Southlanders Go to Taiwan to Vote

Julie Lee of Calabasas is all set to leave for Taiwan today to cast her vote in the historic March 23 presidential election there, but she still pinches herself to believe that it’s really happening.

“This is the first time we have a chance to vote for our president,” said Lee, an insurance broker in Woodland Hills who came to America in 1968 for graduate school. Lee is so happy at the prospect of voting that she gets a lump in her throat just thinking about it, she said as she made last-minute preparations Thursday for the 10-day trip.

Lee is just one of tens of thousands of Taiwanese and Chinese--both nationals and U.S. citizens--heading for the island nation to take part in what many say is the most important election in the history of ethnic Chinese and others with ties to China and Taiwan.

In Southern California, home to one of the largest ethnic Chinese communities in the nation, several thousand are leaving between now and Monday, organizers say.

“This is the first time in the history of Taiwan--450 years since immigrants from Asia settled there--that they can freely elect their own president,” said Li-Pei Wu, chairman of the Friends of Dr. Peng Ming-min, the opposition leader who is running on the platform of an independent Taiwan.

“This is the first time in the 5,000-year history of China that a democratic election is taking place,” said Joe Y. Chiu, co-chairman of the Committee to Re-Elect President Lee Teng-hui.

Wu, a native of Taiwan, favors an independent island nation, while Chiu, who hails from Canton, maintains that Taiwan is part of China.

Their differences aside, both have been hard at work for many weeks, organizing fund-raisers and drumming up support for their candidates.

The excitement over the election 9,000 miles away is understandable. Los Angeles County’s 250,000 Chinese-Taiwanese American community is predominantly first-generation immigrants.

“Even though we are here, we always think about our homeland,” said Julie Lee.

The largest concentration of emigres from Taiwan--be they island natives or originally from the mainland of China--are in the San Gabriel Valley. In Monterey Park, the only mainland U.S. city with an Asian majority, ethnic Chinese made up 36% of the population, according to the 1990 census.

For Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, this is the first free presidential election since the Nationalist government fled to the island after losing the civil war to the Communist forces in 1949.

These U.S. residents say what makes it worth spending an average $2,000 to $3,000 is that they can vote in the election if they have proper voter registration documents.

Taiwan recognizes a dual citizenship, according to Yun Kuo, press secretary of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, the equivalent of a Taiwan consulate, in Los Angeles. Because the United States officially recognizes only one China, Taiwan does not have formal diplomatic missions in the United States.

Taiwanese and Chinese Americans are also eligible for a limited number of appointive seats in Taiwan’s legislature, Wu said.

The heightened interest in Taiwan politics was shown by the attendance at recent fund-raisers.

Sixteen hundred people turned up at a recent dinner at the Golden Dragon Restaurant in Chinatown, said Major Tsai, co-chairman of the committee to reelect Lee. Tsai will leave for Taiwan on Sunday. He said about 1,000 Lee supporters locally and 25,000 nationally will leave between now and election eve.

A fund raiser for Peng at the Sheraton Universal attracted more than 700 and netted $100,000, according to Julie Lee. Thus far, Peng’s local campaign has received almost $250,000, she said.

Wu leaves today for Taiwan with about 100 Peng supporters.

In addition to Lee and Peng, two minor independent candidates--Lin Yang-kang and Chen Li-an--are running.

Chi Tai, owner of Potrero Unocal gas station in San Francisco, is the Bay Area coordinator for Lin.

Until last week, 300 supporters of Lin had signed up to go to Taiwan. But China’s war games in recent days have scared off more than half to cancel their plans.

“Their families are worried and don’t want them to go,” Tai said.