Taiwanese are ready to have a female president and there may be more than one female candidate running in the next presidential election, Vice President Annette Lu (
"It's been six years since I was elected the nation's first female vice president," she said. "I believe the Taiwanese people want to see a capable person to be their next president, no matter if it is a man or a woman."
Lu made the remarks last night during a three-way video conference with the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank in New York.
Lu talked to the host, Jerome Cohen, who was in New York, and to members of the council's chapter in Washington.
Issues discussed during the one-hour session included cross-strait affairs and Taiwan's future.
Lu was supervised by Cohen when she studied law at Harvard University.
Lu yesterday asked Cohen to convince Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to support the long-stalled arms procurement package.
Cohen said he would do his best.
She also called for the international community to respect the nation's dignity and treat it as a responsible stakeholder because it has made many contributions to the world.
"It is time to recognize Taiwan's contributions," she said.
"Taiwan matters because of its indispensable position in the prosperity of global economy," she added. "Taiwan's future lies in the world rather than in China. Taiwan has embraced the world and the world should embrace Taiwan."
Lu proposed to build the cross-strait relations on what she called the "three Cs": cooperation, co-existence and co-prosperity.
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