World Notes TAIWAN

When he died last January at age 77, President Chiang Ching-kuo, son of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, was gingerly steering Taiwan toward democratic reforms and modestly improved relations with the People's Republic. The momentum slowed, however, under his successor, Lee Teng-hui, who hesitated to move boldly before becoming chairman of the ruling Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party. Last week the 13th Party Congress bestowed that title on President Lee, 65, thus giving him the mandate to push for change.

Lee, the first native Taiwanese to head the Kuomintang, is expected to reduce government intervention in the economy and continue an expansion of civil liberties in the wake of last year's end to martial law. Taiwan relaxed a ban on travel to the mainland last year, but other major initiatives toward Beijing seem unlikely. Lee last week vowed to "make no compromise of any kind" with Beijing.