Vice President Annette Lu received parliamentarians from Finland this morning and extended her warm welcome to the group.
Vice President Lu applauded Finland's excellent performance in the world, citing that competitiveness of the country has ranked it on the first place in several ratings conducted by international rating institutions. She said that although Taiwan's competitiveness in the world has improved greatly since the inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian's administration in 2000, it is imperative that Taiwan learns from Finland on how it achieved such a success.
Vice President Lu said that while Finland is eight times the size of Taiwan, with its population of only one fourth of the island, it has an average per capita national income of US$32,000 compared to Taiwan's average per capita income of US$20,000. On the development of democracy, whereas Finland marks the first European country to empower its citizens with the right to vote, Taiwan only exercised this right starting from 1935. On the issue of gender equality, Finland -- with half of its lawmakers and Cabinet-members are now women-- has had female presidents way earlier than Taiwan, which only elected the first female vice president in 2000. In addition, the vice president told her guests that unlike most female leaders in Asia who are usually elected to the post as leaders due to family reasons, she was sent to the Presidential Office because of her longtime efforts in pursuing democracy.
The vice president meanwhile pointed out the similarities in the political systems of Finland and Taiwan and noted that both countries have earned extraordinary achievements in the development of technology. She also praised Finland's efforts in maintaining peace and neutrality during the Cold War by signing the Finno-Soviet Friendship Pact with the Soviet Union, and expressed her hope that Taiwan could learn from the European country in preserving the cross-strait or even the Asia peace in the face of China's military threat.