Taiwan Today

Asia's first republic moves into its 60th year on October 10, still dedicated to the spirit of free­dom and democracy that inspired founding father Dr. Sun Yat-sen and those who rose against the Man­chus at Wuchang on the Double Tenth of 1911. The Republic of China has known both triumphs and reverses. Always held steadfastly erect, however, is the banner of Dr. Sun's Three Principles of the People­—Nationalism, Democracy and the People's Livelihood­—with President Chiang Kai-shek standing stalwart at the helm, as he has been for more than four decades.

At 83 as of the last day of October, President Chiang is a dominant figure of Asian and world states­manship. He has been the leader of the Republic of China for 45 years and was himself a participant in the events that overthrew the Ch'ing dynasty and estab­lished the first democracy in Asian history.

As commander-in-chief of the Chinese armed forces as well as the chief executive, the five-starred Generalissimo has pledged that he will not travel abroad until the Communists have been defeated and the mainland recovered. Nevertheless, his voice is continuously influential in world affairs.

President Chiang's analyses of international directions and his wide experience are shared with other free world leaders through discussions with those who come to Taiwan, meetings with foreign correspondents and groups, public addresses on such occasions as New Year's Day, Youth Day and Double Tenth National Day, and via China's diplomatic corps and special emissaries.

Many of free Asia's chiefs of state or prime minis­ters have met with President Chiang on one or more occasions during the last few years. In 1970, Vice President and Premier C. K. Yen traveled to Japan. Vice Premier Chiang Ching-kuo, the chief executive's elder son, recently went to the United States, where he told President Nixon of his father's views, and then visited the Republic of Vietnam to do the same in talks with President Thieu.

President Chiang has fought the Communists longer than any other living leader. Dispatched to Moscow by Sun Yat-sen in 1923, he returned to China to warn the Republic's founding father against any in­volvement with the Communists.

The United States advocated a compromise between the National Government and the Communists in the 1940s. Chiang Kai-shek said this could lead only to disaster but stepped down from the presidency tem­porarily so as not to obstruct negotiations. Subsequent Communist usurpation of power proved that he had been 100 per cent right. Those the Americans called "agrarian reformers" clamped the world's tightest tyranny on the Chinese mainland.

In Taiwan, President Chiang has personally directed the rebuilding and modernization of the military. The ROC force includes an army with ground-to-air missiles, an air force with supersonic fighter-bombers and a topnotch combat record, and a navy with de­stroyers, frigates and torpedo boats for anti-submarine deployment.

At the chief executive's direction, the economy has moved toward industrialization. Taiwan province is the most prosperous in China's history and a model for mainland reconstruction and development once the Communist throttlehold is broken. The President has overseen the work of a high-level commission in drafting specific mainland programs.

President Chiang has been an outspoken advocate of free Asian unity. In one of his recent addresses, he said: "The progress or decline and the freedom or slavery of our country are intertwined with the weal or woe, the security or imperilment not only of Asia but also of the world."

"I have every confidence," President Chiang con­tinued, "that the economic wealth of this vast region can be made into a unifying political force. In so doing, we can assure the freedom and security of the region and bring to an end the menaces of harassment, turmoil, infiltration and subversion that are the usual accompaniments of the so-called people's wars spon­sored by the despot Mao Tse-tung for his personal aggrandizement."

President Chiang has supervised the Republic of China's participation in the General Assembly and Security Council of the United Nations. The Communists' annual bids for membership have been firmly repulsed. He has encouraged a maximum Chinese role in the Asian and Pacific Council, the Economic Com­mission for Asia and the Far East, and similar organizations.

China's leader has lost none of the dauntless spirit that made him a commander in the National Revolution at the age of 24. Recently he told his countrymen: "Degeneracy and confusion are to be seen in all four cardinal points of the compass. Only we retain both our stability and our spirit. All those around us are at a loss. Only we are soberly confident. All around us are to be found the hesitant and the cowardly. Only we are courageous and without fear. Not until we have recovered the mainland can the China issue be finally solved and a resolution of the red disaster be wrested out of the chaos, bewilderment and cowardice that afflict Asia and the world. So I say there is no force that can halt or overwhelm the boundless magnitude of this in­effable strength."

For China and the world, President Chiang prophesies the opening up of an era of "greatness and hope." "In this new epoch," he said of China, "class struggle will be eradicated and succeeded by harmony and cooperation; despotism and violence will be renounced forever and replaced by service to the people; political chicanery and the treachery of schism and sabotage will be permanently terminated and followed by national evolution, stability and the progress of the nation.

"Science no longer will be misused for purposes of intimidation and war; history and culture will not be tampered with or interrupted; national minorities will not again be subjected to terrorism and persecution; families will not be broken up; land and food will no longer be wrongfully controlled or taken away; personal dignity will be free from insult and attack; every­one will be free to enjoy his freedom and to possess his own property.

"Our 700 million compatriots again will have opportunity to make consistent contributions to civilization and the happiness of mankind. The more than 10 million square kilometers of our territory will become the permanent cornerstone of lasting peace and justice."

Such words are heard and heeded on the Chinese mainland as well as in Taiwan and among the 18 million Chinese in overseas communities. They are listened to and respected in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Pacific.

President Chiang was elected by the representatives of all the people of China in 1948 and re-elected in 1954, 1960 and 1966. He remains the chief executive of all China and of all the Chinese people.

No one else can take the place of Chiang Kai-shek in the hearts of the Chinese people—nor represent China in the councils of the mighty.

The Republic of China begins its 60th year with confident hope of recovering the Chinese mainland and thereby contributing to the freedom and peace of the world.

Chinese count years in cycles of 60. The next 12 months will see the completion of the cycle that began with the birth of the Republic and the establishment of a government to serve the people.

Inspired by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, young Chinese patriots changed the course of history 60 years ago. Several earlier attempts to overthrow the Ch'ing dynasty had failed. But the uprising which began at Wuchang on October 10, 1911, was quickly successful. In less than three months the Manchus were gone and the Re­public of China had been established.

Dr. Sun's Revolution is a continuous and constructive process and not the mere destruction of an old regime. By 1928, China had been unified under the leadership of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party). Local rule by warlords was terminated. The country entered upon a vast program of construction and modernization.

Japanese aggression in the 1930s and 40s inter­rupted economic development and delayed establish­ment of constitutional government. The Japanese were beaten by 1945, however, and the way opened for a China of Dr. Sun's Three Principles of the People. Democracy was given full expression and national elec­tions held in the 1947-49 period.

Communist usurpation succeeded only because of the support provided by the Soviet Union. This came at a time when the United States had temporarily suspended assistance to the National Government.

Nevertheless, the free Chinese government headed by President Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang was able to continue the National Revolution in the island province of Taiwan.

The island had a slow-moving agrarian economy when the National Government moved to Taipei in 1949. Such industry as existed and the infrastructure had been heavily damaged in World War II bombings.

Democratization and economic development were undertaken at one and the same time.

Elections at provincial, city-county and local levels provided experience in democratic decision-making and brought government administration under grass-roots scrutiny.

Land reform placed most of the farmland in the hands of those who tilled it. A further revolution is now beginning to bring small uneconomical farm plots together in cooperative undertakings that will preserve individual ownership and yet permit mechanization and improved management.

Initial industrialization was to supply daily needs and reduce reliance on imports. Light and medium ex­port industry followed. For 1970, Taiwan foreign trade will exceed US$2,900 million with a deficit of around US$50 million. In an island of 14,000 square miles and 15 million people, the Republic of China has attained two-thirds as much trade as the mainland with 3.7 million square miles and 700 million people.

Such industries as agricultural processing and textiles are being augmented by sophisticated electronics and petrochemicals. An integrated steel mill with production of 2 million tons annually is in the planning stage.

Industry has been growing at a rate of about 14 per cent annually. Agricultural growth is slower but has been sufficient to keep ahead of a population in­crease that soared to 3.5 per cent in the 1950s and was still at 2.3 per cent in 1969.

The gross national product has been climbing by about 10 per cent a year. Despite the damage of two typhoons, the gain was 8.7 per cent in 1969.

Education is stressed. The basic period of schooling has been raised from six to nine years. This is expected to be made compulsory by the mid-1970s.

Colleges and universities soon will reach the 100 mark with 200,000 students. Increased emphasis is placed on vocational and technical education to assure full employment and the skills required in an industrial economy.

A Cultural Renaissance Movement has been undertaken to assure the progress and protection of the Chinese way of life and counter Mao Tse-tung's cultural destruction on the mainland. Art, literature and philosophy in the Chinese tradition have made advances.

Free China has played a role in the international community consonant with the Confucian/Sun Yat-sen ideal of the Great Commonwealth.

One of the strongest military establishments in free Asia assures the defense of Taiwan against aggression. The ROC continues to be among the foremost advocates of a meaningful Pacific and Asian Treaty Or­ganization to provide collective security for the entire region.

These are only a few of the manifestations of the continuing Chinese National Revolution. Wherever Chinese people are free to express themselves, there is certainty that the National Government soon will return the continuity and promise of the Sun Yat-sen Revolution to the mainland of China.

November 12 marks the fourth anniversary of the Republic of China's Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement—a quietly successful continuation of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Revolution.

Started on Dr. Sun's centennial, this movement of Taiwan's 14 million people and the 18 million overseas Chinese has provided a constructive answer to the destructive rampage of Mao Tse-tung's "great proletarian cultural revolution" on the Chinese mainland.

The free Chinese movement combines old and new. Values from China's 5,000-year history and culture are retained and augmented. Unlike Mao's "cultural revolution," the movement rejects excesses.

The Maoist "cultural revolution" has from its outset in 1966 sought to destroy the "four olds" of ideas, culture, habits and customs. Cultural Renaissance preserves these, protecting what is good, reform­ing what is bad and creating a synthesis appropriate to the Chinese character and modern times.

The free Chinese are preserving the ethos of the past while preparing themselves for the challenges of today and tomorrow.

"Cultural revolution" destroyed education on the mainland. Cultural Renaissance has extended and expanded free schooling of young people with curricula stressing science but assuring acquaintance with China's great heritage.

Cultural Renaissance has recruited no Red Guards. Participation is voluntary. Workers and practitioners are expressing the Chinese way of life and thought.

Chinese Cultural Renaissance appropriately began with a work of construction—the beautiful Chinese-style Chungshan Building on scenic Yangmingshan (Grass Mountain) in suburban Taipei. The structure honors Dr. Sun.

Dedicating the building, President Chiang Kai-shek said Chinese culture is centered on Confucian teachings, is reinforced by Dr. Sun's San Min Chu I (Three Principles of the People) and is therefore indestructible.

The President described Taiwan as "the unique treasure house conserving all the best in China's litera­ture and artifacts." Scholars, educators and others then asked the chief executive to follow the Chungshan Building dedication with proclamation of Chinese Cultural Renaissance.

The Council on Promotion of the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement is headed by President Chiang himself. There are hundreds of branches in Taiwan and abroad.

One of the council's initial tasks was the preparation of a "National Code of Life". This was published in April of 1968. Millions of copies have been dis­tributed.

Radio and TV stations have presented programs based on the code. The post office has issued stamps illustrating various aspects of model Chinese conduct. Other activities include lectures, concerts, workshops, contests and exhibitions.

Dr. Sun's San Min Chu I Revolution was also a cultural renaissance that led China out of the back­wardness of the Ch'ing dynasty. Based on ethics, democracy and science, San Min Chu I brings together Chinese tradition and the scientific method of the 20th century.

Chinese Cultural Renaissance and the spirit of the San Min Chu I Revolution point the way to a free, progressive and peaceful China. Rejection of Mao's cultural destruction on the mainland shows that the 700 million Chinese people there are waiting to join their compatriots of Taiwan and overseas communities in the Cultural Renaissance under President Chiang Kai-shek.

With more than a quarter of Taiwan's population—nearly 4 million—in school, youth is bound to be served in the Republic of China.

Nine-year free education was implemented with the 1968-69 school year. The first junior high school class under the expanded program will be graduated next June. High schools and vocational schools are being expanded to accommodate the influx.

For all of Taiwan, about 98 per cent of primary age students and 74 per cent of junior high age students were in classrooms during the 1969-70 school year. The junior high percentage rises to nearly 95 per cent in Taipei.

Steps are being taken to make it possible for more rural and small town youngsters to graduate from junior high school. Subsidies are provided for modest fees and to meet the cost of books.

More than 75,000 students sat for the unified col­lege entrance examinations in July but there was class­room space for only a third of them.

Taiwan has been spared the excesses of youth misconduct that has afflicted so many countries. There are no demonstrations or campus sit-ins. One reason for this is traditional Chinese respect of the young for their elders. Another is a constructive program of activities for young people.

The China Youth Corps sponsored nearly 2,000 camps or other groups for a quarter of a million young people last summer. About a third of those participating were not students. The subject matter of these an­nual programs ranges from sports to practice in diplomacy.

Increased emphasis is being placed on organized athletics at schools of all levels. Business and industry support teams made up of their young employees.

Little League baseball came to prominence in the late 1960s and most elementary schools now field a team. In 1968, the Red Leaves from a small east coast village thumped Japan's best. That spurred interest in the diamond sport. In 1969, the Golden Dragons from Taichung in central Taiwan won the Asian and Pacific regional title, then went on to Williamsport, Pa., to take the world championship.

C. K. Yang set a world record in the decathlon a few years ago. Age robbed him of an Olympic gold medal but he is regarded as one of the greatest all-around athletes of the 20th century.

Chi Cheng, a lanky sprinter, was the world's top woman athlete of 1969 and is almost sure to repeat in 1970. In meet after meet in the United States and Europe, she has been rewriting world records at distances from 60 to 440 yards.

Miss Chi will be 28 years old by the time of the Munich Olympics in 1972. That is old in athletics, yet many experts think she can keep her top form and win one or more gold medals. She is also a top performer in the long jump.

A student in physical education at Cal Poly in Southern California, Chi Cheng plans to return home and help coach new champions. Track and field is in­creasingly popular in free China. Both Taipei City and Taiwan Province sponsor annual competitions.

Basketball and soccer are gaining in adherents. Teams are doing better in international competition, although lack of height hurts the Chinese in basketball.

Athletic emphasis is almost entirely amateur. Golf is the only sport which has had much professional de­velopment. The Taiwan open is one of the major tournaments on the Asian circuit. Several of Asia's top golfers are Chinese. An increasing number of courses assures rapid development of golf as both pastime and competition.

Young people are active in the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement. Most musicians come from the ranks of the young. Movies and television are domi­nated by young performers and technical personnel. Helen Quach, the world's most prominent woman sym­phony conductor, has started a summer camp to en­courage the participation of youth in the making of good music. There are dozens of excellent choruses of young men and women.

Confucius said that by nature all men are much alike; it is training and practice that sets them apart. Free China is trying to see that young people get the education, the experience and the environment to make this a better world for both themselves and their elders.

The Republic of China's Fifth Four-Year Eco­nomic Development Plan in Taiwan will pass the halfway point at the end of this year. Government is ac­celerating efforts to attain goals set in the Principle of the People's Livelihood.

This last of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People is intended to assure the economic well-being and social welfare of the people. Current emphasis is on accelerating economic modernization to increase production, improve quality and raise the standard of living.

Investment of US$4,500 million is required for the fifth plan. A sizable part of this is going into expansion of the infrastructure.

Electric power output must be greatly expanded to serve industry. Installed capacity was raised by 811,000 kilowatts during the fourth four-year plan that ended in 1968. Another 1.5 million kilowatts will be added by 1972 at the cost of US$350 million.

Construction of the 130-meter dam of the US$56.5 million Tsengwen reservoir project in southern Taiwan started four months ago. When completed in 1973, the 17-square-kilometer reservoir will be the biggest in the Far East. Power generation will be 218 million kilo­watt hours annually.

The state-owned Taiwan Power Company will invest US$2,500 million between 1970 and 1979 to raise generating capacity from the present 2.5 million kilowatts to 7,430,000. Included will be the island's first nuclear plant. It is to become operational by 1975 with output of 604,000 kilowatts.

Taiwan has been demarcated into six areas for regional construction aimed at a more balanced dis­tribution of the population. As the most heavily populated area and seat of the central government, the north is receiving priority attention.

A round-the-island railroad is to be completed by 1975 at cost of US$135 million. The existing system in the east will be widened from narrow gauge to the standard gauge of the west.

Designing is under way on a suburban airport for Taipei. Slated for completion in 1975, the Taoyuan field will be located and equipped to handle supersonic planes. The drive to Taipei will take only half an hour by expressway. Existing airports at Taipei and Kao­hsiung in the south are being expanded and modernized.

Construction of the island's fourth international seaport will get under way near Taichung in central Taiwan in 1971. The US$175 million project will be carried out in three stages over a period of nine years.

To keep up with shipping demand, the government is promoting containerization. Kaohsiung is building four container piers and is expected to become the Far East's largest container relay center.

Kaohsiung also is getting a second harbor entrance to permit entry of ships of the 200,000-ton class. Ports at Keelung near Taipei and Hualien in the east are being enlarged and improved. Suao, a fishing port in the ­ northeast, is being made into a timber transshipment center.

Until recently, Taiwan depended on foreign shipbuilders for large ocean-going vessels. The Taiwan Shipbuilding Corp. now builds 30,000-ton bulk carriers and 100,000-ton tankers. Ministry of Communications plans call for addition of 210,000 tons of vessels to the merchant fleet in five years.

Taiwan has 426 meters of highway for each square kilometer of land. This is a high figure because 70 per cent of the island is mountainous with peaks as high as 13,000 feet. A 10-year highway plan calls for expenditure of US$62.5 million to improve the round-the-island highway. An even bigger highway project will be the building of an expressway from Keelung in the north to Kaohsiung in the south by the end of 1975.

Communications growth is rapid. Long-distance direct dialing is being extended from the Taipei-Keelung area to the rest of Taiwan. The first ground station for satellite communications is in operation.

With an infrastructure to serve the needs of industry, agriculture and people, the Republic of China confidently expects 1970s Taiwan growth will be at the 10 per cent figure that marked the late 1960s. It is one of the highest rates in the world.

Taiwan exports topped US$1,000 million mark for the first time last year and the free Chinese are looking forward to a volume of nearly US$1.5 billion this year.

Two-way volume of trade with 120 countries totaled US$2,315 million in 1969 for an increase of 24 per cent. Exports were US$1,110 million, up US$268 million or 32 per cent. Imports added up to US$1,204 million, an increase of US$179 million or 17 per cent.

Last year's Taiwan trade showed a gain of 600 per cent over the US$327 million in 1952, the year before the First Four-Year Economic Development Plan. Growth averaged only 3.4 per cent annually through 1950 compared with 19.7 per cent annually in the ensuing nine years.

Processed and unprocessed farm products accounted for up to 95 per cent of pre-1960 exports. Agricul­tural exports have continued to grow but have declined in relative importance. Industrial exports have led since 1966 and made up more than 60 per cent of last year's total volume.

Agricultural and industrial raw materials formerly accounted for more than 70 per cent of Taiwan imports. The percentage has dropped because of increased domestic production. Industrial growth has necessitated an increase of capital goods imports from the 13 per cent of 1952 to 35 per cent last year.

Exports accounted for only 3 per cent of the 1952 gross national product. The figure was 26.2 per cent last year.

The series of five four-year plans has brought marked changes in the economic structure. In 1952, agriculture accounted for 35.7 per cent of the net domestic product and industry for 17.9 per cent. In 1963, the ratio was reversed to 26.7 and 27.2. Figures for 1969 were 32 per cent for industry and 20.8 per cent for agriculture.

Taiwan is not richly endowed with natural resources. A hectare of arable land feeds an average of 15 persons. Industrial development is essential to sustained economic growth. Early efforts were directed at expansion of agriculturally based export industries. Light consumer goods were produced to replace imports. In recent years, the trend has been toward ex­pansion of exports.

With 1953 as the base year (100), the index of industrial production reached 755.8 in 1969 with this breakdown: mining, 270.2 (up 0.9 per cent from 1968); manufacturing, 808 (up 18.4 per cent); housing construction, 2,124.7 (up 21.2 per cent); and public utilities, 607.5 (up 14.6 percent).

Public enterprises dominated the economy in the early postwar years because of the government takeover of Japanese plants and equipment. But government encouragement of private enterprise led to increase of this sector by an annual average of 16 per cent from 1953 to 1960 and 21.1 per cent from 1961 to 1969. In the same periods, the annual growth of public enterprise was 9.8 and 11.7 per cent, respectively.

The Industrial Development Bureau set up last February is providing a powerful driving force for industrial growth. A policymaking steering committee is headed by the economic affairs minister. Subcom­mittees are helping chemical, machinery, textile and nonferrous industries.

The government is spending US$92 million to turn the Hsinchu area of northern Taiwan into an industrial research park. More than a dozen research institutes and laboratories are cooperating to serve industry. Three biennial seminars on engineering and technology have been held in Taipei by Chinese and foreign experts, the most recent in July of this year.

Taiwan's social, economic and political stability has combined with other incentives to attract external investment totaling US$440.7 million in 1,231 cases in the 17 years from 1953 to 1969. A quarter of the total and a sixth of the cases were in 1969. Initial investments were mostly in light industries and services. In recent years investors have favored electronics, plastics, metals, precision instruments and other sophisticated industries. Other trends are toward larger investment per case and emphasis on cash capital rather than goods for sale, machinery and raw materials.

Shipments from the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone in southern Taiwan are expected to top US$100 million this year, compared with US$62 million in 1969. Encouraged by success of this four-year-old duty-free zone for export industries, the government is building two more, one near Kaohsiung and the other at Tantze of central Taiwan.

Taiwan has 14,000 square miles and 15 million people. The Chinese mainland is nearly 300 times as large and populated by 50 times as many people. Yet such is the difference that Taiwan has two-thirds as much trade and at least a tenth of the mainland GNP. Taiwan per capita income of US$300 is between five and six times that of the mainland.

Farmers of Taiwan are growing twice as much as at the outset of land reform two decades ago and taking further steps of modernization.

Guidelines for the island's second revolutionary change in agriculture are to be found in an "Outline for Current Rural Economic Construction" adopted last April at the Second Plenary Session of the 10th Central Committee of the Kuomintang (the Republic of China's Nationalist Party).

These guidelines are a further expression of Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People.

Land reform of two decades ago was based on belief the nation would prosper only when farmers had land of their own and the right to till it in their own way. The program included reduction of rent, sale of government-owned farmlands and the land-to-the-tiller program. The government bought lands from nonfarmer owners and sold them to the tillers. Payment was in installments spread over 10 years.

Land reform and follow-up measures spurred agricultural production by 4.6 per cent annually in the 1953-60 period and 5.9 per cent annually in the succeeding eight years.

The 1968 growth of 6.1 per cent was broken down into farming, 4.9 per cent; forestry, 5 per cent; fishery, 20.4 per cent; and livestock, 5.7 per cent.

Despite this progress, Taiwan has agricultural problems. Marginal land is almost nonexistent and the cultivated area has increased by only 3 per cent since 1952. Population has reduced the farm area per capita. The farmer's income has not kept pace with that of workers in industry and the services.

In the 16 years from 1953 to 1968, industry grew by 6.9 times, averaging a gain of 13.8 per cent annually. Per capita income of the non-agricultural sector rose 4.9 times in terms of current prices; the increase was only 3.3 times for the agricultural population.

With industry moving ahead of agriculture, labor-intensive farming is no longer economical. Emphasis has to be placed on per capita productivity—the use of fewer men and more machines.

However, mechanization is not possible on small, irregular farm plots. Agricultural conditions of the 1970s demand larger farms with more financial muscle and competent management. .

Plans call for bringing several farmers together in a voluntary pooling of lands. Labor and financing will be contributed in proportion to land ownership and profits shared accordingly. Individual titles will not be affected. Elimination of boundary paths will open up the enlarged farms to tractors, power tillers and other machines. Government loans will stimulate mechaniza­tion. Irrigation and other costs will be reduced.

The Taiwan Sugar Corporation, largest enterprise on the island, has already experimented with such cooperative farming. Production has been increased by as much as 25 per cent and farm income raised.

Taiwan has shared its agricultural know-how with farmers of Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia during the last decade. Farm demonstration teams have served in 27 African countries. Thirty-one African states have sent more than 500 agriculturalists to Taiwan in a series of 11 five-month seminars. Two of these are held annually.

The underlying spirit of Taiwan land reform - both old and new - is jen or benevolence. This expresses the differences between free Chinese agricultural reform and the Communists' expropriation of land on the mainland. The Communists killed millions of landlords, then usurped the land and herded the peasants into com­munes and production brigades.

Taiwan's new program is cooperative, not com­munal. The farmers' standard of living will be raised without paying the price of government dictation, the socialization of holdings or the loss of jen.

Taiwan was discovered touristically by the Dutch and Spanish four centuries ago but large numbers of visitors did not start coming until the late 1950s. Since then the island has had one of the fastest rates of tourism growth in Asia.

Visitors totaled 371,473 last year and are expected to reach the 500,000 mark this year. Last year's volume was nearly 25 times the 1956 figure of 14,974. The 1970 target calls for an increase of 27 per cent. These figures do not include U.S. servicemen.

Tourism revenue was estimated at US$12 million a decade ago and US$66.8 million last year. The 1969 figure was fourth among foreign exchange earners after textiles, machinery and wood products.

Taiwan is fortunate in its location. Tourists flying between Hongkong and Japan cannot avoid Taiwan geographically. They don't have to stop over but can do so without extra fare.

Japan and Hongkong drew about equal numbers of visitors in 1963 and 1964. Taiwan had only about 25 per cent of their volume. Hongkong has since out­-distanced Japan but Taiwan's share has increased even more rapidly. Last year's Taiwan volume was about three-fifths that of Japan and nearly a half that of Hongkong.

Taiwan is one of the world's most beautiful islands. There is a feast of scenery. Yushan (Mt. Morrison) is higher than Japan's Fuji. Snow falls in winter for skiing in Taiwan's Alps even as bananas and pineapples are flourishing on the evergreen lowlands.

The island province is the only place in the world where the China of yesterday, today and tomorrow can be freely seen by the nationals of any non-Communist country. Here are the matchless heritage of a great civilization, the warmth of traditional Chinese hospitality and a dynamic new spirit of industrialization and modernization.

Taiwan has the world's greatest collection of Chinese art treasures. The 250,000 masterpieces at the National Palace Museum in Taipei span China's 5,000-year history and are to be seen every day of the year.

Chinese holidays and festivals are uniquely colorful. All the provincial styles of China's magnificent cooking are available at reasonable prices. Chinese operas offer a different kind of theater. Handicrafts are unusual, of high quality and a bargain.

In the mid-1950s, the island had only two hotels and about 100 rooms of international standard. At the end of last year, there were 66 such hotels with 4,762 rooms, enough for 600,000 tourists annually. These hotels are being enlarged and new ones built.

For getting out of Taipei, domestic airlines have several flights daily to Kaohsiung and other cities. There are air-conditioned express trains and buses, narrow­-gauge mountain railroads and exotic push-carts at a scenic aborigine village.

The international airport at Taipei has been en­larged to accommodate jumbo jets. The newly opened international airport at Kaohsiung will begin handling passenger flights in 1971s. This will permit tourists to enter via Taipei and exit at Kaohsiung or vice versa. Those coming by ship may disembark at Keelung or Kaohsiung.

Improvement of scenic spots and tourist facilities is a continuous endeavor. The China Tourism Development Corp. is providing loans. Tourism offices are sponsored by national, provincial and city governments.

Expo 70 at Osaka introduced many tourists to Tai­wan. The China Pavilion provided a foretaste which persuaded large numbers of visitors to stop over in Taiwan and see more.

Taiwan was the Asian tourist discovery of the 1960s. Now many visitors are returning for the second or third time. As a result, the tourism industry is con­fidently predicting a million visitors a year by the late 1970s.