Li-pei Wu

Li-pei Wu was born in 1934 in a tucked away farming community in central Taiwan. Born during Japan’s 50-year occupation of Taiwan, his family faced extreme economic hardships under Japanese rule. At the end of World War II, Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomingtang (KMT) took control of the island nation. Wu, a diligent student, gained entrance to National Taiwan University (NTU) where he cultivated his passion for Taiwan democracy and self-determination. These ideas were forbidden under KMT rule and the authorities eventually opened a file on Wu’s activities. Wu knew he was at risk for prison or worse, so he made the difficult decision to leave the only country he had ever known. At thirty-three years old, he left Taiwan for the US to create a better life for his wife and young family.

Through hard work and perseverance in America, Wu obtained his graduate degree in business and joined a commercial bank in Alaska as an entry-level clerk, eventually rising to the upper echelons of senior management. As CEO, he led General Bank in Los Angeles to become one of the most profitable banks in the US. Wu gained national recognition and received major cover stories in business journals. Yet throughout his time spent as a Taiwanese American, he never lost sight of the plight of the Taiwanese people in his birth country.

In 2004, after almost forty years in his adopted country of America, Wu left to join the Taiwan government as a senior advisor to President Chen Shui-bian and the current President Tsai Ing-wen. He returned to Taiwan in hopes that the Taiwanese people would have the freedoms and liberties he had enjoyed as an American. He still resides in Taiwan today as a well-respected independence advocate.