Lee Teng-hui

I have greatly experienced the miseries of the Taiwanese people. In the period of Japanese colonialism, a Taiwanese would be punished by being forced to kneel out in the sun for speaking Tai-yü.

Lee Teng-hui (Simplified Chinese: 李登辉; Traditional Chinese: 李登輝; Pinyin:Lǐ Dēnghuī; 15 January 1923 – 30 July 2020) was a politician from Taiwan. He was the President of Taiwan and Chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1988 to 2000. His tenure was marked with major extensions to the democratic reforms initiated by Chiang Ching-kuo. He also promoted the Taiwan localization movement and led an aggressive foreign policy to gain diplomatic allies. His critics accused him of black gold politics and being a secret supporter of Taiwan independence who was trying to undermine the party he headed.

Quotes

• I am more than seventy years old. Having lived under different regimes, from Japanese colonialism to Taiwan’s recovery, I have greatly experienced the miseries of the Taiwanese people. In the period of Japanese colonialism, a Taiwanese would be punished by being forced to kneel out in the sun for speaking Tai-yü. The situation was the same when Taiwan was recovered: my son, Hsien-wen, and my daughter-in-law, Yüeh-yün, often wore a dunce board around their necks in the school as punishment for speaking Tai-yü... [Taiwanese peoples’] lives are influenced by history. I think the most miserable people are Taiwanese, who have always tried in vain to get their heads above the water. This was the Taiwanese situation during the period of colonialism; it was not any different after Taiwan’s recovery [that is, the rule of the Chiang-era KMT]. I have deep feelings about this.
  • Chung-yang jih-pao (Central Daily News), International Edition, 1994-04-16), as quoted in Hsiau, A-chin, "Language Ideology in Taiwan: The KMT’s language policy, the Tai-yü language movement, and ethnic politics," Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (1997), 18.4, p. 302

• Don't think that because many Taiwanese came from China, Taiwan is a part of China.
  • Lee Teng-hui (2013) cited in "Ex-president Lee rejects Ma's comments on nature of China ties" on Focus Taiwan, 23 October 2013

External links

• Office of the President - Republic of China
• "Lee Teng-hui -- Former President", taiwan.com
• "Why Beijing fears Taiwan's Lee Teng-hui," CNN Visions
• "Lee Teng-hui: A Man of the Country", Cornell University Profile