TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former Taiwan Premier Hau Pei-tsun ( 郝柏村 ) died at the age of 101 at the Tai-Service General Hospital in Nei Hu District, Taipei on Monday (March 30).
The former top general, born in Jiangsu Province in 1919, enrolled in the R.O.C. Military Academy in 1935. During the early years of World War II, he participated in the Guangzhou Battle (廣州戰役) against the Japanese, and he later fought them again with the Chinese Expeditionary Force from 1942 to 1945, the Liberty Times reported.
In 1949, he came to Taiwan with the retreating Nationalist Party’s (KMT) troops. In 1958, when the August 23 Artillery Battle broke out, Hau was the division commander of the Army responsible for defending Little Kinmen, also called Lieyu. After the battle was over, he was awarded medals for successful defense of the islet.
Hau was promoted to the rank of four-star general by then President Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and tapped as Chief of the General Staff in 1981, a post he held for eight years, longer than any other top general in that position.
After Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) became president of Taiwan in 1988, Hau was promoted to the position of minister of national defense in 1989 and then premier in 1990. The new premier’s assumption of office drew protests from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which was opposed to "using a serviceman to interfere with politics.” Hau resigned as premier in 1993.
However, Lee later revealed that his secret intention in tapping Hau as premier was to make him retire from the military and end his power over that institution.
Hau exited the KMT in 1995 and became Lin Yang-kang’s (林洋港) running mate in the country’s first direct presidential election in 1996. They were defeated by Lee, who won reelection. Hau’s KMT membership was voluntarily restored by the party in 2005.
Hau became a Christian and was baptized at the age of 98. He was hospitalized at the Tai-Service General Hospital in April last year, and he died Monday from stroke-induced multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.
Hau is survived by his son, former Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌).
