Lee Teng-hui and independenceBy Michael Lin 林正二In late 2015, ahead of the January 2016 presidential and legislative elections, then-Tainan mayor William Lai (賴清德) announced that he supported Taiwanese independence. Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) — who passed away on July 30 — responded by saying that if Taiwan sought independence, China would probably send the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to attack Taiwan. Lee also emphasized that he had never said Taiwan should seek independence, because it is already independent. However, halfway through the chat, Herschensohn suddenly asked Lee about his Taiwanese independence strategy, which stupefied Lee. Perhaps that was why Lee was so displeased with having a foreign guest asking him about his Taiwan independence strategy.

Source: Taipei Times August 09, 2020 16:03 UTC