(Minghui.org) Former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui died on July 30, 2020, at the age of 97. Lee became Taiwan's first democratically elected president in 1996 and stepped down in 2000, abiding by the term limits he had set. It effectively ended 55 years of one-party rule in Taiwan and introduced democracy without a coup or civil war. It earned him the title of “Mr. Democracy” internationally.
Not many people know that Lee had joined the Communist Party before becoming a Kuomintang member in 1971. In a BBC interview in 2014, Lee said that he had studied Karl Marx's work Das Kapital but realized later that communism was deceiving. He said, “The relationship between workers and capitalists was not how it was described [by Marx].” He also said the communist ideology is just an excuse for the ruling Party to hold power and deceive people.
At a 2005 press conference, Lee held a copy of Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and said the book would help readers see the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) true colors. “More people will want to quit the Party once they learn about all these things [done by the CCP]. People will find that staying in the CCP won’t do,” he said.
In December 2004, the Epoch Times set up a web page for quitting the Chinese Communist Party and its two subordinate organizations, the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers. More than a decade later, 360 million current and former members have publicly stated their desire to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. A growing number of people from both inside and outside China are seeking to separate themselves from the CCP in recent years.
The New York Times published an article titled, “U.S. Weighs Sweeping Travel Ban on Chinese Communist Party Members,” on July 15, The article reported that the current administration is considering blocking CCP members and their families from entering the United States and to allow the federal government to revoke the visas of CCP members and their families. Those who have already obtained visas would have their visas revoked and be deported. The proposal may also ban the children of CCP members from attending American universities.
After this news came out, the number of Google searches for “quitting the CCP” increased rapidly, marking a new wave of withdrawals from the CCP.
A spokesperson at the Global Service for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party in Los Angeles told Minghui.org that they were receiving an increasing number of people every day who wanted to withdraw from the CCP.
Some people were angry at the communist regime for concealing the coronavirus epidemic and wanted to quit; others said they were deceived by the CCP when they lived in China. When they became aware of the truth and the CCP’s disregard for human life, they felt ashamed and wanted to withdraw from all organizations of the CCP.
A volunteer at the Global Service for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party said, “Those who want to quit the CCP include Chinese who have just come out of China and long-time immigrants who have lived in the United States for two decades. They said they feel more at peace after quitting the CCP.”
History may just repeat itself. When asked of the movement of Chinese people quitting the CCP in 2005, former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel voiced his support and said, “The best weapon against communism is not the use of force, but the weapon of morality, rationality, and knowledge. It is the most effective way to face the danger and stand up to the truth with courage.”
Mr. Havel was the leading figure of the Velvet Revolution in 1989, which ended 41 years of communist rule of Czechoslovakia. He was imprisoned multiple times under communist rule and gained personal experience and understanding of the Communist Party.