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KMT maverick respected widely

Tao Pai-chien, former Control Yuan member and presidential advisor, was not afraid to make his pro-democracy views known despite promoting them in the martial law era. TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO

"None of his official titles truly reflected the extent of his achievements and contribution to Taiwan's democracy," President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said of Tao Pai-chien (陶百川), the KMT maverick, former presidential adviser and Control Yuan member who, from the highest ranks of the KMT, assisted the democracy movement through undemocratic times.

Tao died on Friday, aged 101, of multiple organ failure at the Catholic Cardinal Tien Hospital (天主教耕莘醫院). He had been receiving treatment for pneumonia since May 1.

The Presidential Office issued a news release the day he died saying that the president and vice president were mourning Tao's death. They praised his contributions to democracy, justice and human rights.

On Monday, Chen awarded Tao the "Propitious Clouds" medal of honor, usually reserved for ministers, in recognition of his contribution to Taiwan.

Tolerated

Tao's story is that of a man whose knowledge and wisdom, and increasingly his standing in society, were so valued by the KMT that it tolerated him despite his calls for democratic reform.

"He played an important role in softening the KMT government's attitudes toward opposition members, who, at that time, had not yet established a formal political party."

Hu Fu, a professor of constitutional law at National Taiwan University

He was born in China's Zhejiang Province in 1902 and majored in law at university in China. He later studied at Harvard, though he did not graduate.

The level of expertise he gained, however, was rare in China and, having secured a post as a reporter in 1924 with the assistance of a well-connected and influential tutor from his undergraduate days, he quickly developed a reputation among the educated elite, through his opinion articles, as an articulate and learned advocate of democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

In 1927 he joined the KMT and was appointed assistant editor of a party-funded Shanghai newspaper.

Seven years later he was elected to the KMT's Policy Approval and Appointments Committee under the Central Standing Committee after another former professor suggested he stand in for a candidate who became ill.

During this time, Tao developed a relationship with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek that was close but rocky. Chiang was said to have respected the democracy advocate's wisdom but was often been irritated by his views.

Accusations

In 1940, for example, Tao wrote several letters to Chiang accusing him of behaving in an anti-democratic manner by calling a meeting of KMT legislators aimed at trying to crush dissent in the National Assembly.

Chiang canceled the meeting but was angered by Tao's intervention and contemplated expelling him from the party.

Tao later wrote that, while many KMT figures were angered by his move, it won him great respect from many others.

Two years later he was back in favor and appointed president of the most important KMT-funded newspaper, the Central Daily News.

But within a year he had resigned, at the request of the KMT, after writing an editorial supporting US president Franklin Roosevelt's call for Chiang to fully commit China to the war against Japan.

He remained a member of the CSC, however, and helped draft the Republic of China Constitution in 1947.

In 1948, a year before he fled China with the KMT, he was appointed a Control Yuan member, a position he kept for 30 years.

Upholding human rights

Tao used his position as a Control Yuan member to uphold human rights. The investigation of General Sun Li-jen (孫立人) was one such case. Sun was charged with leading the soldiers under his command in a bid to overthrow the government in 1955. An ad hoc five-member Control Yuan team that included Tao found the case to be nothing more than a dispute between military factions.

The Chiang government suppressed the report, however, and Sun was placed under house arrest for almost 33 years.

But the special team's report outlived martial law, and in 1988, the government published the report and released Sun.

Tao also continued to be critical of the Chiang government in his writings. On Chiang's 70th birthday, Tao published an article in the special birthday edition of the Free China Journal containing specific suggestions for the relaxation of martial law, which angered Chiang. It was one of many dissenting articles that prompted the president to close the journal in 1960.

Following Chiang's death and the succession of his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) to the presidency in 1978, Tao was recruited as a presidential advisor after becoming the first Control Yuan member to resign of his own accord, considering himself too old to continue contributing to the nation's highest watchdog body.

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), one of eight political leaders to be imprisoned after the Kaohsiung Incident (美麗島事件) in 1979, has said that her family told her while she was in prison that Tao had sought an audience with President Chiang to seek a reduction in the sentences of the eight. He was rebuffed but then wrote a series of letters to Chiang, which went unanswered.

He nevertheless remained a presidential advisor whose expertise was valued by Chiang. When Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) became president in 1988, Tao remained in the post, and stayed until Lee left office in 2000.

Influence

Those who knew Tao praised him for the influence he had on the government during the martial law era.

"He was an unprecedented icon for the public under the authoritarian political system," said Huang Huang-shien (黃煌雄), a Control Yuan member.

Hu Fu (胡佛), a professor of constitutional law at National Taiwan University, said: "He played an important role in softening the KMT government's attitudes toward opposition members, who, at that time, had not yet established a formal political party."

Indeed, in 1985 Tao prevailed upon Chiang not to round up and arrest opposition activists but instead allow him to address leading activists to persuade them to reject militancy and adopt moderate approaches to opposing the government.

In September 1986, when the DPP was founded at Taipei's Grand Hotel (圓山飯店), Tao was present despite the government's ban on political parties. The ban was lifted the following year.

"He never feared the authorities and always supported free speech," Hu said.

Tao wrote that a democracy composed of people who could not or would not criticize the government was a "wooden chicken democracy," a term adopted from the old Chinese simile, "as stupid as a wooden chicken."
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