile President Tsai Ing-wen. Tsai triggered allegations of academc fraud in June 2019, when she submitter her PhD thesis to the library at the London School of Economics and Poltiical Science, thirty-five years late. The controversy has dogged Tsai throughout her second term as ROC President. Tsai has kept the controversy alive with her stubborn refusal to release her oral examination viva report which she claims she passed with flying colorss. Neither the LSE where Tsai attened school, nor the UL which awarded her degree, will name the examiners citing Tsai’s right to privacy.
UK Watchdog begins its latest report on November 10, 1982, when Tsai withdrew from course at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “Her PhD journey at LSE was terminated, and she was required to leave the United Kingdom.”
However, according to the cover story authored by Emily Rauhala, TIME’s Beijing correspondent, on June 29, 2015, the withdrawal did not terminate Tsai’s PhD journey at LSE but shortened it.
“She earned her PhD also in law, in less than three years. “That pleased my father,” she says. When he called her home, she obliged, returning to Taiwan to teach.”
UK Watchdos says Rauhala’s report is inconsistent with the timeline of Tsai’s PhD journey disclosed on September 23, 2019, which was prepared based on the records found in Tsai’s LSE student file sent to Tsai’s Presidential Office.
Tsai was registered with the LSE in October 1980. Tsai’s viva exam was held in October 1983, and the UL sent her viva result notification letter in February 1984. Based on the timeline, it took 41 months for Tsai to earn her PhD, more than three years.
Rauhala’s report is inconsistent with the timeline disclosed on September 23, 2019, but consistent with four documents subpoenaed from the National Chengchi University.
UK Watchdog says the most critical one of the four documents is Tsai’s Overseas Student Job Application Registration Form. It was the game plan after Tsai withdrew from her course at LSE on November 10, 1982.
Tsai submitted the Form to the ROC Ministry of Education for assistance in finding a position to teach law in Taiwan.
In order to apply for a teaching position in Taiwan, Tsai managed to obtain an official transcript of her LLM from Cornell University on December 10, 1982, only one month after she withdrew from course at the LSE on November 10, 1982.
In Tsai’s Overseas Student Job Application Registration Form, Tsai wrote that her PhD program spanned from October 1980 to May 1983, and she planned to return to Taiwan in May 1983.
Tsai managed to obtain a letter from her supervisor Michael Elliott in February 1982, certifying that Tsai was about to complete her PhD work and Tsai’s PhD exam would be held in the Spring of 1983, not October 1983.
The official letter sent from the National Youth Commission to Chengchi University on May 23, 1983, stated that Tsai was scheduled to return to Taiwan after receiving her PhD in May 1983.
These documents show that Tsai followed the game plan earning a PhD degree in less than three years, as reported by Rauhala in the TIME magazine article.
On September 30, 1987, P C Kennedy at the UL Central Registry Academic Division certified that Tsai earned a PhD degree after submitting a thesis title.
President Tsai’s PhD journey at LSE was a unique one. She earned a PhD degree after withdrawing from her course at LSE due to financial difficulties and after submitting a thesis title.
On August 10, 2021, the National Immigration Agency released Tsai’s Entry and Exit Record, certifying that Tsai returned to Taiwan on June 30, 1983. Tsai again followed her game plan returning to Taiwan after she withdrew from her course at LSE on November 10, 1982.
In Tsai’s Overseas Student Job Application Registration Form, Tsai also wrote that her PhD thesis was Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Actions. Under Publication Date and Location, Tsai wrote that her doctoral thesis would soon be published ,not by the UL or the LSE in the United Kingdom, but by law journals in Taiwan and the United States.
On September 27, 2019, Tsai’s personal copy of her doctoral thesis became downloadable at the National Central Library in Taipei, its first pulication available to the public.
Winifred Tung is an attorney in Taiwan and a member of the New York Bar.Association. After carefully comparing all journal articles published by Tsai in Taiwan to Tsai’s personal copy of her doctoral thesis, Tung released a list showing that at least seven published journal articles were from Tsai’s personal copy of her doctoral thesis. The journal articles culled from Tsai’s PhD thesis were published in two different publications, the National Chengchi University Law Review and the National Taiwan University Law Review.
The National Chengchi University Law Review published Tsai’s first journal article in June 1983, Volume 27, entitled “Safeguarding Domestic Markets in International Trade.” According to Tung’s research, it was a duplicate of Tsai’s personal copy of her doctoral thesis from pages 252 to 298.
According to the timeline of Tsai’s PhD journey in the United Kingdom, it was published in Taiwan in the same month that Tsai submitted her doctoral thesis for her PhD exam to the Univerity of London.
This journal article was Tsai’s debut as a legal scholar supposedly having a PhD in International Economic Law from the LSE.
An official letter dated May 30, 1983, sent to the National Youth Commission, indicates that Chengchi University declined to offer a teaching position to Tsai in May 1983.
Tsai was determined to teach in 1983. A Soochow University Faculty Employment certificate indicates that Tsai landed at Soochow University and began her teaching career on September 1, 1983.
As reported in TIME, when Tsai’s father called her home, she obliged, returning to Taiwan on June 30, 1983, and beginning to teach on September 1, 1983.
On October 20, 1983, the United Daily News in Taipei published on op-ed and the author was Tsai who had a PhD degree in international economic law from LSE. The article was published four days after her purported PhD viva oral examination in London.
During an interview on October 4, 2012, Tsai talked about that op-ed. Since her father never expected she would earn a PhD, after completing the study and returning to Taiwan, she contributed an article to the newspapers and got published. Her mother read it and told her father: “Look at this, the money we invested in our daughter is all in the newspapers.”
The interview confirms that when the op-ed was published, Tsai had earned her PhD and returned to Taiwan.
UK Watchdog says based on these documents, a new timeline can be established. Tsai requested her transcript from Cornell University on or before December 10, 1982, asked Elliott to certify her thesis submission and viva exam date in the Spring to prove her 1983 PhD on February 17, 1983; her Job Application Registration Form was accepted on March 11, 1983, she sat her viva exam in the Spring, was awarded a PhD in May 1983, returned to Taiwan on June 30, 1983, and began teaching at Soochow University in Taipei on September 1, 1983.
The new timeline shows Tsai’s activities after she withdrew from her course at the LSE on November 10, 1982, and it is significantly different from the timeline disclosed on September 23, 2019.
In 2015, while Tsai Ing-wen was campaigning for the 14th term President of the ROC, the LSE received a number of inquiries regarding Tsai’s missing doctoral thesis and the authenticity of Tsai’s PhD degree.
On May 20, 2016, Tsai was inaugurated as the President of the Republic of China in-exile. According to her official bio published on the Presidential Office official website, Tsai earned a PhD from LSE not in 1983, but in 1984.
It was less than one year after the cover story authored by Emily Rauhala in TIME was released, reporting that Tsai earned a PhD degree from LSE in less than three years.
According to UK Watchdog, with a PhD degree in 1984, Tsai had no choice but to conceal her tenure at Soochow University began on September 1, 1983.
After finishing her studies and returning to Taiwan, Tsai served as an associate professor and then a professor in the Department of Law at National Chengchi University, from 1984 to 1990, a professor at the Soochow University School of Law from 1991 to 1993.
On May 20, 2020, Tsai was inaugurated as the fifteenth term President of the Republic of China in-exile and she released the same official bio, claiming a PhD in 1984 and again concealing her tenure at Soochow University began on September 1, 1983.
After the Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted talk show host Dennis Peng on March 31, 2021, Peng’s attorney had access to the court file and discovered that Tsai began teaching at Soochow University on September 1, 1983.
On April 30, 2021, a public hearing was held in the Legislative Yuan and the Director of the Human Resources at Soochow University confirmed that Tsai began teaching at Soochow University as an adjunct lecturer on September 1, 1983.
No matter how you look at the various dates on Tsai’s academic timelines, the dates simply do not add up. UK Watchdog promises to dig deeper into the mystery of President Tsai’s PhD degree.
Richardson Reports 