This evening, at the age of 97, former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) passed away in Taipei City. He was a towering figure in modern Taiwan politics, overseeing the transition of Taiwan from a party-state to a multi-party democracy. His vision of a Taiwan that could engage in state-to-state relations with the PRC earned him the wrath of Chinese nationalists on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. It’s almost impossible to imagine today’s Taiwan without him.
Many tributes and reflections (some likely critical) will appear in the upcoming days. Feel free to post them here, or to post any reflections or memories you have about his contributions.
Guy
Hat tip to @MalcolmReynolds for breaking this story on forumosa and posting it in The Morgue 2020 thread.
I rode by his motorcade as it came up Yang Ming Shan on election day in 1996. That and meeting Hulk Hogan in an airport and getting an autograph are my two brushes with fame.
I don’t think there was a political figure like him. Reared up to be the next generation of KMT powerholders, he kept his true feelings under concealment until he assumed the crown, and then turned against the old guard. A momentous figure.
I did some work for the TSU back in the day and was a media liaison for a big event at the Grand Hotel he was keynote speaker at. His speech (all in Taiwanese) was a 40 minute harangue of the KMT during which he accused them of being a foreign occupying power who should return to China and leave Taiwan to the Taiwanese. I know of no other politician in the world who switched sides so completely and so successfully. He made Machiavelli look like an amateur.
