By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Saturday’s peaceful presidential election was a good example of democracy and the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) loss was not caused by the so-called “1992 consensus,” former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday.
Lee, who endorsed DPP Chairperspon Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) for president, said he was not disappointed with the outcome because “winning and losing [elections] is common in a democracy.”
“The most important thing is that the elections ended peacefully and the voters dealt with the elections rationally,” he said during a year-end media luncheon.
Tsai should be commended for her leadership, having taken a party that lost the previous presidential election in 2008 by more than 2 million votes, to one that closed the gap to 800,000 votes, Lee said.
However, the advantage that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) enjoyed in terms of organization and resources overwhelmed the DPP, which has internal problems of its own that must be addressed, he said.
“You cannot expect change to happen overnight. You take one step at a time,” he said.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election should not be interpreted as a victory for the “1992 consensus” or a public endorsement of the consensus, Lee said.
Lee, who was president at the time the consensus was allegedly reached, maintains that it does not exist.
He said most of the 6.89 million voters who supported Ma do not understand what the “1992 consensus” is supposed to mean, adding that “somebody should ask Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) what the so-called consensus stands for.”
According to Lee, people voted for Ma out of fear that a DPP victory would jeopardize blossoming ties across the Taiwan Strait and marginalize Taiwan in the process of regional economic integration.
However, Lee said closer cross-strait trade ties in the face of a possible bursting of China’s economic bubble were worrisome.
“If the Chinese economy deteriorates, with falling GDP growth and rising wages and inflation, Taiwan would inevitably suffer an impact,” he said.
Lee urged Taiwanese to maintain their beliefs and not be swayed by foreign influences, including from Washington.
“All the Americans want is to maintain the ‘status quo’ and keep stability across the Strait so they don’t have to pay extra attention to Taiwan or help defend it. What the US thinks is not always right,” he said.
The most important task for Taiwan at the moment is not the establishment of a particular political or economic system, but the creation of a sound education system that can “promote and upgrade Taiwanese civilization,” Lee said.
If such a system could be established, young people would not define success in life by how much money they made or by becoming a government official, as their ancestors had done, he said.
Lee, who had a cancerous tumor removed in November and turned 89 on Sunday, said he had just one birthday wish.
“It’s for Taiwan to be a free country with a quality democracy,” he said.