NEW YORK - An ebullient presence at 82, Lee Teng-hui still exhibits the charm of a politician and the mental agility of an intellectual. Both are fitting for a former president and Cornell University Ph.D. in agricultural economics.
Mr. Lee recently visited the U.S. on an active schedule of appearances in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, among others. Wherever he goes, his presence provokes diplomatic snarling from Chinese officials, who maintain that Taiwan is a province of China, not an independent nation.
Lee, on the other hand, advocates to change the official name of his country to the "Republic of Taiwan." That would signal a big break from the long-held view on both sides that the governments in Beijing and Taipei are still in contention to be the sole government of one China.
But Lee's greater concerns these days seem to be both broader and deeper than politics.
"What is a human being?" is the sentence he used frequently to punctuate his exclusive and wide-ranging interview with The Epoch Times and its media partners, NTDTV and Sound of Hope Radio.
Voluntarily Stepping Aside
Lee became president in 1988 and retained the office in the first direct election of a Taiwan president in 1996. But he decided to step aside before the 2000 election.
He noted that previous leaders of China would continue in top positions until death.
"I cannot take power forever. That's wrong," he said. Lee described how Sun Yat-Sen, one of the founders of the post-imperial Republic of China said 100 years ago that the people should determine their leaders. But, said Lee, this had not been accomplished.
Lee wanted to see it happen in Taiwan and in 2000 it did. Not only was a different leader, Chen Shui-bian, elected, but also it was the first time the Nationalist KMT party was out of power in 50 years in Taiwan.
The notion that, in China, the people's level of education is too low to trust them to elect a leader is something that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses to control people, Lee said. They use this as an excuse to stop reform and stay in power.
He also noted that in China now, "The Party controls everything. The Party is above the country. Other countries are not like this."
For example, there will be no direct election of leaders in Hong Kong in 2008, and this is a "typical way of the CCP to maintain dictatorship," Lee said. In contrast Lee noted that Taiwan dismantled martial law while he was president.
Freedom of Belief
"The Chinese people should have freedom of belief," Lee said. The CCP has killed millions of people. This shows the real nature of communism has no humanity at all.
"The CCP does not consider morality," Lee continued. Commenting on the most prominent current example of CCP immorality, he declared, "The persecution of Falun Gong is ridiculous."
"The CCP doesn't consider the benefits of practicing Falun Gong," Lee said, citing the physical and mental benefits of the Falun Gong, which he does not himself practice.
"I know that Falun Gong has no political intentions," Lee said. But noting how many millions of people practice in China, "the CCP is afraid of its popularity."
A Man of Breadth
Lee sprinkles his Chinese discourse with phrases in English and Japanese, reflecting his education. When asked a question in English, he responds in polite and fluent English.
Asked why a student of history and philosophy in high school would study for a Ph.D. in agricultural economics, he said "It helped me understanding the suffering of farmers. In China, they pay high taxes in every category."
There is a larger difference between the income of farmers and laborers in China than there is in Taiwan, he said, due to the Chinese government's emphasis on providing space for industrial capacity. "In Taiwan, we try to protect the interest of the farmers. The difference is not so great."
With abundant energy and a quick wit, Lee seems like a man on a mission—not a mission to get elected or re-elected, but a mission to tell the world about his ideas of "what is a human being?" Words like "morality" and "spirituality" define the vision of a man who is not yet ready to slow down.