OVERSEAS TAIWANESE HEAD HOME TO VOTE.

Byline: The New York Times

Ming-Chau (Mitch) Yang said good-bye in Los Angeles to his pregnant wife and 2-year-old daughter Thursday to join millions of other Taiwanese in casting their votes in Taiwan's first direct presidential election.

Yang is one of nearly 6,000 Taiwanese living in the United States who are flying back for Saturday's election, according to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, in Washington, D.C. In addition, several thousand more of the nearly 300,000 Taiwanese who live in the United States are going to Taiwan to witness the event without voting, community leaders estimate.

It was only in the 1980s that the people of Taiwan - ruled for decades by Nationalist leaders who had fled the mainland as Communists took over - had a free choice of parties in legislative elections, and Saturday will provide their first chance to vote directly for a president.

"I want to go back and talk to many people and convince them the best chance for Taiwan is independence," said Yang, explaining why he is spending nearly $2,000 and taking three days off work to vote.

"It's very expensive, but it's all worth it," said Yang, 36, an electrical engineer who is also working toward his MBA at the University of Southern California. "I want to participate in making history."

Taiwan's president, Lee Teng-hui, who is expected to win the election, has been attacked by Beijing for what it says is his secret ambition to achieve Taiwan's independence from China. China has staged a series of missile tests and war games off Taiwan, apparently in the hope of weakening Lee by frightening voters from the polls or steering them toward other candidates.

Professor Chi Tsung, who specializes in East Asia and Chinese politics at Occidental College, in Los Angeles, said he believed Beijing's attempts at intimidation have worked. Before China's military maneuvers, which began March 8, tens of thousands had been expected to return to Taiwan to cast their vote. "The military exercises by the mainland has had a clear impact on the number of people deciding to go home," he said, adding that those who are returning are not politically homogeneous.

For example, Joe Chiu, president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Organization, in Los Angeles, said about 50 of his group's members flew to Taiwan to vote for Lee.

Yang, on the other hand, planned to vote for Peng Ming-min, the candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party, which seeks complete independence for Taiwan from mainland China. He said he was not worried about his safety, partly, he said, because he did not believe that China would invade Taiwan, but mostly because he is willing to sacrifice his life for Taiwan, to which he hopes to return someday to live with his family.

"If war should break out, I will join the army and defend Taiwan," he said. "I want to show my support for an independent Taiwan in any way I can."

Yang's wife, Frances, 29, who came to the United States about 13 years ago to attend school, said she would accompany her husband to Taiwan to vote if she were not eight months pregnant.

"I feel very angry toward China," said Frances Yang who holds dual citizenship and will vote in the California primary this month. "I think their actions just show that they have no regard for people's choices and that they don't really know what democracy is. I hope the people of Taiwan stand up for themselves, for independence and democracy."