ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603250120
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: TAIPEI, TAIWAN
SOURCE: KEITH B. RICHBURG THE WASHINGTON POST
note: lede
Voters rejected China's attempts at military intimidation and handed a landslide victory to incumbent President Lee Teng-hui on Saturday in an election that completed Taiwan's transition from dictatorship to democracy and underlined its differences with Beijing.
Final returns gave 54 percent of the vote to Lee, who has sought to raise Taiwan's global profile even at the risk of further angering Beijing. Moreover, the second-place finish went to Peng Ming-min, who got 21 percent of the vote on a platform of outright independence. The two candidates who accused Lee of provoking China and who took a more conciliatory position toward Beijing were roundly rebuffed, winning just 15 percent and 10 percent of the vote.
The outcome marked a clear setback for China's communist leaders. They had mounted a campaign of missile tests and war games in the month leading up to the vote designed to discourage support for Taiwanese sovereignty and remind the world of their stand that the 13,500-square-mile island is only a renegade Chinese province. With more than two-thirds of the voters defying China's pressure, the election also raised questions about what Beijing's next steps might be in the tense standoff across the Taiwan Strait.
The Chinese government promptly declared that the outcome did not and could not change Taiwan's status as a part of China. ``Neither the changes in the way in which the Taiwan leaders are produced nor their result can change the fact that Taiwan is a part of China's territory,'' the official New China News Agency quoted a senior official of the government's Taiwan Affairs Office as saying.
In Washington, a White House statement said: ``We congratulate the people of Taiwan on their first election. They have made great strides in the past several years toward democracy. We hope to see tensions in the Taiwan Strait greatly reduced in the days to come.''
Lee, speaking alternately in Chinese, his native Taiwanese and English from a stage outside his headquarters, said, ``On March 23, 1996, the door to democracy was swung open in the Republic of China on Taiwan.
``At a time when our country is under threat and intimidation, we are able to complete this election successfully because we believe deeply that this is a historic call of mission,'' he said, just before an explosion of colorful fireworks erupted in the cool night sky.
Lee has scheduled public appearances today around Taipei and surrounding Taipei County to thank voters for their support.
Some analysts predicted a serious policy review within the Chinese leadership, and a possible reshuffle to remove those responsible for the failed attempt to intimidate Taiwan militarily. Others raised the possibility of a further military escalation.
``This is very, very difficult for China now,'' said Andrew Yang of the Chinese Center for Advanced Policy Studies, a think tank in Taipei. ``The setback for China's tactics loses them great face. The leadership is very humiliated.''
``The question is whether they resort to more harsh measures toward Taiwan or accept their humiliation and come up with some consolation,'' Yang said. ``It's up to Beijing to do some soul-searching now, to see if they are going to do more intimidation, or try to figure out a way to compromise.''
China tried until the last minute to sway the election's outcome. Earlier Saturday, the official news agency unleashed new verbal abuse against Lee, accusing him of taking Taiwan to the ``abyss of misery,'' while Chinese radio broadcasts aimed at Taipei called Lee a ``puppet'' of the United States.
Parris H. Chang, a prominent member of Peng's party who runs a think tank called the Taiwan Institute for Political, Economic and Strategic Studies, said, ``The unmistakable message is that the people don't want reunification with China.
``China's actions have backfired, on so many different fronts - not only its relations with Taiwan, but diplomatically. They really have a talent for making mistakes. I hope they learn their lesson from this. They lost a lot of face.''
Much now will depend on what Lee chooses to do with his mandate, observers and analysts said. His resounding victory vindicates his past policies, including the diplomatic outreach efforts aimed at ending this island's isolation.
But those policies also have brought the region to the brink of a major conflict, with China staging missile tests and live-fire military exercises off Taiwan's coast and the United States moving in two aircraft carrier battle groups - the largest U.S. naval deployment in East Asia since the Vietnam War.
Some analysts thought Lee might feel flexible enough to be magnanimous in victory, perhaps making some major conciliatory gesture toward Beijing, such as offering direct transportation links or the first government-to-government contacts across the 115-mile Strait.
Lee gave no hint of his intentions Saturday evening, speaking only briefly to hundreds of supporters, thanking the international press for its interest in the elections and pledging that ``we will defend forever the road of democracy.''
Economics Minister Chiang Pin-kung struck a conciliatory note, saying that now that the election was over, Taiwan should look for ways to ease tensions with China.
``How to ease cross-Strait tensions and rebuild the good base for interaction between the two sides should be the main issue after the elections,'' Reuter reported him as saying.
Lee consistently has said he supports Taiwan's eventual unification with China but that it can only come after China becomes more democratic. This stand embraces most of the independence party's positions without actually uttering the word independence.
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. AP Taiwanese throng the Nationalist Partyby CNBheadquarters while celebrating the results of the presidential
election Saturday. color
2. President Lee Teng-Hui celebrates his victory Saturday in
Taiwan's first-ever democratic presidential election. color KEYWORDS: ELECTION