Renowned American poet Emily Dickinson wrote: "Fame is a bee. It has a song. It has a sting. Ah, too, it has a wing."
Reminiscing about his life, 47-year-old DPP Legislator Lee Ying-yuan (
"Fame, like cars and watches, is merely a worldly possession that can evaporate at any time," said Lee, a follower of the Taoist belief that one should lead a simple life. "It takes a lot of personal experience, reflections on readings as well as societal observations to formulate such a life's philosophy," said Lee, one of the few legislators in Taiwan who prefer taking the MRT to work and dining in cafeterias.
But although Lee's new job as Taiwan's deputy representative to the US has earned him some fame, Lee himself declines to make a big fuss about it. "It is just a new role for me," he said. "And this transformation of roles -- which I share with many dissidents worldwide -- is simply a historic irony," Lee said.
A former dissident blacklisted by the KMT government for advocating Taiwan independence while in the US, Lee admitted that some might find his new role as a diplomat under Taiwan's new administration a bit strange.
Determined dissident
But such a transformation is merely a product of history, Lee claims. It was Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) victory in March's presidential election that ended the KMT's five-decade rule of Taiwan. Were it not for this transfer of power, Lee would not have been offered his current position, some have claimed.
"Where we once belonged to the opposition camp, we've now turned into members of the ruling team. It's indeed hard to describe in simple terms my feelings about this change," said Lee's wife Laura Huang (
Lee and Huang have every reason to smile at the irony. The couple's original plan, like many Taiwanese students studying overseas, was to remain in an ivory tower by teaching after graduating from university.
But Lee's involvement, beginning in the early 1980s, in the World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI), then a US-based organization supporting Taiwan independence, led the couple down a rough road.
Born to a farmer's family in Taiwan in 1953, Lee earned his first degree in public health at National Taiwan University (NTU). He then found his way to Harvard University where he received his master's degree in health policy and management. In 1988, he earned his PhD in health economics from the University of North Carolina. Although NTU granted the couple letters of appointment in 1988 and 1989, the authorities in Taiwan shut the door to the young, promising academics.
"I'd applied 13 times during two years for permission to return to my homeland ... but to no avail," Lee recalled.
In 1990, Lee decided to return to Taiwan through illegal channels as part of the WUFI's plan to move its headquarters back to the island. During the following 14 months, Lee played hide-and-seek with intelligence agents around the island. He never visited a public place more than once and he used makeup to cover an obvious mole on his right cheek. To challenge the authorities, the leading independence advocate even took a picture of himself in front of the presidential office, his wife recalled. And Lee always carried a razor, a toothbrush and toothpaste with him in case he was imprisoned.
Even after he was arrested on charges of sedition, Lee remained calm. "To all dissidents worldwide, it's easier to be put in prison than be insulted for your beliefs," Lee wrote in a September 1991 newspaper article, two weeks after his arrest.
"I found myself composed and considered life in prison bearable as it was the result of staying true to my beliefs," Lee wrote.
A suitable candidate
In 1995, Lee was elected as a legislator for the first time. For the following five years, he was a member of the Foreign Relations Committee at the Legislative Yuan. In April 1999, Lee joined a government delegation to Macedonia to deliver medical and humanitarian aid to that country. After Chen's victory in March, Lee traveled to New York and Washington, as part of a team representing the new administration, to brief members of congress about Taiwan's election. Lee also joined the president last month on his tour of Taiwan's six diplomatic allies in Central America and Africa.
When the president offered Lee the position as deputy representative to the US, insiders said Chen's choice came as no surprise. "Within the DPP, he is a well-qualified candidate in terms of his personality and his special interest in foreign affairs," said KMT spokesman Jason Hu (胡志強), a former minister of foreign affairs and himself a former representative to the US.
WUFI Chairman Ng Chiau-tong (
"I believe he can effectively combine both the diplomacy conducted by civil groups and that carried out by the government representative office," Ng said.
Huang echoed Ng's view. "People sometimes find it hard to persuade hard-liners [that Taiwan should be independent], but Lee's association with the WUFI may help him get the job done. While the WUFI was once a liability for him, it now turns out to be an asset," she said.
Challenges ahead
But Lee knows the challenges that lie ahead. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the most conservative government agency in Taiwan where many officials simply stick to obsolete ideas. And this is exactly why we need people like Lee to work among these traditional diplomats," said Ng.
Hu said it's unlikely Lee would have any major problems working with the team as he is "a man of great pragmatism and enthu-siasm."
Hu believes Lee's greatest challenge will be working within the new administration, which Hu said is still groping in the dark.
"He has never worked with the government. And his greatest challenge will be working with a team that lacks coordination and sense of direction," Hu predicted.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new