Free China sent its second farm team to Africa in February. The group will stay in Libya for two years, helping to grow rice in the saline land of Wadi es Shatti, Fezzen province. Fourteen farmers have been working in a 50-acre swamp area of Liberia since last November.
The Libya team was sent under an agricultural technical cooperation agreement signed between the Republic of China and the United Kingdom of Libya in Tripoli on February 26, China's first with an Arabic nation. Personnel include a soil expert, a rice-growing specialist and six farmers. China also will train three agriculture students for Libya; they are expected to arrive in Taiwan soon.
The technical cooperation accord was first discussed in December, 1960, when Abdel Salam, executive director of the Development Council of Libya, visited Taiwan. In August, 1961, when H. K. Yang, director of the West Asiatic Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was in Tripoli, he talked with Crown Prince Al-Hasan Rida and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Munir Ba'ba on the possibility of an agricultural cooperation project. The idea was warmly receive?
Dr. C. P. Pan, a Chinese agricultural expert in Libya with the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, was asked by the Libyan government to make a study of the project. He suggested that China and Libya cooperate in rice growing, irrigation and soil conservation. A Chinese agricultural mission visited Libya in December, 1961, for further study. The six-man group found that saline soil of the desert district of Wadi es Shatti has abundant underground water resources. The land was adjudged suitable for rice.
King Mohammed Idris El-Senussi asked that Chinese farmers be sent as soon as possible because the Libyan spring usually begins in early March. The farm group from Taiwan arrived in Tripoli on March 2.
Cooperation With Vietnam
China and Vietnam held their second economic cooperation conference in Taipei February 26 to March 3. The Vietnamese delegation, comprising 11 members, was led by Ngyyen Dinh Thuan, secretary of state for the presidency, and Hoang Khac Thanh, secretary of state for national economy. The Chinese delegation, headed by Yang Chi-tseng, minister of economic affairs, included 15 others.
Since the first meeting in Saigon December 19 to 22, 1960, China and Vietnam have undertaken a series of joint development projects. Minister Yang reported that during the last two years, China had sent 130 technicians to Vietnam. Major undertakings included:
*A team of 11 helped improve organization and administration of fishery and farm cooperatives and associations from December 27, 1959, to December 26, 1961.
*Another team of 11 worked on crop improvement from July 10, 1960, to July 9, 1961.
*Six specialists worked on improvement of irrigation for rice farms from November 18, 1960, to May 17, 1961.
*Four experts of the Taiwan Sugar Corporation have been training Vietnamese farmers in the planting of sugar cane since September 1, 1961.
*M. T. Ting, chief of the farm plantation division of TSC, helped improve sugar cane cultivation for the two years beginning October 30, 1959.
*A team of 37 engineers and foremen helped erect the Vietnam Textile Mill, which recently started operations. The mill has 20,000 spindles and 400 looms.
*Another team of 53 persons helped build the newly producing Vietnam-American Textile and Finishing Mill with 13,000 spindles and 300 looms.
*The China Technical Consultants Inc. designed and prepared the specifications for a caustic soda plant to be erected in Vietnam. It will have a capacity of 3 tons of caustic soda and 4.4 tons of hydrochloric acid per day.
Minister Yang noted that trade between China and Vietnam also had been expanded materially. Exports to Vietnam more than tripled from US$3.5 million in 1958 to US$12 million in 1961, and imports from that country rose to US$2.3 million in 1961 from nothing in 1958. Major export items to Vietnam were textiles, cement, iron and steel products. Imports were rice, rubber, coconut and timber.
Delegates to the conference decided that new projects will include joint exploration of iron ore deposits, erection of sugar mills, preparation of military rations, bulk shipment of cement, and extraction of vegetable oil. China also agreed to offer additional technical services in a survey of ground water, development of agricultural industries, and improvements in the production of green tea, silk and tobacco.
Trainees in Taiwan
In addition to sending technicians abroad, the Republic of China has shared its experience by training foreign nationals in Taiwan. A total of 826 persons from 10 countries received training in various fields from 1954 through June 30, 1961. They included 13 from Cambodia, 21 from Japan, 126 from Korea, 31 from Laos, 3 from Nepal, 1 from Pakistan, 142 from the Philippines, 35 from the Ryukyus, 249 from Thailand and 205 from Vietnam.
More than half—459—were trained in agriculture. Subjects included agricultural extension, farm association, agronomic development, crop and seed improvement, crop diversification, crop pest and disease control, farm management, home economics, land transfer administration, irrigation, rice improvement, rural youth leadership, sugar cane production improvement and soil fertility studies.
In industry and mining, trainees were mostly engaged in cotton spinning, caustic soda manufacturing, fire brick manufacturing, paper board manufacturing and sugar mechanical operations. The number of students was 49.
One hundred and twenty-seven were in educational fields: atomic reactor training, community schools, secondary and higher education, and vocational education. Seventy-seven studied such public health and sanitation topics as disease control, improvement of nursing, malaria control and eradication, and public health education. Other fields of study included public administration, social welfare and housing, and transportation.
Investment Opportunities
At the invitation of the Chinese government, a three-member team from the Stanford Research Institute of the United States, led by Charles L. Hamman, arrived in Taiwan last October to help find investment opportunities. After three months of study, the team recommended domestic and overseas, investment in steel, natural gas, artificial fiber, electronics and timepieces.
The principal idea is to develop export processing industries. Taiwan is short of raw materials but has ample electric power, cheap and abundant labor and highly developed transportation.
Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Chi-tseng recently indicated that free China hopes to have a large steel mill capable of smelting coke, iron and steel in an overall process. Industrial circles here have been talking with the Kaiser Engineering Company of the United States about building a US$40 million steel mill. No agreement has been reached.
The Chinese Petroleum Corporation gas wells at Miaoli in northern Taiwan now have a capacity of 580,000 cubic meters per day. CPC signed a contract with the Mobile Chemical Investment Inc. and the Allied Chemical Corporation of the United States last August to build a US$22.5 million urea plant. It will use about 300,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day.
As there is still surplus natural gas, the Chinese government has hoped that artificial fiber plants could be built to use it. Production of artificial fiber would permit a reduction in raw cotton imports. These amounted to US$29,759,000 in 1961, Taiwan's third largest. The China Artificial Fiber Corporation recently signed a preliminary agreement with the Toyo Rayon Kabushiki Kaisha of Japan for the joint manufacture of "nylon 6" in Taiwan. Details of the project are to be worked out.
The Chinese government is encouraging industries that will require more technical know-how than capital, among them electronics and timepieces. Laborers in Taiwan are intelligent and can become skilled workers in a very short time.
Capital Market
The first capital market in free China, the Taiwan Stock Exchange, started operations on February 9. The day was the fifth of the Chinese Lunar New Year. According to an ancient Chinese legend, the God of Wealth returns to earth on that day.
Hailed as one of the best channels through which private savings can go directly into productive industries, the exchange was organized by 27 private and 15 public enterprises and staffed with a board of governors drawn from the most successful corporations on Taiwan. Private enterprises put up 58 per cent of its capital amounting to NT$10 million, or US$250,000, and government enterprises, 42 per cent.
The exchange has only 34 stocks and bonds listed but is a significant step in Taiwan's drive to raise investment capital.
On opening day, the exchange had the air of a long-established market. On the floor the first 30 registered brokers went about their business with as much noise and gesturing as can be found anywhere. During the first three hours, more than 18,000 shares valued at US$250,000 changed hands.
Brokers are divided by law into two categories. Those in the first group act as brokers for the general public, while the transactions of the others are limited to their own group. This will enable the exchange to reduce the possibility of monopoly and speculation during the early stages of development.
Vice President and Premier Chen Cheng appeared satisfied with the establishment of the exchange. In his February 23 oral report before the 29th session of the Legislative Yuan, the highest lawmaking body in the country, he said the aim of government economic policy is to "stimulate the growth of free enterprise, encourage reasonable competition, and promote investment and national savings through the establishment of a capital market."
The Taiwan Stock Exchange was established after four years of preparation.
Agricultural Output
Taiwan's agricultural, forestry and fishery production achieved a 7.6 per cent increase last year, the Taiwan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry announced.
In the food crop production, the PDAF said the gain was 5.6 per cent. At least for 1961, agricultural production was rising at a rate faster than that of population, which was up 3.6 per cent.
Staple food in Taiwan is rice. In 1961, rice production set a record of 2,009,200 metric tons. Area planted to rice was 782,502.92 hectares, or 1,933,564 acres. This acreage is about 22 per cent of Taiwan's total of 13,885 square miles. Average production of rice per acre was 22,748 pounds.
The PDAF attributed the 7.6 per cent increase to 10 factors: (1) The Tapu reservoir, completed in 1960, added 1,343 hectares of double-crop paddy; (2) 10,000 hectares of irrigated land were added as a result of 302 deep wells drilled in central Taiwan since 1959; (3) consolidation of 4,600 hectares in 22 plots boosted unit yields; (4) application of more fertilizer, including a 24 per cent increase in local fertilizer production; (5) government strengthening of research, extension, rice inspection, seedling bed protection, biological disease research and control and extension of new India rice varieties; (6) power tillers increased to 4,592 as compared to only 391 in 1958; (7) export demand for tea, pine apple, banana, citrus and mushroom promoted improvement in culture, packing, marketing and pest control; (8) stepped up mountain resources development in conjunction with successful soil conservation work; (9) repeal of timber commodity tax gave encouragement to timber production; (10) more fishing boats and pond fisheries on a large scale.
Agricultural, Forestry & Fishery Production in 1961