Long before the ballots were counted in Taiwan's historic March vote, President Lee Teng-hui seemed to tower over his political opponents. Lee's impassioned defense of his island state's right to a free election in the face of interference from Beijing had won worldwide attention. In his inaugural address last month, Lee continued to hit the high notes, promising a "new culture" and a "new society" to characterize his four years in office. Many Taiwanese thought the first step in that direction would be the appointment of a new Premier to replace Lee's running mate Lien Chan, who won the vice presidency in the March elections and took office in May. Lee had repeatedly said during the campaign that it was time to give someone else a chance.

So much for good intentions. Last week Lee announced that along with being Vice President, Lien would remain as Premier after all. The President is apparently unwilling to risk a nomination battle over a new candidate. And no wonder: his Kuomintang has only a one-seat majority in the 164-member Legislative Yuan, and his KMT deputies are becoming difficult to control. In late May many KMT members abstained when the legislature voted to cancel the government's high-priority plans to build a nuclear plant at Lungmen. "When Lee Teng-hui won the presidential election with 54% of the vote, people thought he would be able to govern with a strong mandate," says Lu Ya-li, a political scientist at National Taiwan University. "The defeat on the nuclear issue, considered very important by the government, shows the weak position the KMT is in."

For Lee, standing tall against an external power has turned out to be easier than dealing with the legislature. His government's latest setback means he will have a difficult time pushing bold initiatives through the Legislative Yuan, especially on contentious issues like Taiwan's policy toward China. The two major opposition groups, the Democratic Progressive Party(d.p.p.) and the New Party, have diametrically opposite positions on Taiwan's independence but now seem to delight in banding together against the KMT on domestic matters.

The opposition is questioning the constitutionality of allowing Lien to be Vice President and Premier at the same time. Even if he is allowed to wear two hats, they say, it can be only after the legislature has approved his nomination. About half the members of the parliament, including 11 from the KMT, have petitioned Taiwan's supreme court to rule on the issue. Lee wants to bypass the nomination process, noting that just last February Lien had been approved as Premier by the legislature. For Lee the confrontation is already something of a defeat: Lien, a multimillionaire and former provincial Governor who is widely regarded as capable, had seemed a safe enough choice.

The nuclear power issue is potentially more explosive. The Lungmen plant was first proposed in the early 1980s, but concern about safety put the plan on hold after the Chernobyl disaster and a fire at one of Taiwan's three existing nuclear plants. Two years ago, believing economic growth would be threatened if the project were delayed any longer, the government started up the idea again. Public worries over nuclear energy remain strong, however, as was evident the day the legislature canceled the Lungmen plant. Most KMT members were absent or abstained from voting; many, especially those from districts that already have nuclear plants, are afraid of being seen as pro-nuke. The opposition says the government should concentrate on alternate energy sources and restrict the growth of industries like petrochemicals that consume a lot of energy. Says d.p.p. legislator Lu Hsiu-yi: "Taiwan is a very densely populated island. We don't think it's right to take the risk of putting in more nuclear plants."

The government insists that nuclear power is necessary for a country with few natural resources. "Taiwan depends on imports for 96% of our energy," says H.T. Yih, executive secretary of the government's Energy Commission. "It's important for us to diversify the forms we use, and nuclear is just one of our choices." Nuclear plants account for about one-fourth of the country's generating capacity. Sympathetic businessmen have launched advertising campaigns explaining the virtues of nuclear energy. Ads sponsored by the state utility, Taipower, show five eggs, labeled HYDRO, OIL, NATURAL GAS, LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS AND NUCLEAR, under the headline DON'T LAY JUST ONE EGG. Taipower has wound up with egg on its face anyway: the legislature's cancellation of Lungmen occurred the day the utility awarded General Electric a $1.8 billion contract to supply two sets of reactors for the plant.

Determined not to lose this battle, Lee's government announced Friday that it will dust off a little-used executive veto to save the project by getting around the Legislative Yuan. Opponents will need a two-thirds majority to override it. The veto has been used only three times in the legislature's 49 years, which underlines how hard pressed Lee feels at the moment. When he announced earlier in the week that he would not seek a new Premier, Lee said Lien's stewardship would "help provide stability in the government." With his fractious party tugging in different directions and the opposition united against him, stability is unlikely to be a characteristic of the new culture Lee promised so loftily at his inauguration.

--Reported by Donald Shapiro/Taipei