Annette Lu draws praise, fire for sticking to her guns

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), one of Asia's most unconventional political figures who is known for "testing limits," won't be changing her leadership style, the Los Angeles Times said on Monday.

Lu said she has drawn political fire partly because she is a woman and partly because she refuses to compromise her principles under pressure, the report said.

"She made it clear she isn't about to change her style now," it said, quoting her as saying: "I've achieved what I have because I am what I am," she said.

To her admirers, Lu is "a pioneering feminist and [US feminist] Susan B. Anthony and former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher rolled into one," the report said.

To her critics, Lu is "an abrasive maverick whose blunt style and caustic attacks on China have done Taiwan far more damage than good," it said. "Either way, Lu stands today as one of Asia's most unconventional political figures: a single woman who rose from modest means to reach Harvard Law School and survive years in jail and a bout with cancer on a remarkable journey to the heights of power."

The report quoted former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) as saying that "she's always controversial. She's tested the boundaries of the system."