Several senior members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday attended a memorial service in Taipei for late former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村), who died on March 30 at the age of 100.
KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), who serves as KMT chairman, former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) were among those who attended the service.
Han and Chu declined media requests for comment, while Chiang, in response to media questions, reiterated the KMT’s support for local disease prevention efforts.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Ma took the opportunity to respond to comments by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Tsai on Saturday said on Facebook that a person entrusted by the people to lead the nation should not think that “bowing down” on the issue of national sovereignty, or staying quiet about democratic values, can bring about peace, referring to Ma earlier that day criticizing her refusal to acknowledge the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Ma yesterday said that when he was president, from 2008 to 2016, Taiwan and China signed 23 agreements, each of which was “equal” and “reciprocal.”
When he and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Singapore in 2015, the two were also on an equal footing, Ma said.
In his eight years in power, he never “kneeled,” while Tsai has done it “many times,” he said, listing as examples the Tsai administration’s handling of the Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), Japan’s expulsion of Taiwanese fishers near Okinotori Island and the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement.
Meanwhile, former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), one of Hau Pei-tsun’s two sons, said his father had hoped not to disturb his colleagues and friends, and to allow everyone to remember him in their own way.
Many elders wanted to pay their respects to Hau Pei-tsun, hence the memorial yesterday, he added.
Additional reporting by Sherry Hsiao
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