On the same day that a magazine interview was published in which former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) leveled strong criticism of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), a top Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official discussed the important role that Lee can play in the presidential election, saying that he expected Lee to strongly attack the pan-blue camp's Lien-Soong ticket.
"Lee will play a critical role in the argument over party assets between the DPP and the KMT," Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
"Lee Teng-hui knows about the KMT, Lien Chan and James Soong (
"If Lee wants to attack the KMT, he can do it himself and he doesn't have to do it through the DPP."
The recent accusations made by the DPP and the KMT over party and personal assets have come to involve Lee, and the pan-blue camp is eager to mend relations with Lee in the hope of winning the election.
In an interview with Japan's Sankei Shimbun, published yesterday, Lee expressed approval of Chen and criticized the Lien-Soong ticket severely.
"If Chen wins a second term, he will accelerate political reform and push Taiwan to become a normal country," Lee said.
Lee also said that Taiwan's democratization cannot be stopped no matter who wins the election.
"Taiwan's democratic development depends on the public will and not on political parties or changes in power," Lee said.
Friday, Lee had voiced his support for Chen and criticized Lien and Soong during a dinner party held to support Chen by the Taiwan Solidarity Union and Lee's supporters.
"Taiwanese people need to be courageous, and look carefully. Whether Taiwan can prosper depends on the battle on March 20. We have to give A-bian [Chen's nickname] a second term," Lee said.
Lee said that he was there to support Chen and he hoped to transfer his strength to Chen so the president could win a second term.
"Only with A-bian can an administration be established that takes Taiwan as its starting point. This is the direction in which Taiwan should head. I will work with those who identify with Taiwan until I die," Lee said.
Lee also blasted the Lien-Soong ticket.
"After the election in 2000, some pro-reunification parties could not accept that fact that A-bian had won the election, and the vice president back then even left the country a day before A-bian's inauguration. He has no democratic spirit and could not face losing," Lee said.
"One of them [Lien] is stupid, and one [Soong] is sly. They lost the election in 2000 but they haven't wanted to face that fact, and they have criticized A-bian every day over the past three years," Lee said.
"If politicians like these get elected president, I don't know what kind of country this will become. It might be an administration that would behead Lee Teng-hui.
"During the election campaign in 2000, Lien and Soong attacked each other, with Soong calling Lien stupid and Lien saying Soong is good at corruption. Now these two team up and think they can win the election because together they had over 50 percent of the vote in 2000. But are they thinking about the public now? Or are they only thinking about their own interests?"
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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