I was part of a Japanese media group that visited Taiwan June 18-21, took part in joint interviews with President Chen Shui-bian and his predecessor Lee Teng-hui, and came away with strong impressions of their leadership skills.
Chen and Lee, who is old enough to be Chen's father, share a strong commitment to reforming and developing Taiwan. Both are native Taiwanese, have high intelligence, excellent reasoning power and persuasive skills, and an iron will that is masked by apparent flexibility.
The new president, who puts in 12 hours a day at the presidential office, said in an interview: "I am not the president of those who voted for me in the election, or 40 percent of the voters, but the president of all the people. I will give top priority to the national interest, instead of the interests of some political parties or individuals." As the new commander of a three-division, 400,000-strong military force, Chen pledged "selfless loyalty" to Taiwan.