Lee says China needs to change

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday urged China to improve its record on human rights and democracy as he ended his three-day visit to his alma mater, Cornell University.

The criticism of Beijing is likely to outrage Chinese officials.

"There is no real democracy in China," Lee said, responding to a protest staged against him on the campus by Chinese students on Thursday.

"Their protest is useless. They [the students] should go ask their own government whether they have been given freedom and democracy. Chinese people are really pitiful," Lee said.

"China needs to make changes because the Chinese people are suffering. They don't enjoy the universally accepted values of freedom and democracy," he said.

The Chinese students had only made a false impression by staging what they called a democratic demonstration, Lee said, adding that Taiwan and China must make efforts together to ease tension and improve ties.

Lee did not respond to remarks by Zhang Mingqing (張銘清), spokesman for Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, who on Thursday lashed out at Lee, saying, "Lee has been engaged in separatist activities."

Zhang, at a press conference in Beijing, also said, "He [Lee] is a representative of Taiwanese independence forces, as well as a troublemaker in Sino-US relations and cross-strait relations."

After inaugurating the Lee Teng-hui Institute for Scientific Research at Cornell, Lee highlighted the institute's potential to contribute to economic development in Taiwan and the world, saying that any major developments achieved by the institute in the field of nanotechnology research would benefit both.

"Even though China has more land and a greater population, it doesn't necessarily surpass Taiwan in high-tech accomplishments," Lee said. "Taiwan is stronger in terms of talented people and its level of development in high-technology."

Trying to keep his Cornell trip as low-profile as possible, Lee was less outspoken yesterday than he had been on Monday, the first full day of his US visit, in Los Angeles. Repeatedly pressed by reporters as to how he planned to assist President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), he did not answer but asked, "Is Taiwan politically stable at the moment?"

He said that the maintenance of political stability that would benefit the nation required the cooperation of every citizen in Taiwan, not himself alone.

On his final morning at Cornell, Lee canceled a planned round of golf with Cornell faculty members, saying he was tired from his trip.

Instead, he attended a reunion at his hotel with former classmates before flying back to Los Angeles for a two-day stopover, during which he and his wife Tseng Wen-hui (曾文惠) will stay with his brother-in-law's family.

Taiwan's chief representative in the US, Chen Chien-jen (程建人), said yesterday in New York that Lee's trip to Cornell demonstrated that ties between Washington and Taipei have matured.

"By his presence here that was so well received and respected, it shows there is a better relationship between Taiwan and the United States," Chen said.

"I know that Beijing has some complaints, but they complain about everything. So I don't think it is so important," Chen said.

Lee is expected to return to Taiwan next Tuesday.