李敖

Friendship visit by ally of China turns into blistering lecture By Joseph Kahn

China's leaders may have felt they had no better friend in Taiwan than Li Ao, a defiant and outspoken politician and author who says that Taiwan should unify with Communist China. But when the Chinese government invited Li to tour the mainland this past week, the Communist Party got a taste of its rival's pungent democracy.

During an address at Beijing University on Wednesday, broadcast live on a cable television network, Li chided China's leaders for suppressing free speech, ridiculed the university administration's fear of academic debate and advised students on how to fight for freedom against official repression.

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The Chinese government invited Li as part of its attempt to court Taiwan notables who are opposed to attempts by President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan to move the island toward formal independence. The Chinese president, Hu Jintao, rolled out the red carpet for three Taiwanese opposition party leaders this spring, an overture that helped soften support for Chen's agenda.

He had challenged the Nationalists, or Kuomintang, when they governed Taiwan as a one-party state, and served time in prison in the 1970s. When Taiwan became a democracy, he attacked those who supported separatism.

But when he arrived in mainland China, he surprised his hosts with caustic comments aimed not at Taiwanese separatism, but at mainland authoritarianism. Though Li did not criticize Hu directly, he made pointed references to the lack of freedoms in mainland China and suggested that "poker-faced" Communist Party bureaucrats do not have enough faith in their legitimacy to allow normal intellectual discussion.

With several top university officials sitting by his side, he called the administrators "cowardly" for ferreting out professors at the school who are suspected of opposing communism.

Though his arrival in mainland China was covered prominently by the state-run media and his speech was viewed on television by millions around China, the authorities imposed a blackout on reporting about his visit after the speech.

An overly literal translation here.