My Fight for a New Taiwan: One Woman's Journey from Prison to Power

Foreword

vii Foreword Jerome A. Cohen Anyone who has been privileged to teach at major American law schools for several decades is likely to have taught at least a few students who have subsequently become politically prominent . Of course, many students who burn with political ambition during their law school days are later seduced by other opportunities or frustrated by the vicissitudes and uncertainties of a political career. It is difficult for any professor to predict which of his interested students is likely to climb to the top of the greasy political pole. Yet occasionally a student stands out as having the talent, determination, and courage required for political success. Lu Hsiu-lien surely met that description during the year that she spent at the Harvard Law School in 1977–​ 78. Unlike most graduate students, Lu Hsiu-lien came widely heralded . I had heard about her achievements from students from Taiwan as well as American protégés who had lived on the island. Lu Hsiu-lien’s journalistic essays and books promoting women’s rights and her social activism had already made her a well-known figure at an early age. Moreover, although the repressive Nationalist (Guomindang ) regime of that era did not tolerate the public expression of Taiwan-independence sentiments, Lu Hsiu-lien was also known as an advocate of democratic development and freedoms of expression, which would inevitably give voice to such sentiments. She was plainly no ordinary master of laws (LLM) candidate. Slightly older, more mature, less interested in business law, and focused on resuming public life on her return home after graduation, she stood out, even at Harvard, as a future leader deserving of scholarship assistance. viii à Foreword Lu Hsiu-lien added a lot to Harvard life. She frequently exchanged ideas with American and foreign students. While learning more about constitutional and international law, human rights, and even mainland China’s legal system, she wrote papers that helped me and other faculty members better understand the realities of Taiwan, which Nationalist propaganda misleadingly referred to as “Free China.” Lu Hsiu-lien also participated in the weekly informal discussions that I convened as part of the extracurricular activities of Harvard’s East Asian Legal Studies program. The academic year 1977–​ 78 was a time of great tension in SinoAmerican relations. The world—​ not only the people on Taiwan—​ was waiting to see whether the new administration of President Jimmy Carter would complete the process of normalizing relations with mainland China, that is, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), that the Nixon administration had begun. That would require the withdrawal of formal US diplomatic recognition from the PRC’s Taiwan-based rival, the Republic of China (ROC), and termination of the US-ROC defense treaty. It was obvious to all that profoundly important developments were under way that put into question not only Taiwan’s security but also the nature and continuity of the island’s dictatorial Nationalist government. In those circumstances one can imagine the lively debates that occurred at Harvard and elsewhere, fueled in part by the contributions of students and visiting scholars from Taiwan. Although at that time it was still not possible for Harvard Law School to enroll students from the People’s Republic, our discussions of China policy did try—​more faithfully than Chairman Mao’s regime had—​ to implement the traditional Chinese maxim “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.” Lu Hsiulien ’s was not the only Taiwan voice opposed to the Nationalists, but hers was surely the most daring. Some others from Taiwan took a more moderate position, favoring reform rather than replacement of the Nationalists. The latter group included a brilliant doctoral candidate who became another star of contemporary Taiwan politics, Ma Ying-jeou, now in his second term as president of the ROC. Ma’s political views continued to differ markedly from Lu Hsiu- Foreword à ix lien’s after both returned from Harvard to Taiwan. Nevertheless, in 1985 Ma, who had already become a deputy secretary-general of the Nationalist Party and English-language interpreter for President Chiang Ching-Kuo, played a key role in winning Lu Hsiu-lien’s release from prison after she had served five years of the twelve-year term to which she had been sentenced for advocating Taiwan independence. Ma’s bold effort, undertaken at my request, was undoubtedly motivated by not only “the old school...