Formosa Foundation

Lee Joins Formosa Foundation for Groundbreaking Address

Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-Hui Speaks on Freedom and Democracy

The Formosa Foundation hosted former Taiwan president, Lee Teng-Hui, in Los Angeles on October 21, 2005 as he finished the last stretch of a 13-day tour of the United States. President Lee spoke to a standing room audience of influential public officials, business leaders, and key scholars about the need for democracies to stand together in support of Taiwan. The event received extensive coverage from national and international media. Formosa Foundation honorary Chairman, Li-Pei Wu, current Senior Advisor to President Chen, accompanied President Lee during his visit.

Don Lee, Formosa Foundation Chairman, opened the event by emphasizing the Foundation’s mission to support and promote democracy and the right to self-determination for the people of Taiwan. Lee explained that Taiwan has a “vibrant participatory democracy” with “90% of registered voters going to the polls to vote for their president.” He also compared Taiwan’s development to that of America’s, as a country whose people enjoy “broad personal liberties” such as the freedom of speech, press, and religion while balancing such freedoms by “honoring the rule of law.” Lee stressed the importance of Taiwan in U.S. foreign policy as “it would be an affront to our values as Americans to allow an existing, thriving democracy to be swept away against its will by a totalitarian system.” He ended noting that Taiwan’s geostrategic importance can never be under-stressed as it helps protect U.S. allies in the region while acting as a counterbalance to China’s growing naval power in the pacific.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher introduced President Lee, speaking of the virtues of freedom and Lee’s role in its development in Taiwan. Rohrabacher described communism as being relegated to the “dustbin of history,” in marked contrast to the vibrant democracies seen flourishing in Asia today.“It is the champions of people who stand for principal, who say we will change the world and make it better; they’re the ones who will be remembered by history as heroes,” the congressman stated. He also noted that “When we analyze why things went the way they did, the march for democracy in Asia will start in Taiwan with President Lee and Taiwan’s peaceful ascension to democracy.”

President Lee gave an electrifying speech on Asian strategies for freedom in the twenty first century while lambasting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its increasingly hostile policy towards Taiwan. He discussed a crucial question mark over the nature of China’s rise in the world stage, asking “Will China’s rise be a peaceful one, or will it be based on military force?”

Lee warned that free countries dropping their guard against China’s military dictatorship would lead to premature capitulation to the despotic government’s policies. Instead, Lee suggested, free nations must work together in supporting people in China as they struggle for freedom and democracy while living under a stifling communist government. “Free nations of Asia also lack a common strategy to deal with China. One reason for this deficiency,” explained Lee, “lies in the difference between the development strategies adopted by communist China and that adopted by the Soviet Union under communism.”

Lee pointed out that in light of China’s, and the Soviet Union’s, failed closed door communist system of the past, modern China has adopted an “open-door,” or “magnetic” strategy, aimed at attracting capital, technology, and money from foreign countries. However, it has done so under a controlled economy dominated by state-owned enterprises. This policy sets China’s government apart from that of the former Soviet Union in that it’s willing to use capitalist forces as a means to achievement. “So long as investment from free countries flows into China, the communist party’s already oppressive practices will become further entrenched, making the likelihood of a transition to a peaceful country more unlikely.”

Lee pointed out that, “Currently, the West has a double standard for the former Soviet Union and China. People in the West believed that Soviet human rights violations and threats to neighboring countries should be stopped. However, they also believe China’s human rights violations and threats to neighboring countries are merely ‘special Chinese characteristics’ that can be tolerated.”

“The former Soviet Union had just one face that it turned to the outside world, and that was a
threatening face. But China has two faces. One face is intimidation, the other enticement,” Lee stated. In March of 2005 the CCP stepped up its intimidation of democratic Taiwan by passing the “Anti-secession law.” Shortly afterwards, General Zhu Chenghu of the People’s Liberation Army threatened the United States with nuclear weapons. As such events occur, China continues to oppress its own people and at the same time create illusory economic growth to attract foreign investment.

Lee remarked on the vibrancy of Taiwans democracy. During the past 300 years, Taiwan has been a colony of Holland, under the rule of Koxinga, the Manchu empire, Japan, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). From 1986 to 1996, Taiwan transitioned from rule by a foreign power, the KMT, to a budding democracy. Lee told the audience that he was fortunate to have witnessed Taiwan’s three miracles.

• Freedom. Taiwan’s people ended more than 300 years of slavery by foreign rule and oppression
• Economic progress. Taiwan became one of the world’s most competitive countries.
• Peace across the Taiwan Strait. The votes of the Taiwanese people defeated the Chinese dictatorship’s missiles. China, an authoritarian state, will never again dare to take lightly a small democracy.

What worries Lee, though, is that despite such miracles, Taiwan still faces threats, internally and externally. Progress of Taiwan’s democracy is hindered by threats from communist China and“internally by remnants of Chinese foreign power that once ruled Taiwan.”

Lee went on saying that “Now these two enemies are joining together and plotting to undermine
Taiwan’s democracy. They want to take power out of the hands of the Taiwanese people and put it back in the hands of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s foreign rule.”

Lee concluded, “Taiwan’s freedom depends on the people of Taiwan protecting it. However, the people of Taiwan need the support of the U.S. and other free people. The threat of Munich and Yalta– that great powers will once again sacrifice the interests of small countries-has not passed. The people of Taiwan believe in Bush’s promise in Riga to not “repeat the mistakes of other generations, appeasing or excusing tyranny, and sacrificing freedom in the vain pursuit of stability.

“The battle between communism and freedom has shifted to Asia. The people of Asia hope that the United States, India, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan will create a strategic alliance of Asian democracies to begin a new era of cooperation. They hope that this new alliance will protect them from the threat of Chinese militarism and will also help the Chinese people win their freedom from communism and put China on the path of democracy and peace.”

Although he stepped down from power more than 5 years ago, it was apparent that Lee Teng-Hui, long revered as Taiwan’s father of democracy, is still concerned about Taiwan’s democratic development and future as a sovereign nation. His speech received a standing ovation.