The World - News from Aug. 11, 1989

Taiwan’s President Lee Teng-hui, in spite of criticism, bowed to pressure from the National Assembly and endorsed the right of lawmakers elected more than 40 years ago in mainland China to maintain their seats in the Taiwan legislature. The ruling Kuomintang Party has come under growing pressure to retire aging deputies, many over 80 years old, who make up two-thirds of Taiwan’s three central elective bodies. But legislation adopted in 1948, before the Nationalists fled to Taiwan, allows lawmakers elected on the mainland to hold office until new elections can be held on the mainland.