LSE Thesis-Gate Scandal
If we cannot discern right from wrong, then liars will roam freely among the honest. Dishonesty will come to plague seats of power.
“If we allow dishonest people to be in power, then the country will be finished!” -Former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew
Number of times Ing-wen Tsai's thesis has been cited
0
Year Ing-wen Tsai graduated
1984
Date Ing-wen Tsai submitted thesis
2019
One year before Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election, William Lai challenged incumbent Ing-wen Tsai for her party’s nomination. Lai had served under Tsai as premier during her first term. Throughout the Democratic Progressive Party’s primary, Tsai told Lai that if he wanted to gain support, then he must prove to the public that he can be trusted. But, did Ing-wen Tsai do so, herself?
In 2015, Ing-wen Tsai ran for president for the second time in her career. Though she was poised to win that year, questions arose surrounding the authenticity of her Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Tsai did not address those issues throughout her campaign and she continues to dodge those same questions today.
Next, we will examine if any libraries at the University of London and LSE possess Tsai’s work.
Ms. R.O., a Library Assistant at LSE, confirmed on June 4, 2019 that
the LSE Library had never received Tsai's doctoral thesis. Tsai’s work is missing from the University of London’s Senate House and Institute of Advanced Legal Studies’ (IALS) libraries as well.
Ms. R.O. said that back then Ph.D.s were awarded under the University of London’s banner. Dissertations of graduating students were required to be submitted to the University of London’s Senate House and IALS libraries.
When asked why Tsai's dissertation disappeared from libraries at both the University of London and LSE, Ms. R.O. replied on June 6, 2019, "I'm afraid there's no further information available.”
The first letter confirms that LSE libraries did not possess any physical or digital copies of Ing-wen Tsai's dissertation prior to June 6.
Currently, a physical copy of Ing-wen Tsai’s thesis is at the Women’s Library at LSE. The LSE Library’s website also houses a digital copy of the thesis. According to the LSE Information and Records Office, Tsai’s thesis was submitted to LSE libraries on June 28, 2019. Two weeks later, on July 13, 2019, the thesis was entered into the school library’s website where users could look it up.
The thesis in the LSE library’s possession was actually “given” to them by Tsai, 35 years after she graduated. But, what about the libraries at the University of London? Does the Senate House Library or the IALS Library have copies of Tsai’s thesis?
On October 9, 2019, the University of London’s Senate House Library issued a three-point response with regards to Tsai’s thesis. The points are as follows:
1. According to card catalog records,
the Senate House Library never received a copy of the thesis from external examiners.
2.
Library records also indicate that a thesis was sent to the Senate House Library in 2011, however, it was ultimately turned over to the IALS Library.
3.
The IALS Library confirmed that they no longer holds the thesis sent to them in 2011.
The IALS Library replied to similar questions on October 9, 2019. Their reply was very straightforward.
They said that they did not have a copy of the thesis in their collection.
We actually visited the University of London’s Senate House and IALS libraries. Upon our arrival we asked the librarians there if they had Ing-wen Tsai's Ph.D. thesis. This is the answer we got...
We went to the IALS Library on October 20, 2019.
The librarian there twice confirmed that Ing-wen Tsai’s Ph.D. thesis indeed could not be found in the library. The librarians said that if the thesis was simply missing then it would be marked as “lost” in the system.
We also checked the University of London’s main library -- The Senate House Library. Again,
Ing-wen Tsai's Ph.D. thesis was not there either.
Additionally, the contents of Ing-wen Tsai's diploma and thesis also raise several questions...
Number of replacement diplomas given to Ing-wen Tsai
3
Number of typos in Ing-wen Tsai’s dissertation
444
All of the information above was provided by the presidential office and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Bi-ling Kuan. But how much of this information is true?
The presidential office said on September 4 via Facebook that it requested information about Tsai’s time as a student from LSE.
Among the items provided was a scan of the diploma given to Tsai in March 1984.
However,
the University of London’s official website clearly states that
the school does not keep copies of graduates' diplomas.
Former Boston Observer columnist Michael Richardson also sent inquiries to the University of London's Diploma Production Office. A Ms. Ronnie Pereira of the University of London replied to Richardson saying, "Please note that for security and fraud prevention reasons,
we do not provide scanned copies of the certificates issued.” If the University of London does not keep copies of students’ diplomas, then where did Tsai obtain a copy of her 1984 diploma from?
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) congresswoman Bi-ling Kuan presented Tsai Ing-wen's LSE diploma to the Legislature
on September 23, 2019. Kuan said that Ing-wen Tsai was required to provide a copy of her degree when she ran for New Taipei City Mayor in 2010.
According to Taiwan’s Election and Recall Law, degrees from and above the university level should be accompanied by documents verifying its authenticity. Foreign degrees, on the other hand, should be verified by the Taiwanese representative office closest to the school that issued the diploma.
The copy of the LSE diploma
that Ing-wen Tsai submitted to the Central Election Commission in 2010 specified that LSE granted Tsai a Doctor of Law on March 14, 1984.
Additionally, Taiwan’s representative office in the United Kingdom authenticated said diploma in 2010. The authentication indicates that Ing-wen Tsai's submitted diploma was genuine and that accompanying photocopies match the original.
However,
closer inspection reveals that the seal Taiwan’s UK office
used to authenticate the replacement diploma in 2010
differs vastly from seals used to authenticate similar documents.
In 2015, when Ing-wen Tsai ran for president of Taiwan, she applied for another replacement diploma from the University of London. The reason she wrote down when applying for
the second replacement was “to address personal attacks on the authenticity of personal credentials.”
However,
the University of London's official website clearly states that diploma replacements are handled by the school’s Diploma Production Office.
Diplomas can only be reissued if the original is “irretrievably lost.”
Ing-wen Tsai's reasoning in her 2015 application for a replacement diploma does not fulfill the criteria set forth by the University of London.
In addition, Ms. T.B., Director of the University of London's Diploma Production Office, said on June 12 that
replacement diplomas are made identical to their original counterparts. Therefore, Ing-wen Tsai’s replacement diplomas from 2010 and 2015 cannot be trusted.
Ing-wen Tsai submitted her supposed doctoral dissertation to online databases at the National Library and LSE on September 27, 2019 and October 18, 2019, respectively, through specialized channels. However, there are several things wrong with the submitted thesis.
Dr. Chen-shen Yen, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University, said he found
444 typos in the thesis Tsai released to the public. Yen announced his discovery during a public hearing at the Legislature on November 29, 2019. Yen said the text contained American and British spelling of words. He claimed that there were so many errors that he did not have enough labels to mark them all.
During our visits to the two libraries at the University of London, we were able to locate the doctoral thesis of one J.E. Molina Vega. Vega was a doctoral student at LSE who also graduated in the same year as Tsai Ing-wen. His thesis has a proper copyright page attached to it.
However, the thesis Tsai Ing-wen provided to the National Library and LSE does not have a copyright page at all.
Furthermore, Ing-wen Tsai seems to have trouble remembering the title of her own thesis.
In 2019, Tsai Ing-wen refers to her thesis by the name Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Actions. However, in 2011, Tsai gave talks at several universities around Taiwan. During her seminars,
Tsai refers to her thesis by the name Safeguarding Domestic Markets.
The presidential office published a post on Facebook on September 4, 2019, in an attempt to defend Tsai. It said that it had requested information about Tsai’s time as a student from LSE. One of the documents the school provided was Tsai’s student records.
In the remarks section on Ing-wen Tsai's student record, it clearly states that
she “[withdrew] from course” on November 10, 1982 due to "financial difficulties.”
The presidential office said that “WD from course” means to drop out of a class, and not to drop out of school completely. However,
the LSE website states that a successful application for “withdrawing permanently from a course of study” will result in a student's LSE card
and account privileges being revoked. If “withdrawing” students have accommodation at LSE, the school will contact the Residential Services Office and
make arrangements for “withdrawing” students to leave. Students over 18 with mass transit cards will also have their travel privileges canceled.
From the policies written on LSE’s website, we can see that "withdrawal" indeed refers to dropping out of school.
How many more lies are there...?