Sitting in prison 27 years ago, Vice President Annette Lu (
"I was only thinking whether I could get out alive," she told the Taipei Times in an exclusive interview last week.
Lu was sentenced to a 12-year term by the then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration on charges of sedition for a 20-minute speech on human rights she made in December 1979 in Kaohsiung.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
What is now referred to as the "Kaohsiung Incident" occurred when authorities broke up an anti-government parade organized by Formosa magazine. Lu was the magazine's vice president in the 1970s.
She served nearly five and a half years in jail. Her deepest regret, she says, is that her mother passed away during her imprisonment and that she could not go home to pay her respects.
Lu assumed her current post when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidential election in 2000, ending half a century of authoritarian rule by the KMT.
Looking back at the past six years, the 62-year-old Lu divides her vice presidency into three phases.
For the first two years, the public had to get used to the fact that she and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) were the country's first Taiwan-born leaders, and that she was its first female vice president.
"Most of the problems at that time derived from the fact that the public preferred to see me serve in a more traditional female capacity, such as that of first lady, rather than as a vice president," she said.
Phase two began in 2003, she said, when the public started to become more accustomed to her presence.
Finally, since being re-elected alongside Chen in 2004, Lu has used her position to call attention to issues she feels are important.
She has done this, Lu said, because the Constitution fails to specify the responsibilities of the vice president, beyond taking over the presidency if the president is unable to perform his or her duties.
Lu was assigned by Chen to chair two advisory committees, one on human rights and the other on science and technology.
The committees will each publish a book chronicling their achievements over the past few years on May 20, the sixth anniversary of Chen and Lu's inauguration.
`Soft power'
Looking ahead at the remaining two years of her term, Lu said she will continue to promote her fundamental belief in "soft power" and soft diplomacy.
Lu defined "soft power" as human rights, technological development, democracy, peace and compassion.
Lu has been championing the so-called "new relations between both sides" of the Pacific Ocean.
"Former administrations paid too much attention to China. We must expand our horizons and look to the east because our staunchest diplomatic allies are in Central America," she said.
An example of soft diplomacy is the establishment of a science and technology park in El Salvador.
Under the agreement, Lu said Taiwanese firms will be provided with land near the international airport for 30 years.
A delegation from El Salvador will arrive in Taipei this week to solicit local businesses interested in investing there.
Commenting on her reputation for outspokenness, Lu said she feels that well chosen words are often needed in times of turmoil.
"Some may not know why I say certain things at the time, but they later figure it out," she said. "To a certain extent, I perform a very unique function."
Recently, however, she has kept a low profile, having been busy writing a book on the controversial topic of Taiwan's sovereignty.
The book, entitled Whose Taiwan? is due to be published this summer. Its central argument is that Taiwan does not belong to China, nor the Republic of China (ROC), but to the world.
Lu dismissed KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (
Although it is true that the Cairo Declaration of 1943 proclaimed that Taiwan and Penghu would be returned to the jurisdiction of the ROC, Lu said the declaration was little more than a press release rather than a legal document. There was also no signatory and the declaration was not announced after the meeting, she said.
The declaration followed a meeting of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (
Pro-unificationists have long claimed that this, and the subsequent Potsdam Declaration in 1945, gave China the right to resume sovereignty over Taiwan and Penghu.
Lu said Taiwan's international status is undefined, because the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 states that the Japanese government renounces sovereignty over Taiwan and Penghu, but does not specify to which government that sovereignty was to be transferred.
But Lu said the KMT's theory of "one China with each side having its own interpretation," is both deceptive and ridiculous, because what it amounts to is "two Chinas."
"The international community will be less confused if we tell them that there are actually two Chinas across the Taiwan Strait: the PRC in China and the ROC in Taiwan," she said.
"I realize that such a theory may upset die-hard pro-independence activists, but if they have to choose between China's missile intimidation and the `two Chinas' apparently the latter is a better option," Lu said.
After "two Chinas" is defined as the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, Lu said it will be easier to change the national title, a move that must follow democratic procedure.
Chen has made it clear that before his term expires in 2008, he would like to deliver a Constitution that is "timely, relevant and viable" to the people of Taiwan.
Lu, however, said she is not upbeat about the prospect for success, although such a move is necessary.
"The Constitution we have now is like the `grandma's pajamas' of our next door neighbor -- which are too old and dingy for her little granddaughter," she said. "It is no big deal to buy or make a new pair."
The reason for her pessimism, Lu said, is that the six rounds of constitutional amendments conducted during the KMT's rule have made future constitutional reforms difficult -- and this difficulty was increased by last June's revisions.
National assembly
The package included the abolition of the National Assembly, the halving of legislative seats and the establishment of powers of referendum for the public to approve constitutional amendments proposed by the Legislative Yuan.
The seven revisions of the Constitution represent compromise after compromise, she said, and for these the public has had to pay a high price.
Another reason she is pessimistic is that lawmakers themselves are highly divided over the issue -- including those within the DPP, Lu said.
Some DPP lawmakers have proposed increasing the number of legislative seats from 113 to 150 or even to 200 if the government system changes from the current semi-presidential system to a parliamentary system.
"Unless the legislature passes a `lollipop' constitutional amendment, from which all parties benefit, I don't think it will be easy to amend the Constitution again," she said.
"The president has also made it clear that he will promote constitutional change, but it does not necessarily have to happen before 2008," Lu said.
However, further amendments or the enactment of a new constitution are not impossible, she said, if the social environment is ripe and the public reaches a consensus.
In a bid to facilitate the project, Lu proposes forming a constitutional re-engineering committee to come up with recommendations.
Lu criticized Ma for calling on the administration to attach more importance to the Constitution's implementation, rather than any further modification.
This disrespect for the Constitution has also been manifested in his party's refusal to confirm the selections of Control Yuan members and in its rejection of the president's nominee for prosecutor-general.
The pan-blues have vowed to amend related laws to increase the confirmation threshold of Control Yuan nominations.
But Lu, who was asked by the president to convene the recommendation team for Control Yuan nominees, said that the pan-blue camp is not in a position to question the nominees because they don't have the right to recommend their candidates.
It is not fair to change the rules before the game begins, Lu said.
"The crux of the problem does not lie in the threshold, but in the opposition parties' desire to obtain the positions," she said.
New organization
As the founder of the Democratic Pacific Union, Lu said she hopes to form a new organization, the Pacific Congressional Caucus, to push for legislative reform and the consolidation of democracy.
Lu hopes to inaugurate the Taiwan chapter of the caucus on May 20 and invite legislators who are union members to Taipei in August.
"I believe I'll do a great job if given a few more years," she said.
Lu remained silent, however, about whether she is interested in running for president in 2008, saying only that what she reflects on often is the fact that her term in office will end soon.
Noting that her political career has been long and at times difficult, Lu concluded, "I sacrificed myself to save freedom fighters from going to jail for free speech."
"It is hard to believe that things were so different 20 or 30 years ago."
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