Resettlement of Returnees
The number of overseas Chinese coming to Taiwan from Indonesia is increasing in the wake of the Indonesian ban on retail trade by aliens last January. The government is now actively preparing for their accommodation.
Up to last March close to 6,000 Chinese residents in Indonesia have applied for entry to Taiwan, of whom some 1,100 have already reached here, according to C. M. Chen, chairman of the Overseas Affairs Commission.
Chen said he is expecting more to come as the fate of those who returned to the mainland gradually becomes known. In anticipation of their arrival the government have been taking steps to rehabilitate them on this island. Under planning is the setting up of a government agency to give them vocational training. Part of the resettlement program also calls for their participation in cultivating the less-developed land in south Taiwan.
The housing problem of the returnees is receiving top attention of the government, Chen said. A housing loan of NT$5,000,000 has already been made available to those in need of help. Plans are afoot to build an overseas Chinese village at Shihlin in suburban Taipei through the grant of low-interest loans, and to construct low-cost housing units for the returnees at Kaohsiung.
MACAO
Surprising Appetite
"One has to see to believe it!" exclaimed a waiter at the Mao Chi Restaurant in the Portuguese colony one day last month.
What drew his exclamation is five Chinese refugees who consumed 41 big bowls of rice in addition to all the dishes in a single meal which their Macao relatives paid for them shortly after they crossed the border line in quest of freedom. They did not spare even the seasoning on the table, the waiter observed in amazement.
The fact is that the refugees had not tasted rice for a long time, let alone delicious dishes. Their surprising appetite at the dining table on reaching freedom belies the Communist claim of miraculous increase of agricultural production on the mainland.
INDIA
Loyalty Triumphs
Many people in Free China were worried for the 13,000 overseas Chinese in India a few months ago when New Delhi declared them "stateless persons" and gave them a three-month residential permits for their refusal to accept Communist passports. That worry is no longer needed because the Indian government has relented.
Behind this victory of the anti-Communist overseas Chinese lies a moving story of their determination to remain free in the face of threats and cajolery. Shortly after the Indian government's decision to issue three-month residential permits to the anti-Communist Chinese, the Communist "embassy" circulated rumors that they would be deported after the termination of the three-month period and at the same time tried hard to persuade them to register with the Red "embassy" for new passports.
Afterwards, the Indian government made a survey among the overseas Chinese to see how many of them had accepted the Communist passports. To their surprise, the Indian officials found only 18% of the overseas Chinese, including Communist officials, applied for the passports while the remaining 82% chose to become "stateless persons" waiting for deportation.
The Indian government which might have been moved by the attitude of the overseas Chinese, recently decreed an extension of the temporary residential permits to one year. It also lifted an earlier ban on travel abroad by Chinese nationals not armed with passports issued by Peiping.
The Chinese people in India also expressed their hatred of the Communist regime by sending their children to schools run by anti-Communist Chinese. In Calcutta, the Red Chinese schools have a total enrollment of only 530 compared with 1,760 in anti-Communist schools. At Kalimpong the establishment of an anti-Communist Chinese grade school last January attracted all but 12 pupils in the old Red school.
BURMA
Intensified Subversion
While Rangoon is loudly cheering its border agreement with the Peiping regime, the Chinese Communists are losing no time to step up their penetration into Burma through the overseas Chinese. That may be the partial explanation of the Reds' willingness to come to terms with that Buddhist country regarding the disputed border line in a speedy manner aside from their apparent desire to mend fences in Southeast Asia where the regime's prestige is sagging.
The alarm was sounded by Joseph Cheng of the Hongkong Standard. Upon completing a 1,100-mile tour in Burma, he reported the Communists are making an allout effort to win over the allegiance of the 300,000 Chinese residents to become a subversive force for Communism. Referring to the tactics employed by the Chinese Communists to achieve their objective, he said:
"The so-called superiority of Communism is being taught in Mandarin to Chinese children in some overseas Chinese schools. A Chinese-language newspaper in Rangoon was recently bought over by the Chinese Reds at 300,000 kyats to help spread the Communist way of life. Low-interest loans are being offered by the Communist-owned 'Bank of China' in the Burmese capital to overseas Chinese who show willingness: firstly to put their children under Communist control, secondly to fly Chinese Communist flags on festive occasions and thirdly to employ only workers belonging to Communist-dominated labor unions."
The Chinese Communist "silver bullet" campaign has resulted in swaying "a number of opportunistic overseas Chinese merchants," according to Cheng, "but the overwhelming majority of Burma's 300,000 overseas Chinese continues to remain loyal to their country of domicile."
Cheng further reported that the Chinese Communist "embassy" in Rangoon made use of their diplomatic immunity to "smuggle" into Burma Communist documentary films through diplomatic couriers and mail pouches. These films were being shown publicly to over seas Chinese spectators. Despite strong protests from the Burmese government, he said, "Chinese Communist films continue to be smuggled into the country, although showings to overseas Chinese audiences were more clandestine and not as public as before."
Security Measure—Rangoon Style
How well Peiping has succeeded in its penetration into the overseas Chinese community in Burma was mirrored in Chou En-lai's recent visit to Burma.
On the eve of Chou's arrival in Rangoon the Burmese government swooped down on 13 anti-Communist Chinese residents at the request of the Chinese Communist "embassy." They were whisked to jail along with several naturalized Indians for the safety of the Red chieftain.
This security measure taken by the Burmese government was apparently inspired by the French authorities who also removed anti-Communist aliens from France during Khrushchev's visit to the country. The difference lies in this. The Parisian authorities, realizing the illegality of the step, took the trouble to host the detainees in relative luxury during the period of their confinement. The Burmese government, however, had no such scruples. It found jails a much more convenient and cheap way of accommodation for the anti-Communist residents.
SINGAPORE
100,000 Illegal Marriages
Polygamy is being outlawed in Singapore and 100,000 marriages by Chinese custom may be null and void unless registered within one year.
The principle of "one man, one wife," is incorporated into the newly drafted Women's Charter, now being considered by the Legislative Assembly. It ordains that as of March 2, 1960 a man with one or more wives may not take an additional wife under any law, religion or custom without committing bigamy. The registration requirement applies to Chinese and Hindus who have married according to custom. Failure to register makes a man liable to three years jail, a fine of US$1,000 or both.
Opposition is building up to the compulsory registration. A noted Chinese woman jurist trained both in Chinese and Western law issued a reminder that Malayan courts have long been under a misconception in recognizing polygamy among overseas Chinese. Mrs. Tan Ek Khoo said under the old Chinese empire a man could have only one legal wife although he might have a number of concubines. At no time in Chinese history, she said, had concubines and their children been entitled to inheritance and since 1930 concubinage had been made illegal.
Objection also came from the Chinese press. Said the influential Nanyang Siang Pau: "Marriage between a man and woman is a family and social question ... and it is not solely on account of law that it exists. Now under the new ordinance Singapore will be ridiculed in the eyes of the world because proper marriages have become null and void."
The big Sin Chew Jit Poh of the Tiger group said: "According to Chinese tradition, although the status of the wife and that of a concubine are entirely different, yet the issues from both are of equal status.
"Such conception still prevails among the majority of those who have concubines. Furthermore, there is the question of 'illegitimate children' on which provisions have been made in the law of 1910."
The paper said no one can disregard concubines whose status had been established and added: "In Singapore not a few have concubines and this question needs to be solved."
UNITED STATES
Honor for Chinese Scientists
Dr. Tsung Dao Lee, who astounded the world in 1957 by winning the Nobel Prize for Physics in partnership with Dr. C. N. Yang, has won another recognition. He was appointed last month as professor of the School of Mathematics of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
A statement issued by the Institute said Dr. Lee was chosen for the professorship because "he is one of the few theorists who have made original contributions in many varied domains ... he is one of the very rare physicists whose name is identified with truly fundamental progress in more than one of these areas: the statistical, the field theory as well as the particle problems."
The 34-year-old scientist was born in Shanghai. He went to the United States at the age of 20 to study at the University of Chicago. He has already served two two-year periods of membership in the Institute, in 1951-52 and in 1957-58.
Another Chinese scientist who won recognition is Dr. Hsuan Yeh. In late March he was appointed director of the University of Pennsylvania's new Towne School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering. Active in research in a number of fields including fluid dynamics, gas turbine design and aerodynamic design, he has made numerous contributions to technical publications.
The ex-major of the Chinese Air Force is a graduate of the Chiaotung University in Shanghai. In 1944 he received a master of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in 1950 was awarded a doctorate in science from the same school.
A third Chinese scientist in the United States who recently got into headlines is Dr. Fan Chang-yun. A researcher in the University of Chicago, he was credited with designing an important part of Pioneer V which soared from Cape Canaveral on March 11 toward its solar orbit.
Dr. Fan, 42, graduated from the National Central University in 1941. He went to the United States in 1948. Later he won his master's degree and his doctorate in the University of Chicago for his study in nuclear physics.
Brotherly Love
An extensive drive to collect old clothing for the relief of Chinese refugees in Hongkong is being started by the Chinese communities in Los Angeles and San Francisco as their contribution to the World Refugee Year program.
The drive in Los Angeles, sponsored by the Los Angeles Chung Hua Hui Kuan, has already begun. The San Francisco campaign, initiated by the Chung Hua Tsung Hui Kuan, will begin in the middle of May. Tons of used clothing will be collected by the end of June and then shipped to Hongkong by an aircraft carrier of the United States Seventh Fleet.
BRITAIN
"Concentration Camp" in Town
Few of the 8,000,000 Londoners realize that there exists a "concentration camp" in the busiest center of their great city under democracy. There is no barbed-wire fence to draw their attention. But the iron railings surrounding the Chinese Communist "Office of the Charge d'Affaires" in Portland Place may just as well be its barbed-wire fence.
There the curtains are drawn 21 hours a day. Inside this dark compound the 29 members of the Peiping legation lead the life of prisoners. Farther north, another 21 members of the Chinese Communist "Office of the Commercial Counsellor" share a similar fate.
This startling secrecy was revealed by Kuo Teh-lu, chef of the Communist legation who defected and sought political asylum from the British government on February 26. Kuo should know because he had been an inmate of that "concentration camp" during 1954-60 with the exception of a brief period in Peiping in 1957.
The prison-like life inside this so-called diplomatic mission as told by Kuo is shocking. Personal freedom and freedom of movement are completely unknown to the "diplomats" from Peiping. They are required to move in pairs or in groups, each apparently watching or spying on the other. They associate with no outsiders lest they should be "corrupted" by the latter.
Meals are served commune style in the Red legation. After breakfast a "learning period" is held during which the inmates have their brains washed and twisted.
If a comrade wants to see a decadent capitalistic movie, permission must first be obtained. Even the visitation to the harmless Russian circus that came to London to perform was done not singly but en masse. In short, Kuo said, individual movement is non-existent.
Even so simple a thing as shopping is restricted to a one square mile area near the legation. If there are better commodities at cheaper prices in other parts of the sprawling city, that's just too bad. The comrades simply cannot do their shopping outside this pin head.
Behind drawn curtains the comrades in the office talk like parrots trained by the same man. There is no dissenting voice. Any complaint or any utterance that can be construed as "unpatriotic" may land the indiscreet speaker in the "reform through labor" school.
Kuo's boss must have suspected that he was unreliable, for he was ordered to return to the mainland where his wife and two children live. It was then Kuo decided not to go back, knowing only too well that life on the mainland is even worse than that in the legation in London.
Asked if he thought his family might suffer because of his defection, Kuo said "they are already suffering—all people in Communist China are."
The British government granted political asylum to the Red chef on March 25. But Kuo was not sure of his safety in London even though friends there are protecting him from Communist kidnap. He said at a press conference he would like to come to Free China to start life anew. The Free China Relief Association in Taipei said he would be welcome in Taiwan just as other anti-Communist refugees.
MAINLAND
Black Shadow over Returnees
Thousands of overseas Chinese who returned to the mainland from Indonesia in the wake of Peiping's call for "participation in the reconstruction of the homeland" are being treated as unreliable elements, reports recently reached Hongkong disclosed.
Sources from Canton said the returnees housed in a concentration camp-like hostel in the city had to report to the Communist cadres before they went out for shopping or visiting friends so that they might be constantly shadowed wherever they went. Even their diaries couldn't escape the ubiquitous Communist surveillance. They were further required to write lengthy autobiographies leaving nothing unrecorded and sign an affidavit pledging their loyalty to the Red party and complete obedience to official assignment, the report said.
The same sources revealed that the returnees from Indonesia were complete strangers in their "homeland." They could not understand why nobody spoke to them and why people lived in suspicion of one another. What puzzled them most is that smile had completely vanished as a facial expression. There were a thousand other things to which the returnees were unaccustomed, the report said.
However, the riddle was soon answered by their own experiences. The returnees were speedily assigned to mine pits, factories and uncultivated land to join the shock brigade of the labor force to expedite the "leap forward" campaign. Having suddenly plunged into this new way of life without the benefit of a transitional adaptation, many of the returnees have begun to regret their coming back in the first place. A great number of them even attempted suicide to shake off the new shackle which is much worse than Jakarta's persecution, according to the report.
Purification of "Corrupted" Minds
The "thought reform" movement among the overseas Chinese students must be stepped up because they are "a hundred percent corrupted by bourgeois influence," the China Youth Daily, organ of the Communist Youth League, urged last month.
The paper said the overseas Chinese students who were raised in "capitalist countries" need a thorough purification of their minds. Because the "bourgeois influence not only impedes the progress of their own thought reform but also produces an adverse effect on the mainland students," the daily wailed.
The paper listed these "adverse" effects which the overseas Chinese students produced among their mainland brethren: a general longing for the way of life under the "capitalist system," contempt for labor and politics and relaxation of efforts to learn. "If this tendency is not checked in time," the paper warned, "there will be dire consequences."