What contributions did Chen make to Taiwans democracy?
He started as a human-rights lawyer, defending political prisoners, so he did contribute to Taiwan’s democratization. And I think his rise to prominence from a very poor family proves that Taiwan is a society with mobility. But he didn’t keep his house in order. I was surprised by how many family members of his were involved in corruption charges. That’s one thing. Another is his insistence on the ideological isolation of Taiwan. [This] really brought a lot of damage to Taiwan. You recently called Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao “unreasonable” and “stupid,” and suggested a boycott of the Beijing Olympics if the Tibet situation gets worse. Do such comments hurt your efforts to improve cross-strait relations? I didn’t like the way he talked about Tibet and Taiwan together. That was really an irritant, particularly during a presidential election—it actually aided my opponent. The boycott is conditioned on two scenarios. The first is that [China] continues to suppress the Tibetan people,
