Hau Pei-tsun

Hau Pei-tsun (2013)

Hau Pei-tsun ( Chinese  郝柏村 , Pinyin Hǎo Bǎicūn , born  August 8, 1919 in Yancheng , Jiangsu , China ; † March 30, 2020 in Taipei ) was a military person with the rank of four-star general and a politician and prime minister ( 1990–1993) from the Republic of China to Taiwan .

biography

Hau Pei-tsun (undated photography)

Hau Pei-tsun was born into a wealthy family in the northern Chinese coastal province of Jiangsu. He embarked on a military career and attended the Military Academy of the Republic of China (then still in mainland China), which he graduated in 1946. During the Sino-Japanese War 1937–1945 he fought on various fronts against the Japanese invading army. After the communists came to power on the mainland, he and his family fled to the island of Taiwan, which remained under the control of the Kuomintang (KMT) . He later attended the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) of the US Army in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , where he received higher general staff training. Hau joined the Kuomintang at an early stage and rose in their ranks parallel to his military career. Under the Kuomintang government of Taiwan, he held various military command posts and gradually climbed various levels in the military hierarchy. In August 1958, when the People's Republic of China took under artillery bombardment of the island of Kinmen , which was under the control of the Taiwanese Kuomintang government, off the Chinese mainland , Hau was commander of a military division that was deployed to defend the island. 1965-1970 he was a main advisor to President Chiang Kai-shek , 1975-1977 deputy commander in chief of the armed forces of the Republic of China in Taiwan, 1977-1978 vice chief of the general staff, 1978-1981 commander in chief of the Taiwanese armed forces, 1981-1989 chief of the general staff and 1989 –1990 Minister of Defense.

In 1990 Hau was appointed Prime Minister by President Lee Teng-hui . The appointment was rejected by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which took the view that the post of prime minister should not be occupied by a military person. However, Hau also gained some reputation during his reign for his rigorous action against crime and public unrest in the sense of a consistent law-and-order policy. There were repeated disagreements between the president and his prime minister, some of which were perceived by the public as a power struggle between the "Taiwanese" Lee and the "mainland Chinese" Hau. After the election to the legislative yuan in 1992 , which also shifted the balance of power within the KMT, Hau was urged to resign and Lee appointed the more comfortable Lien Chan as the new prime minister.

1993-1995 Hau was party chairman of the Kuomintang. In the run-up to the 1996 presidential election , the KMT changed its internal procedure for selecting candidates for elections. The new candidate selection process was sharply criticized by Hau and other KMT members, who ultimately saw it as an increase in power for President Lee and his supporters. Hau finally left the Kuomintang along with other people and ran for vice-presidency in the 1996 presidential election along with Lin Yang-kang , who had also left the KMT and was running for president. In the election, the duo was supported by the conservative Xindang ("New Party") and received 1.6 million votes (almost 15%).

In the following years, Hau was no longer active in public offices and did not join any political party. In February 2005, the Kuomintang leadership invited 18 former KMT members, all conservative “deviants”, including Hau, to return to the KMT in senior positions. Hau followed the request and rejoined the KMT.

Political opinions

Hau Pei-tsun at a speech on the occasion of a memorial exhibition on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the death of Song Meiling , Chiang Kai-shek's wife (2013)

In a lecture at a celebratory event on September 4, 2014 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender after the Second World War, 94-year-old Hau once again made his view of the Taiwan conflict clear. Taiwan's fate has never in history been determined by the Taiwanese themselves and this will never be the case in the future. This is simply not possible. Taiwan's future is the future of the Republic of China, and this should be decided by all Chinese (中國 人), the Chinese nation (中華民族, Zhonghua minzu ). Taiwan today would not exist in its delightful prosperity if the Kuomintang government had not implemented its " three principles " and victoriously ended the war against Japan. The Taiwanese government must adhere to the 1992 consensus in which the People's Republic of China and Taiwan agreed that there was only one China . Taiwan's independence is "a dead end". In this address, Hau complained that although there was now a 228 Memorial Day and a 228 Memorial Park in Taipei to commemorate the incident of February 28, 1947 , the "retransmission day", i.e. H. the day on which the island of Taiwan was handed over by the Japanese to the then national Chinese government on October 25, 1945 had been abolished as a public holiday and there was also no “retransmission park”.

Hau toured mainland China several times at his own expense and visited the battlefields of war. In 2014, he also attended the Beijing military parade to celebrate the victory over Japan anniversary. At a celebration to mark the 77th anniversary of the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge in Beijing, amazed observers saw him sing along to the Chinese national anthem. He justified himself after saying that this “ March of the Volunteers ” (義勇軍 進行曲) in the war against Japan was not just a hymn of the communists. In this context, Hau publicly complained that the history of the Sino-Japanese War was not correctly presented or "rewritten" by the People's Republic of China. The communists' contribution to the victory over Japan was "minimal". In reality, almost the entire burden of the war effort had rested on the Chinese national government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-chek, who ultimately owed the victory. In July 2015 he presented a book (see below) in which he and other retired national Chinese generals described his view of the war. The historical facts have been distorted by the mainland propaganda. This must be corrected for future generations.

In light of these and other “anti-Japanese” statements relatively shortly before the 2014 mayoral elections in Taiwan, political commentators close to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) described Hau as a “political dinosaur” who had an anti-Japanese “ Han Chinese Nationalism ”. The KMT must free itself from the influence of this "old guard".

Hau died at the age of 100 on March 30, 2020 of multiple organ failure preceded by a stroke in a hospital in Taipei. In the face of the rampant COVID-19 pandemic , his family said they wanted to forego a major funeral service to avoid crowds. This should be made up for later.

Personal

Hau Pei-tsun was married to Kuo Wan-hua and had two sons and three daughters. His son Hau Lung-pin is a member of the Kuomintang and was mayor of Taipei from 2006 to 2014 and vice chairman of the KMT from April to November 2014. At the age of 98, Hau was baptized on December 31, 2017 and became a member of the Protestant Church Taiwan.

Publications

• Hau Pei-tsun, together with Fu Ying-chuan (傅 應 川), He Shi-tong (何 世 同), Hu Chu-sheng (胡 筑 生), and Huang Ping-lin (黃炳麟): 郝柏村 重返 抗日 戰場 (“Hau Pei -Tsun revisits the old battlefields of the war against Japanese aggression ”), 2015, ISBN 978-986-320-743-6 .

Web links

Commons : Hau Pei-tsun  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• HAU Pei-tsun , listing of events during house time as premier on the website of the Executive Yuan (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 百岁 “反 独” 大将 郝柏村 ： “台独” 没 出路 两岸 一家 人 必 统一 (“The 100-year-old anti-independence general Hau Pei-tsun: 'Taiwan's independence' is not a viable path, relatives on both sides of the strait must be united ”). huanqiu.com, August 12, 2018, accessed August 10, 2019 (traditional Chinese). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Former Premier Hau Pei-tsun dies at 100th Focus Taiwan, March 30, 2020, accessed on March 30, 2020 (English). 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Who is Who in the Republic of China: Hau Pei-tsun. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Executive Yuan, archived from original on October 20, 2016 ; accessed on November 21, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Veterans mark Kinmen's '823 artillery battle' of 1958. The China Post, August 22, 2008, accessed November 21, 2016 . 
5. ^ A Step Backward for Democracy: Hau Pei-tsun becomes Prime Minister . In: Taiwan Communiqué . No. 45 , August 1990, ISSN  1027-3999 , pp. 5–6 (English, PDF ).
6. ^ John F. Copper: Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (Republic of China) . 4th edition. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham 2015, ISBN 978-1-4422-4306-4 , chap. Taiwan under Lee Teng-hui II, p. 27 (English).
7. ^ Wu, Chung-li: The Transformation of the Kuomintang's Candidate Selection System . In: Party Politics . tape 7 , no. 1 , 2001, ISSN  1354-0688 , p. 103-118 , doi : 10.1177 / 1354068801007001006 (English).
8. ↑ Caroline Hong: Lien Beckons stray sheep to return to the KMT fold. Taipei Times, February 7, 2005, accessed November 21, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Alison Hsiao: Taiwan's fate not up to its people: Hau Pei-tsun. Taipei Times, September 4, 2014, accessed November 21, 2016 . 
10. ^ Jerome Keating: Challenge to find national identity. Taipei Times, July 15, 2014, accessed November 21, 2016 . 
11. ^ Alison Hsiao: Legislators find former premier's performance off-key. Taipei Times, January 9, 2014, accessed June 15, 2017 . 
12. ↑ ^{a b} Former Premier Hau Pei-tsun Releases New Book. National Policy Foundation, July 2, 2015, accessed November 21, 2016 . 
13. ↑ 郝柏村 呼吁 中国 大陆 建 22 座 抗战 纪念馆. BBC News, July 1, 2015, accessed November 21, 2016 (Chinese). 
14. ^ J. Michael Cole: Attack of the KMT Dinosaurs. The Diplomat, November 21, 2014, accessed November 21, 2016 . 
15. ↑ George Liao: Former Taiwan Premier Hao Pei-tsun dead. Taiwan news, March 30, 2020, accessed April 2, 2020 . 
16. ↑ Stacy Hsu: President designates trio to replace KMT vice chairmen. May 1, 2014, accessed November 21, 2016 . 
17. ↑ Liang Jingyan (梁敬彥): 每天 讀聖經 郝柏村 99 歲 受洗 歸入 主 名下 ("Read the Bible every day: Hau Pei-tsun was baptized in the name of the Lord at the age of 99"). Chinese Christian Tribune / 基督教 論壇 報, January 2, 2018, accessed April 2, 2020 (Traditional Chinese). 

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Hau is the family name here, Pei-tsun is the first name.