President Lee of Taiwan Gets Reelection Nod

President Lee Teng-hui on Thursday won an overwhelming vote to become the ruling Nationalist Party’s nominee next year in Taiwan’s first direct presidential elections.

Lee won 91% of the votes cast by 1,795 Nationalist Party delegates, easing earlier fears that his candidacy might expose deep divisions within his party. He ran uncontested after another candidate, Nationalist Party Vice Chairman Lin Yang-kang, said he will run outside the party’s auspices.

Prime Minister Lien Chan is widely expected to be selected as Lee’s vice presidential running mate.

Lee has had chilly relations with China, which has protested his campaign to establish diplomatic contacts with the United States and other governments that maintain relations with Beijing. Since 1979, China has occupied Taiwan’s seat in the United Nations.

China’s criticism of Lee has fostered opposition among some in political and business circles who fear that this island’s huge commercial interests in China will be ill-served by frosty relations.

Lee is a clear favorite to win in March, and his platform is already clear. He stressed recently that Taiwan will continue developing diplomatic ties despite Beijing’s opposition--and added that Taipei will build up its military to counter China’s threat to attack if the island moves toward independence.

Lee became president in 1988 when then-President Chiang Ching-kuo died. In 1990, the Nationalist-dominated National Assembly elected him to a six-year term.