No one blinked when longtime Kuomintang politician James Soong (Sung Chu-yu) announced last week that he would defy party elders and run independently for president of the Republic of China on Taiwan in the March 2000 elections.
Soong, 57, made his announcement Friday July 16, but the news flow was clogged with Beijing's angry response to Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui's earlier declaration that China must deal with Taiwan on a state-to-state basis and in the United States with the search for the missing plane of John F. Kennedy Jr., son of the former U.S. president.
In the first place, the touch-all-bases move by Lee was brilliant in its conception, execution and timing. Lee's statement not only immobilized the domestic opposition and put Beijing and the U.S. in the position of being made to think for a change, but also solidified his place in history. The only question is whether he has overextended himself since it is his disciple (Lien Chan) who is the candidate, not Lee himself.