Vice President Annette Lu Receives the World Peace Prize
Teng Sue-feng / tr. by Paul Frank
January 2002
On December 9, Vice President Annette Lu received the World Peace Prize during a ceremony in the Presidential Palace. The prize was awarded in recognition of her contribution to democracy, peace, and justice for the people of Taiwan. After the ceremony, Annette Lu commented that the fact that President Chen Shui-bian was awarded the Prize of Freedom and she the World Peace Prize shows that the world recognizes not only Taiwan's economic achievements but also its political achievements.
During the award ceremony, which was held in Washington on November 28, Lester Wolff, former US congressman and chairman of the House Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, explained that Annette Lu was awarded the World Peace Prize in recognition of the many years she spent struggling for democracy, her leading role in the movement for women's rights, and her commitment to peace.
Former Chairman of the House International Relations Committee Benjamin Gilman and Taiwan-born US congressman David Wu were invited to speak at the ceremony. The World Peace Corps Academy, which awards the World Peace Prize, was founded by Dr. Robert Leggett, a senior US congressman, and Dr. Han Min Su, a South Korean pastor, after the Korean War. Past recipients include former US President Ronald Reagan, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and former South Korean President Syngman Rhee.
Members of the World Peace Prize Awarding Council traveled to Taiwan to award the prize and express their respect for Vice President Lu. On December 9, Ms. Lu received the 2001 World Peace Prize from chief judge of the award Lester Wolff in a ceremony held in the Presidential Palace, which was attended by First Lady Wu Shu-chen, former vice president Lee Yuan-zu, the presidents of the five branches of government, Foreign Minister Tien Hung-mao, and numerous senior cabinet officials.
In his award-presentation speech, Lester Wolff noted that Annette Lu's courageous struggle for freedom and human rights made her an international celebrity. In 1979, after delivering a 20-minute speech on human rights, she was sentenced to 12 years in prison for treason.
On receiving the award, Vice President Lu insisted that it belonged to all the people of Taiwan. She especially thanked First Lady Wu Shu-chen for her support and noted that in helping her husband Chen Shui-bian overcome countless obstacles against choosing Lu as his running mate, the First Lady had helped to bring about a new era of government with women as equal partners.
Vice President Lu also said that in the past five decades Taiwan has experienced dictatorship, poverty and backwardness and has incessantly been verbally disparaged and militarily intimidated by the Beijing government. Under these circumstances, the preservation of security and stability and the development of Taiwan's economy and democracy is an extraordinary achievement. Vice President Lu also observed that because 99.9% of wars have been caused by men, if more women participated in the struggle for peace, there would certainly be far fewer wars in the world.
Before the award ceremony, Vice President Lu invited the nineteen members of the World Peace Prize Awarding Council who had traveled to Taiwan for the award to visit Taoyuan County to see the results of the work she and her colleagues did when she was the Taoyuan County magistrate. During a tour of the Taoyuan Science and Technology Industrial Park, which was built with capital from the Formosa Plastics Group with the support of the Taoyuan County government, Ms. Lu explained that the industrial park's total output already exceeds that of the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park. Well-known notebook-computer manufacturer Quanta Computer Inc. is also located in Taoyuan.
During a visit to CMC Magnetics Corporation and U-Tech Media Corporation, Ms. Lu encouraged the staff to step up research and development, manufacture new products, and redefine MIT (made in Taiwan) as IIT (innovation in Taiwan). Instead of being content to act as contract manufacturers for major brands, argued the Vice President, Taiwanese companies must manufacture their own brands and market them internationally.
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Vice President Annette Lu has been awarded the World Peace Prize by the World Peace Corps Academy in recognition of the many years she spent struggling for democracy. The members of the jury traveled to Taiwan to award the prize in person and express their regret that the United States, where the prize is awarded, failed to grant Lu a visa. (photo by Liu Su-ning of the Office of the President)
