Honoring former premier and chief of the general staff Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村), who passed away on Monday, with a presidential citation is proper, as he had made great contributions to the nation, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
Hau served as premier under then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) from 1990 to 1993, athough the two belonged to different Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) factions, with Lee leaning toward localization and democratization.
Hau’s contributions were especially important during the 823 Artillery Bombardment — the bombardment of Kinmen by China’s People’s Liberation Army on Aug. 23, 1958 — and so “conferring an official certificate of recognition upon him is proper and a matter of course,” Tsai said.
Photo: CNA
Former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), one of the former premier’s sons, said in a statement released by his office on Monday that the family was opening to discussing such a citation if contacted by the Presidential Office.
Hau Pei-tsun did not wish for any large funeral event, and preferred that things be kept simple, the office said.
Examination Yuan member Chou Yu-sun (周玉山), a long-time friend, yesterday showed reporters the former premier’s office on Dunhua S Road and some of his personal manuscripts.
Photo: CNA
The office has a study room, a bedroom and a reception area.
Asked whether Hau Pei-tsun hoped to receive a presidential citation, Chou said the former premier once told him that he would never accept a certificate of recognition from a Democratic Progressive Party administration.
Hau Pei-tsun had often said that he “loved China, but did not love the Chinese Communist Party [CCP], and loved Taiwan, but did not love [the idea of] Taiwanese independence,” Chou said.
After stepping down as premier, Hau Pei-tsun still went to the office every day to write, and over the course of 27 years wrote about 5 million words, including his memoirs and an analysis of former president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) personal diary, Chou said.
“I had never before seen a retired person work so diligently,” he said.
Hau Pei-tsun went to his office daily up until April last year, when he was hospitalized, Chou said, adding that his desk was still covered in papers that he was writing at the time.
One of the documents was a poem in which he lamented that he would never see the day when China was peacefully united, he said.
Hau Pei-tsun’s office is simply furnished, which was demonstrative of his frugality, despite having held such high offices, Chou said.
He refuted claims that Hau Pei-tsun had been friendly with the CCP.
“This sort of claim is extremely ignorant. Hau Pei-tsun had criticized the CCP for distorting historical facts — he was completely anti-communist,” Chou said, adding that while Hau Pei-tsun was anti-communist, he did not support Taiwanese independence.
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