Lü, Xiulian

Lu Hsiu-lien (Chinese: 呂秀蓮; pinyin: Lǚ Xiùlián; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lū Siù-liân; born 7 June 1944), also known by her English name Annette, is a Taiwanese politician and lawyer. A feminist active in the Tangwai movement, she joined the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1990 and was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1992. Subsequently, she served as Taoyuan County Magistrate between 1997 and 2000, and was vice president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008, under President Chen Shui-bian. Before entering politics, Lu graduated from National Taiwan University and earned law degrees from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and from Harvard University. She announced her intentions to run for the presidency on 6 March 2007, but withdrew to support eventual DPP nominee Frank Hsieh. Lu ran again in 2012, but withdrew for a second time, ceding the nomination to DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen. Lu lost the DPP's Taipei mayoral nomination to Pasuya Yao in 2018, and stated that she would leave the party. However, by the time Lu announced in September 2019 that she would contest the 2020 presidential election on behalf of the Formosa Alliance, she was still a member of the Democratic Progressive Party.