Several days ago in a pep rally for his son and candidate of Taipei mayor election, Lian Shengwen, Lian Zhan called names on the candidate from opposite camp, Dr. Ke, as "bastard".  Well, he has to be responsible for what he said, but that's not my point here. 

The pep rally was held under the banner of "the congregation of Chinese people for anti-independence and pro-ROC".  Bravo!  Mr. Lian is the only political figure(at least he is still the Honorary Chairman of KMT) now in Taiwan that dares to  recognize he or she is a Chinese in public.  He spoke out his identity aloud even such a candid expression might be detrimental to his son's election campaign.  No other politician dares to do the same, not even President Ma. 

I always think that Mr. Lian would have been the perfect leader for Taiwan: he is rich, so he may not be liable to corruption; he is caring about big plans like that of national insurance for all citizens, but not about paying attention to trivial details; he is moderate in making decisions, willing to hear opinion from his subordinates.  Mainland-Taiwan relationship would have been better off if Mr. Lian were elected president in 2004. 

The islanders should not forget what Mr. Lian did for Taiwan: his ice-breaking trips to Mainland in the middle of last decade.  The trips brought a new cross-strait climate of detente which had paved the way for further cooperation between Mainland and Taiwan; otherwise, Taiwan might have been a moribund island right now, at least economically.  People in Taiwan do owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Lian.