NEW YORK -- Taiwan will hold an election Saturday to choose members of the national Parliament, mayors and county magistrates. The outcome will have a lasting impact on Taiwan's future -- in particular on its relationship with China.
Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan's former president, is in the thick of it. Lee, though 80 years old and suffering from a heart condition, is touring the island campaigning for parliamentary candidates of the Taiwan Solidarity Alliance, a party formed recently to spread his ideas and to solidify President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party-led government.
This is a radical change in Lee's lifestyle. Just a year and half ago he eagerly looked forward to a leisurely retirement life serving as a missionary to Taiwan's indigenous people and doing DNA research and work for nongovernment organizations. The change is precipitated by his fear that his legacies, indeed, the future of Taiwan, are being threatened by China's supporters -- both in Taiwan and on the mainland.