Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) received a Women for World Peace award yesterday in South Korea for her advocacy of women’s rights and her work to promote wider women’s involvement across a wide range of social issues in Taiwan.
Lu, Taiwan’s first female vice president (2000-2008), received the award from Han Hak-ja, a South Korean woman who founded the Women’s Federation for World Peace in 1992 to encourage women to play a more active role in social affairs. The organization has offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna.
In her acceptance speech, Lu encouraged women to develop soft power, which she said had helped Taiwan transform itself from a “small, poor country under an authoritarian regime into a highly developed country with the most advanced high technology and democracy.”
“Women must first enrich themselves with their own soft power of mercy, beauty, wisdom and courage,” she added.
She also called on women to contribute to the creation of a green civilization for the development of world peace and the good of the planet.
The former vice president said the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11 last year and the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant crisis they triggered motivated her to establish the Green 21 Taiwan Alliance, which is working to “save the Earth and save our future.”
During her stay in South Korea Lu is scheduled to tour the Samsung Digital City, as well as visit organizations and companies dedicated to environmental protection.
She will also attend a reception hosted by Taiwanese Representative to South Korea Benjamin -Liang (梁英斌), before returning to Taiwan tomorrow.
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