A board meeting of the "Lee and Lien Education Foundation" (李連教育基金會) yesterday highlighted the rift between the former and present KMT leaders.
Despite the fact that the meeting was held under the joint auspices of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), the gathering had to proceed in the absence of the two politicians. They have never appeared together at any public occasion since the KMT lost the presidential election in 2000.
The foundation was originally inaugurated in 1996 after the two became the first democratically elected president and vice president. Yesterday's board meeting was the foundation's first since Lee was ousted by the KMT last September.
Last January, both showed up at the meeting while yesterday marked the first time that neither appeared.
Lien had said earlier that he could not attend the meeting because of business-related matters, while Lee called off his appearance at the last moment.
"Former president Lee just called to say he could not make it today due to other engagements," former secretary-general to the president, Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝), told reporters.
Huang said Lee and Lien are not required to attend the meeting because they are not in fact board members.
Since ousting Lee, the KMT has been trying to remove all links with him, including removing all photos of Lee which had previously adorned party offices.
But the foundation is proving a headache for KMT officials because they cannot divide it into two parts -- to symbolize the break-up between the two -- because the foundation was named after both.
In accordance with the Election and Recall Law governing presidents and vice presidents, candidates winning more than one third of the entire vote are entitled to a NT$30 refund per vote. Lee and Lien got NT$170 million after obtaining 5,810,000 votes in the 1996 election. They used this money to form the foundation, with the aim of providing financial aid to students in need.
The foundation appears to lean more toward Lee as it is chaired by Huang, a longtime aide of Lee, and the board members elected yesterday are said to have close ties with Lee -- including Shi Hwei-you (許惠祐), secretary general of the Straits Exchange Foundation and Lin Bih-jaw (林碧炤), senior research fellow at the Taiwan Research Institute.
On the other hand, "The KMT's Foundation to Protect the Mentally and Physically disabled," another foundation chaired by Lee, will undergo a reshuffle in February when Lee's influence will cease and Lien will be made the new chairman, according to sources.
Regarding the latter foundation, board members close to Lee, such as Taiwan Solidarity Union chairman Huang Chu-wen (
Relations between Lee and his one-time protege, Lien, frayed after Lien suffered a humiliating defeat in his presidential election bid in 2000. Lien blamed his failure on Lee, saying that Lee did not help him enough during the campaign.
Since then, the two have made a point of going their own ways, as Lien became the main rival of the DPP government and Lee accused the KMT of steering away from the localization policies which he had implemented during his 12 years in power.
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