Magazine names Asia's most powerful women
Magazine names Asia's most powerful women
HONG KONG (UPI): Chinese Foreign Trade Minister Wu Yi, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar and Hong Kong publisher Sally Aw Sian joined three prime ministers Wednesday in Asiaweek's list of Asia's most powerful women.
The selection, published in the Sept. 1 edition of the regional newsweekly, ranged from 31-year-old Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto to Thai hotelier Chanut Piyaoui, 74. More than half of the women in the list were in politics and government.
"Power is control, authority and influence," said Asiaweek managing editor Salman Wayne Morrison. "These women control vast business empires, have authority to shape government policies and have influence over how people think and what they believe."
The Asiaweek selection was based on suggestions of correspondents, writers and editors in the region. Publication of the list was timed to coincide with the Fourth U.N. Conference on Women, which officially opens Sept. 4 in Beijing.
The list: Khatijah Ahmad, Malaysian businesswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Philippines senator and economist Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar opposition leader 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Sally Aw Sian, Hong Kong publisher Rafidah Aziz, Malaysian finance minister Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan prime minister Anson Chan Fang On-sang, Hong Kong chief secretary and deputy governor Chang Heng Chee, Singapore academic and former U.N. ambassador Chanut Piyaoui, Thai hotel magnate Cheng Yen, Taiwan religious and social leader Sonia Gandhi, Indian social leader, widow of Rajiv Gandhi Asma Jahangir, Pakistan human rights leader Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka prime minister Ogata Sadako, U.N. high commissioner for refugees Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, Indonesian businesswoman, daughter of President Soeharto Leticia Ramos Shahani, Philippines senator, sister of President Fidel Ramos Doi Takako, Japanese politician Wu Yi, China foreign trade minister Dianne Ying Yun-peng, Taiwan publisher Banana Yoshimoto, Japanese author Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh prime minister