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Lu Hsiu-lien 呂秀蓮
Eleventh-term Vice President, Republic of China (Taiwan)
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Lu
Hsiu-lien was born on June 7, 1944, in Taoyuan, Taiwan. After graduating
from Taipei Municipal First Girls' High School in 1963, she won admission
to the Law Department at National Taiwan University (NTU) with the highest
entrance exam score of those admitted. After graduating from NTU at the
top of her class, she received a master's degree in comparative law from
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1971, and a master of
laws (LL.M.) degree from Harvard University in 1978.
In the 1970s, Ms. Lu played a key role in introducing feminist ideas to Taiwan through a series of articles and books, and later became the country's leading women's rights activist. Before leaving to study at Harvard in 1977, she established a publishing house to propagate feminist ideas and a helpline for victims of domestic violence.
Perceiving that the United States was about to sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Ms. Lu returned to Taiwan in 1978. She devoted herself to the democracy movement and planned to run for a seat in the National Assembly. That election was canceled, however, following the US decision to sever ties with Taiwan.
Ms. Lu remained active in the democracy movement and, in 1979, delivered a 20-minute speech criticizing the authoritarian government at the International Human Rights Day rally in Kaohsiung City. She was put on trial for sedition under martial law for her role in the "Kaohsiung Incident," and sentenced to 12 years in prison. After she was diagnosed with thyroid carcinoma, the Kuomintang (KMT) government came under intense pressure from human rights groups, including Amnesty International, to release her. In 1985, Ms. Lu was granted medical parole after spending nearly six years as a political prisoner.
Despite political interference and highly intrusive surveillance, Ms. Lu continued to campaign for women's rights, democracy, and international recognition for Taiwan. In 1993, she founded the Taiwan International Alliance to promote Taiwan's bid for membership in the United Nations and became an opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator, serving as co-chair of the Legislature's Foreign Relations Committee. In 1994, she chaired the Global Summit of Women and, in 1995, chaired the Feminist Summit for Global Peace.
In 1996, President Lee Teng-hui appointed Ms. Lu National Policy Advisor. The following March, she won the by-election for Taoyuan County magistrate on a platform of battling corruption and improving the local economy. Nine months later, she was re-elected by a wide margin.
On March 18, 2000, the DPP won the presidential election, thus ending five decades of KMT rule over the island. Elected as the tenth-term vice president of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Ms. Lu became the nation's first female vice president. Since then, she has placed top priority on the promotion of gender equality and social justice. On December 9, 2001, her longstanding contributions were formally recognized when she became the first woman to receive the World Peace Prize from the World Peace Corps Mission.
To raise Taiwan's international visibility, Vice President Lu has visited many foreign countries. In 2002, she embarked on a goodwill tour to the Vatican and Hungary. In Budapest, she delivered a keynote speech to the 51st Congress of Liberal International, becoming Taiwan's first vice president to address a major overseas international conference.
Vice President Lu also places great emphasis on developing ties with democratic nations in the region. In September 2003, she initiated and chaired the first Democratic Pacific Assembly, a gathering of more than 60 prominent leaders from over 20 democratic countries in the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. The Assembly's success led to its becoming an annual forum for promoting the core values of democracy, peace, and prosperity. In August 2005, Vice President Lu established the Democratic Pacific Union, an international organization committed to enhancing greater cooperation among Pacific democracies.
Together with President Chen Shui-bian, Vice President Lu was re-elected on March 20, 2004. She continues to strive to set an example of compassionate leadership through "soft power" by standing up for human rights at home and for Taiwan's welfare and rights in the international arena.
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