His disavowal, made in two separate media interviews this week, is a blow to the pro-independence bloc which reveres him as the father of Taiwan independence. Small wonder that Vice President Annette Lu was disappointed, saying it is “unthinkable.”

The bombshell dropped by Lee, an octogenarian politician who ruled this island for more than a decade after the death of Chiang Ching-kuo, will have severe repercussions on Taiwan’s politics, especially on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party which has been his political ally. Lee pulled no punches on the DPP and its leader Chen Shui-bian, the man he once deemed as his political successor.

While the former president is criticized by friends and foes alike as fickle, he did have some cogent points to make. The progenitor of the proverbial “go slow, be patient” policy which restricts Taiwan’s investment in mainland China, lashed the DPP administration for making the cross-strait economic relationship “one-way traffic.”

Lee said his “go slow, be patient” policy was not aimed at shutting off contacts with the mainland. But the DPP has made the economic channel one way. Taiwan’s capital flows to the other side without anything flowing back. This one way flow would one day exhaust Taiwan’s capital reservoir, he warned. Lee’s is correct when he said the government should open its door to mainland capital and tourists. “Don’t regard the people from the mainland as spies,” he said. “We should welcome them to spend their money in Taiwan,”

To be fair, Lee has stated some plaintruths. The DPP’s self-imposed economic isolation is suicidal. Refusing mainland investment and tourists to come to Taiwan is not an effective way cut loose the umbilical cord between the two sides.

It now seems that Lee has suddenly gotten an epiphany on China. He says he’d like to visit the mainland, to travel from place to place like Confucius did three millenniums ago. Confucius? Are you kidding? Confucius is not only Chinese but also a Chinese symbol. This “C” word, after all, is the number one target for Taiwan’s separatists to knock down. Lee defended his about-face by saying that the society has changed so much that corresponding changes are necessary. This is quite a plausible explanation. Twenty-one years ago, Lee’s boss, the late president Chiang Ching-kuo, made an over-arching decision to abolish martial law and lift political bans in favor of democracy because times had changed.

Lee did not elaborate on the societal change he had cited. The outside world, especially mainland China, has changed beyond recognition since he stepped down in 2000. An estimated one million Taiwanese businessmen have moved westward to invest, but little money has trickled back to Taiwan, creating a hollowing out of Taiwan’s industry. Beijing and Taipei are virtually not on speaking terms, largely due to the DPP and President Chen’s provocative and confrontational cross-strait policies. At home, the DPP and the opposition KMT are locked in a political struggle, leaving the government idle and the economy stagnant.

It may seem that a combination of factors, including the rise of mainland China and Taiwan’s legislative elections later this year, that has spurred Lee to modify his positions on mainland China. Whatever the reason, it’s good for the former president to wake up from his dream of independence and to face the real world where Taiwan would be better off maintaining the status quo.

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