Mon, Sep 04, 2000 page3

• Lee Ying-yuan: the dissident who became a diplomat

  TURNING THE TABLES Lee Ying-yuan is a former dissident who advocated Taiwan's independence while in the US. Now he's Taiwan's deputy representative to Washington

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Renowned American poet Emily Dickinson wrote: "Fame is a bee. It has a song. It has a sting. Ah, too, it has a wing."

  Reminiscing about his life, 47-year-old DPP Legislator Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said he couldn't agree more with the poet.

  "Fame, like cars and watches, is merely a worldly possession that can evaporate at any time," said Lee, a follower of the Taoist belief that one should lead a simple life. "It takes a lot of personal experience, reflections on readings as well as societal observations to formulate such a life's philosophy," said Lee, one of the few legislators in Taiwan who prefer taking the MRT to work and dining in cafeterias.

  But although Lee's new job as Taiwan's deputy representative to the US has earned him some fame, Lee himself declines to make a big fuss about it. "It is just a new role for me," he said. "And this transformation of roles -- which I share with many dissidents worldwide -- is simply a historic irony," Lee said.

  A former dissident blacklisted by the KMT government for advocating Taiwan independence while in the US, Lee admitted that some might find his new role as a diplomat under Taiwan's new administration a bit strange.

  Determined dissident

  But such a transformation is merely a product of history, Lee claims. It was Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) victory in March's presidential election that ended the KMT's five-decade rule of Taiwan. Were it not for this transfer of power, Lee would not have been offered his current position, some have claimed.

  "Where we once belonged to the opposition camp, we've now turned into members of the ruling team. It's indeed hard to describe in simple terms my feelings about this change," said Lee's wife Laura Huang (黃月桂), who heads the health care management department at Chang Gung University.

  Lee and Huang have every reason to smile at the irony. The couple's original plan, like many Taiwanese students studying overseas, was to remain in an ivory tower by teaching after graduating from university.

  But Lee's involvement, beginning in the early 1980s, in the World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI), then a US-based organization supporting Taiwan independence, led the couple down a rough road.

  Born to a farmer's family in Taiwan in 1953, Lee earned his first degree in public health at National Taiwan University (NTU). He then found his way to Harvard University where he received his master's degree in health policy and management. In 1988, he earned his PhD in health economics from the University of North Carolina. Although NTU granted the couple letters of appointment in 1988 and 1989, the authorities in Taiwan shut the door to the young, promising academics.

  "I'd applied 13 times during two years for permission to return to my homeland ... but to no avail," Lee recalled.

  In 1990, Lee decided to return to Taiwan through illegal channels as part of the WUFI's plan to move its headquarters back to the island. During the following 14 months, Lee played hide-and-seek with intelligence agents around the island. He never visited a public place more than once and he used makeup to cover an obvious mole on his right cheek. To challenge the authorities, the leading independence advocate even took a picture of himself in front of the presidential office, his wife recalled. And Lee always carried a razor, a toothbrush and toothpaste with him in case he was imprisoned.

  Even after he was arrested on charges of sedition, Lee remained calm. "To all dissidents worldwide, it's easier to be put in prison than be insulted for your beliefs," Lee wrote in a September 1991 newspaper article, two weeks after his arrest.

  "I found myself composed and considered life in prison bearable as it was the result of staying true to my beliefs," Lee wrote.

  A suitable candidate

  In 1995, Lee was elected as a legislator for the first time. For the following five years, he was a member of the Foreign Relations Committee at the Legislative Yuan. In April 1999, Lee joined a government delegation to Macedonia to deliver medical and humanitarian aid to that country. After Chen's victory in March, Lee traveled to New York and Washington, as part of a team representing the new administration, to brief members of congress about Taiwan's election. Lee also joined the president last month on his tour of Taiwan's six diplomatic allies in Central America and Africa.

  When the president offered Lee the position as deputy representative to the US, insiders said Chen's choice came as no surprise. "Within the DPP, he is a well-qualified candidate in terms of his personality and his special interest in foreign affairs," said KMT spokesman Jason Hu (胡志強), a former minister of foreign affairs and himself a former representative to the US.

  WUFI Chairman Ng Chiau-tong (黃照堂) praised Lee's interpersonal skills and said his association with the WUFI would be conducive to his new job as a diplomat.

  "I believe he can effectively combine both the diplomacy conducted by civil groups and that carried out by the government representative office," Ng said.

  Huang echoed Ng's view. "People sometimes find it hard to persuade hard-liners [that Taiwan should be independent], but Lee's association with the WUFI may help him get the job done. While the WUFI was once a liability for him, it now turns out to be an asset," she said.

  Challenges ahead

  But Lee knows the challenges that lie ahead. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the most conservative government agency in Taiwan where many officials simply stick to obsolete ideas. And this is exactly why we need people like Lee to work among these traditional diplomats," said Ng.

  Hu said it's unlikely Lee would have any major problems working with the team as he is "a man of great pragmatism and enthu-siasm."

  Hu believes Lee's greatest challenge will be working within the new administration, which Hu said is still groping in the dark.

  "He has never worked with the government. And his greatest challenge will be working with a team that lacks coordination and sense of direction," Hu predicted.
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