Taiwan President Chooses Military Chief for Premier

President Lee Teng-hui chose Taiwan’s top military official Wednesday to be prime minister in a surprise move that opposition leaders denounced as a setback for democracy.

Defense Minister Hau Pei-tsun, the country’s only four-star general, said he accepted the offer to head the government during a meeting with the president. Hau, 71, would replace Lee Huan, 73, in about two weeks.

“President Lee said the country needs me,” Hau said in a television interview. “I thought I should not defy him.”

Hau, who would be the first general to become prime minister in 27 years, said the proposed appointment does not mean the military will interfere in politics. “There are many such precedents in democratic countries,” he said.

Lee is expected to formally announce Hau’s appointment May 20 when he is sworn in as president for a new six-year term. The nomination must then be approved by the Parliament, which is controlled by members of the ruling Nationalist Party.

Opposition leaders reacted to Hau’s nomination with suspicion and expressed concern about its impact on recent moves to liberalize the country’s political system.

Chen Shui-pien, a lawmaker from the Democratic Progressive Party, denounced the appointment as “a move to drive Taiwan’s democracy backward.”

Political observers say Lee’s move to appoint Hau is an attempt to broaden his power base and stem criticism among aging Nationalist conservatives who have questioned his pragmatic policies toward their enemies in Beijing.