Lu Hsiu-lien 呂秀蓮
Eleventh-term Vice President, Republic of China (Taiwan)

Ms. Lu Hsiu-lien was born on June 7, 1944, in Taoyuan, Taiwan. After graduating from Taipei Municipal First Girls' High School in 1963, she scored the highest marks in the entrance exam to the Law Department at National Taiwan University, where she earned first place in her class. She received a master's degree in comparative law from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1971, and an LL.M. 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, in 1978 Ms. Lu abandoned her studies and returned to Taiwan where she devoted herself to the democratic 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 opposition movement and, in 1979, delivered a 20-minute speech criticizing the government at the International Human Rights Day rally in Kaohsiung City that turned into a violent clash between demonstrators and military police. She was put on trial under the martial law for her role in this "Kaohsiung Incident," and sentenced to twelve years in prison for sedition. After she was diagnosed with thyroid carcinoma, the Kuomintang (KMT) government came under pressure from human rights groups including Amnesty International and, in 1985, released her for medical treatment.

Despite political interference and highly authoritarian 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, Ms. Lu hosted the Fourth Global Summit of Women and, in 1995, chaired the Feminist Summit for Global Peace.

In 1996, President Lee Teng-hui appointed her National Policy Advisor. The following March, Ms. Lu won the by-election for Taoyuan County magistrate on a platform of battling local corruption and improving the local economy. Nine months later, she was reelected by a large margin.

On March 18, 2000, the DPP won the presidential election thus ending five decades of KMT rule of the island. Elected as the tenth-term vice president of the ROC, Ms. Lu was the nation's first female vice president. She decided to place 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 Academy.

To raise Taiwan's international visibility, Vice President Lu has visited various 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 the first ROC vice president to address an 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, gathering more than 60 prominent leaders from over 20 democratic countries in the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. The Assembly's success led it to become an annual forum for advocating the core values of democracy, peace, and prosperity. It also led, in August 2005, to the establishment of the Democratic Pacific Union, a non-governmental organization committed to enhancing greater cooperation among Pacific democracies.

On the domestic front, designating 2005 the year for healthy living, Vice President Lu has taken initiatives to promote positive lifestyles, and encourage people to pursue physical, mental, spiritual, and social health.

Together with incumbent President Chen Shui-bian, Vice President Lu was reelected on March 20, 2004. She will continue to lead with her unique "soft power" doctrine, a solution to absolutism and hegemony, and fight for Taiwan's welfare and rights in the international arena.