Taipei, June 9 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu said on Friday she hopes a national women's hall can be established as a "common home" for all women in Taiwan.
Lu made the call in a keynote speech delivered at the opening of the Fifth National Forum on Women's Affairs held at the Taipei County's Cultural Center.
Lu said the island's first women's hall will be inaugurated in Taoyuan County, some 40 kilometers south of Taipei, next year.
Lu, the Republic of China's first female president, said she pushed for the establishment of the women's hall during her stint as Taoyuan County magistrate as a special activity center for all women in the county.
Lu said the hall's inauguration will coincide the 30th anniversary of the publication of her book "New Feminism."
"I hope the opening of the women's hall will offer a new space for local women to read, to think, to play, to make new friends or to practice new professional skills," Lu said.
In her speech, titled "Women's Profiles and Prospects," Lu said modern women should be independent in both thinking and action. "Women should be the masters of their own lives and should not rely on other people."
Lu, a political dissident-turned-politician, lauded President Chen Shui-bian for having chosen her as his running mate and for having set aside one-fourth of Cabinet posts for women.
"With the presence of some 10 outstanding women in our Cabinet, I believe that 'beautiful voices and ideas' can from now on be frequently heard in our political arena," Lu said.
Lu, a Harvard-trained legal expert, further said she is convinced that social harmony and integration can be achieved only through the "hands of women."
"Women can help mend social disharmony with their feminine sensibility and tenderness," Lu said.
Touching on sensitive relations across the Taiwan Strait, Lu said she has not been daunted by Beijing's harsh criticism of her stance on Taiwan's status.
Lu, a stalwart of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, has often described Taiwan-mainland China ties as "remote relatives and close neighbors." While recognizing ancestral and cultural links between Taiwan and mainland China, Lu has never hesitated to refute Beijing's sovereignty claim over Taiwan.
Lu said Beijing's harsh rhetoric against her and its ban on Taiwanese pop singer Chang Hui-mei simply for Chang's singing of the ROC's national anthem at President Chen's May 20 inauguration have reflected Beijing's obsolete thinking and bullying mentality toward Taiwan.
Noting that Master Cheng Yen, a nun who heads Taiwan's largest charity -- the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation -- has won much more respect in mainland China than former ROC President Lee Teng-hui, also known as "Mr. Democracy" for his contribution to Taiwan's democratization, Lu said she believes that the current cross-strait logjam can be thawed only via the "hands of women."