Taiwan's Lien Chan Goes to China Again Under a Cloud

Saturday February 23, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Lien Chan is a man who grew up in the days of the KMT's one-party state in Taiwan. When democracy came to Taiwan, he was left wondering who moved his cheese. Lien Chan never won an election on his own. And so it seems ironic that a man who grew up in a one-party state (and was never successful in a democratic vote) would supposedly represent Taiwan's democracy in any shape or form as he goes to talk to the one-party state people in China. Not only that, he brings a 40-member delegation with him on this trip.

It has the ear-marks of a wine and dine boondoggle operation with potentially dangerous implications for Taiwan. For Taiwanese who have never chosen this man to be their leader, it must feel strange and foreboding--what exactly could or would he say on their behalf??