Former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) will today launch his latest book Witness Taiwan: President Chiang Ching-kuo and Me (見證台灣:蔣經國與我) in which he narrates the process by which he was chosen by the late Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) to be his vice president and how Chiang ushered in policies for democratization and localization of the KMT party-state in the last years of Chiang's presidency.
The book was compiled by the Academia Historica (國史館) and contains Lee's oral reminiscences and written notes taken by him between 1984 and 1988 containing instructions and assignments from his personal conversations with Chiang.
In the book, Lee details the process by which Chiang appointed him vice president at a Central Committee meeting in February 1984. The appointment resulted in Lee's becoming the first Taiwan-born president when Chiang died in 1988.
Lee said the most crucial moment in the rise of his status in the KMT happened in the central committee meeting as he was formally nominated by Chiang as the vice president.
Lee writes:
On Feb. 15, 1984, the KMT convened its second Central Committee meeting in the Sun Yat-sen Hall (中山樓) on Yangmingshan. The primary task of the meeting was to nominate a candidate for vice president. After signing in for the meeting, I sat down in the first row of the seats, waiting for the meeting to begin. For the KMT, the arrangement of the seats is very important. It signifies the ranking of the central committee members. I remembered my ranking was one of the top few. The first seat in the first row was Chiang's seat, followed by other party seniors. Not long after I took the seat, Premier Sun Yun-shuan (孫運璿) came and spoke quietly to me: "Congratulations. The president will nominate you as the vice president later on. You'll find no problem to pass [the nomination]." He said it very politely and added a few words like "I agree to it, too." It meant Chiang had already told him about his plan for the nomination; otherwise he wouldn't have come to congratulate me. At that time, many expected Sun himself to take the vice presidency. Until this day, rumors had it that it was because he had a stroke that Chiang did not nominate him. Actually Sun hadn't had the stroke at the time that Chiang made his choice for the nomination.
Chiang had an office in Sun Yat-sen Hall, right above the stairs at the left side of the hall's stage. The office was used for the reception of guests and there was a bed inside. Chiang would stay there if he had a meeting in the hall and most of the time he would just rest on the bed. During the Central Committee meeting, everyone was paying attention to all who walked up and down those stairs. The point of this was that everyone was hoping to be summoned by Chiang to walk up that stairs. That meant a chance of promotion or change of post.
After Sun offered his congratulations, there was not much time left before the meeting began. Then I saw Hsieh Tung-min (謝東閔) [late vice president as well as the Chiang's first vice president], walk up the stairs. Five or six minutes later, he came down with a sour look on his face. I knew that something happened. Soon after that, Chiang's chief aide-de-camp came to tell me that "the president wants to see you." The president then told me that "Teng-hui, this time I would like to nominate you as the vice president." I declined immediately, saying "I can't. In terms of qualification and ability, I still have some problems." Then Chiang said "I think it should be OK. You will do fine." Since he has made the words so straightforward, I thanked him and then walked down the stairs. As I returned to my seat, Sun took a look at me. I think he knew that the president had told me his decision.
On July 15, 1987, Chiang ended the 38-year martial law period. Lee said the reason Chiang put an end to martial law was because he could not resist the overwhelming opposition to martial law within the country. The end of martial law was seen as the signal for the beginning of democratization which subsequently brought about the "Promote Young Taiwanese" (吹台青) movement, the beginning of the "localization" (本土化) of the KMT. Of this, Lee says:
Chiang ended the martial law period because he couldn't resist the trend; he knew too many people were against martial law to be suppressed. Chiang thought that if the KMT were to survive in Taiwan, it had to democratize and localize. The changing environment meant these changes had to take place. He once said "I am also a Taiwanese." But he only began to say this in 1987. In fact, he was still a Chinese. I always think that in Chinese culture a dictatorship can suppress people's discontent. Only when the leadership itself is willing to change can change such as democratization happen. This is a very important notion. Back then if Chiang didn't take the initiative to terminate the martial law period, no one would dare to do so inside the KMT. Therefore, the entire cancellation of the martial law period would only happen because Chiang had the idea of democratization and localization. Now there are still people opposing democratization and localization. To be honest, they are opposing Chiang's ideas.
Why was Chiang able to usher in democratization in Taiwan? He had been to Russia, so he must have known something about Bolshevik [revolution]. He had been sent to labor reform camp in Siberia where he had suffered, so he knew where the problem lay.
I am not certain whether Chiang had a comprehensive plan for democratization. He was dealing with the termination of martial law, lifting the ban on the forming of political parties and as well as furthering the "Promote Young Taiwanese" movement. But I reckon that he didn't mean to sustain a localized power. His reforms were step by step. It must have never occurred to him that Taiwanese people could take over the KMT so soon or that the Democratic Progressive Party could come to power so quickly.
On Jan. 13, 1988, Chiang passed away. Lee succeeded him to become the country's president. Lee felt a great loss at Chiang's death as he put in his notes that "President Chiang's conversations and instructions for me will have to end now. I will no longer take notes from him. A leader and mentor has been lost." Lee says he regretted he didn't have a last chance to speak to Chiang before his death.
Lee also writes about how he overcame the opposition of the KMT old guard, including Soong Mayling, Madame Chiang Kai-shek (蔣宋美齡), to secure the acting chairman position of the KMT and how James Soong (宋楚瑜) believed he had helped Lee to get the position. Soong backed the proposal that Lee should become acting chairman in return for which Lee later helped Soong to run in the Taiwan provincial governor election in 1994.
On the day Chiang passed away, the presidential residence rang me at 2pm to tell me the president was in a critical condition. But my secretary didn't know where the phone call was from and therefore answered that I was in the middle of receiving foreign visitors and couldn't answer the phone. The presidential residence then rang the vice presidential office and then I was finally told to go to the Chi Hai Residence (七海官邸) [the presidential residence] immediately.
At 4pm, I arrived at the presidential residence, but it was too late. Chiang had passed away. I thought to myself: if I had gone when the residence made the first phone call, I might have been able to speak with Chiang. I am the vice president. He should at least leave me with his last words. Even now I still feel a huge regret because I didn't seize the last crucial moment.
Before Chiang died, he spat out a lot of blood. I don't understand why he would vomit blood. He suffered from diabetes, but he didn't take injections but only relied on medication. Maybe the heavy dose of medication hurt his stomach and finally led to the blood-vomiting. It must have never occurred to Chiang himself that he would die from hematemesis. Even the doctors couldn't see he had such serious problems.
In the process of assuming power, I experienced a few difficulties. One of them was the dispute about electing the acting KMT chairman.
Soong Mayling had returned to Taiwan in the second half of 1986 and hadn't returned to the US, so when Chiang died, she was in the country. She insisted that the KMT didn't have to elect an acting chairman, but the post could be filled by Central Standing Committee members on a rotating basis. She wrote a letter to Lee Huan (李煥)[then KMT secretary general]. According to this letter, there was no need to discuss the successor to the chairmanship. And people like Lee Huan and Shen Chang-huan (沈昌煥) [then presidential secretary general] would all listen to what Soong Mayling said. But how Lee Huan would act depended on the circumstances.
The Central Standing Committee meeting on Jan. 27, 1988 nevertheless still produced an acting chairman. The meeting was presided over by the late China Times founder Yu Chi-chung (
Seeing the proposal for electing an acting chairman wasn't on the agenda, James Soong thought the meeting wouldn't discuss the acting chairman matter. Therefore he took the chance to speak. He was trying to show goodwill to me and admitted that his remarks that "he has kept his foot in the door for me regarding the acting chairman matter" were really inappropriate. He was only a deputy secretary general of the KMT at that time and didn't actually have a chance to speak up in the committee meeting. He used this way to express himself.
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