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.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
RSS