Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday that if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wins the presidential election next year, it should recruit the national security team that served him during his presidency.
Lee said the new president will face more stringent challenges from China and that irrespective of which party wins the election, the new president will face a lack of experienced national security personnel.
Lee made the remarks during a speech on the geopolitical situation in Asia at an international conference at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of Japanese Studies.
Lee said that in the past year, the situation in East Asia -- including the Taiwan Strait -- had remained relatively stable, as all countries in the region have focused on internal issues.
However, in the long run, a fight between China and the US over sea dominance in the Pacific appears inevitable, he said.
On the presidential election, Lee said that although China hopes the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will win the election, Beijing is not going to place all its bets on the KMT candidate.
With China adopting a more cautious attitude toward Taiwan than during the 2004 election, Beijing is trying to strengthen its influence over both the KMT and the DPP, he said.
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