Lin Zhijian, the Democratic Progressive Party's Taoyuan mayoral candidate and Hsinchu mayor, was recently exposed. His master's thesis was suspected of plagiarism and even included typos. According to Taiwan's "China Times News Network", Kuomintang Taipei City Councilor Wang Hong

Source: Global Times

Tsai Ing-wen’s “essay scandal” has not yet been settled, and another essay plagiarism incident recently broke out within the Democratic Progressive Party. Lin Zhijian, the Democratic Progressive Party's Taoyuan mayoral candidate and Hsinchu mayor, was recently exposed. His master's thesis was suspected of plagiarism, even including typos.

Lin Zhijian’s data map (picture source: Taiwanese media)

According to Taiwan’s “China Times News Network”, Kuomintang Taipei City Councilor Wang Hongwei html broke the news on Facebook on the evening of the 34th that Lin Zhijian’s master’s thesis was suspected of plagiarizing a research report on a project submitted by the Taiwan authorities. Even the typos are exactly the same. Wang Hongwei held a press conference on the 5th to announce relevant evidence and called on Lin Zhijian to withdraw from the election. She said that the Hsinchu Science Park Administration held a tender at the end of 2007. After winning the bid, Taiwan's Chung Hwa University completed the closing report in June 2008, and then Lin Zhijian submitted his master's thesis in July. The closing report is almost identical to Lin Zhijian’s paper in terms of title, research methods, literature, and citation survey. According to Taiwan's "United Daily News", the Bamboo Branch Management Bureau mistakenly wrote "basketball" as "blue ball" in the report. Such an obvious typo also appeared in Lin Zhijian's paper. Wang Hongwei said that Lin Zhijian plagiarized government property, and the circumstances were more serious than ordinary academic plagiarism.

However, according to Taiwan's "United Daily News", Lin Zhijian responded to this matter by saying, "These have been exposed before and are considered old news." He can definitely withstand the test and declared that his thesis has no problems. Chung Hua University said it was inquiring about relevant people at the time and was temporarily unable to respond.

It is not uncommon for politicians on the island to be suspected of plagiarizing their papers. In 2020, the Green Camp attacked Li Meizhen, the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election candidate of the Blue Camp, saying that his master's thesis was suspected of plagiarism. The Kuomintang in turn named the then-quasi "Dean of the Supervisory Yuan" Chen Ju and "President" The papers of Su Jiaquan, Secretary-General of the Government, Chen Qimai, the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party, Xu Guoyong, the "Minister of the Interior" and many other senior green camp officials, after computer comparison, are very similar to other people's papers. Of course, the most controversial person is Tsai Ing-wen herself. The famous speaker and Peng Wenzheng who exposed the plagiarism of her paper are currently in the United States and are wanted by the Tsai authorities. Regarding Lin Zhijian's plagiarism incident, United News Network commented that this was a major crisis he encountered after joining the election, but Lin was good at cutting it and tried to reverse the disadvantage. "He is indeed Xiaoying's favorite general"; but no matter how it happened, Crisis management still cannot hide its lack of integrity. [Source: Global Times Yin Yanhui]