TSU says Lee's aid firm

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday said that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) will stand on the front line of the party's campaign in the upcoming elections, despite rumors of calls for him to step aside.

"Former president Lee told our party Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) on Wednesday night that the TSU should not be influenced by those rumors, which were intended to alienate Lee from the party," said TSU Secretary-General Su Chin-chang (蘇進強).

"And Lee said that he will definitely attend the TSU's campaign activities, including the opening of its legislative candidates' campaign headquarters on Saturday," Su added.

A number of unidentified KMT officials recently said that some KMT members who still have good relations with Lee planned to attempt to persuade the former president to stay away from the TSU.

"The newly founded party is taking advantage of Lee's wide influence to generate more support for its candidates instead of considering how to protect Lee's reputation and his health," said a KMT heavyweight, who wished to remain anonymous.

"Many Taiwanese business leaders from southern Taiwan now face a difficult choice. They have a deep affection for Lee but dislike some TSU candidates because they don't trust politicians who have negative reputations in their home counties."

Li Ching-yi (李靜宜), a secretary at Lee's office in the Taiwan Research Institute, has decided to leave her position and applied to return to the Presidential Office, where she worked when Lee was president.

Her action has been widely interpreted as an expression of opposition to Lee's deep involvement in the TSU campaign.

Taiwan Transportation Machinery Corp President Peng Run-tzu (彭容次) and Chi Mei Group Chairman Hsu Wen-lung (許文龍), both old friends of Lee, have been described by KMT sources as having urged Lee "to stand upon a higher strategic position" instead of personally wading into the battle.

During recent weeks, Lee, while attending TSU campaign activities, has attacked the KMT, which he chaired for over 12 years, for betraying his "Taiwan first" policies and condemned the party's most senior figures, notably Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).