Former vice president Lee Yuan-tsu (李元簇) died at the age of 94 in the early hours of yesterday morning at his home in Chiayi County’s Toufen City (頭份) after developing kidney disease.
Lee, who was known as “the silent vice president,” served under former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) from 1990 to 1996, after which he retired to Chiayi.
Lee Yuan-tsu was nominated vice president by Lee Teng-hui in the wake of political conflict within the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which began after former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) died without appointing a successor on Jan. 13, 1988.
Photo: CNA
Known as the February Political Struggle, the conflict divided the KMT into two camps: The so-called “mainstream faction” led by Lee Teng-hui that was perceived to be pro-reform, and the “non-mainstream faction” that was comprised of his opponents.
In 1989 Lee Teng-hui said his vice president must be a waishengren (外省人), a term referring to people who fled to Taiwan with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1949; an outsider to the KMT’s inner circle; have no presidential ambitions and have a reputation for being circumspect and trustworthy.
Lee Yuan-tsu was considered a favorable nominee because of his expertise in jurisprudence, which Lee Teng-hui considered indispensable to his constitutional and legal reforms.
Lee Yuan-tsu was elected vice president by the National Assembly on March 21, 1990, becoming the last waishengren to hold that office and the last vice president elected by the National Assembly.
During his tenure, Lee Yuan-tsu was known for his laconic and restrained public style.
“A good vice president is a silent vice president” Lee Teng-hui reportedly once said of Lee Yuan-tsu.
After retiring in 1996, Lee Yuan-tsu resumed teaching at National Chengchi University. Following his wife’s death in 1998, he lived alone.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) offered her condolences to Lee Yuan-tsu’s family and her support for his funeral arrangements.
“The Executive Yuan is deeply saddened at the passing of former vice president Lee Yuan-tsu,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said on Facebook.
Lee Yuan-tsu died of renal failure and had issued a “no resuscitation order,” former charge d’affaires at Lee Yuan-tsu’s official residence Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁) said.
Additional reporting by CNA
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by