Taiwan Today

The Republic of China's economic, social and cultural advances grow out of the unique system bequeathed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and brought to fruition in the model province of Taiwan

The Republic of China's "economic miracle"— recognized the world over since the 1960s — is the product of a mixed economy.

Both government and private enterprises have played important roles in providing an economic growth rate of nearly 10 percent annually for two decades.

Government provided the infrastructure and assigned the business umpires. Private enterprises put up the risk capital that built most of the fac­tories to transfer the island province from quiet agricultural status to bustling industrialization.

Behind the Republic of China's mixed economy lies Dr. Sun Yat-sen's People's Principle of Livelihood. This is not socialism; it rejects the Marxist theory of materialism. As Dr. Sun put it, "Livelihood is the center of government, the center of economics, the center of all historical movements." He went on to correct the misconception that "material issues are the central force in history."

"We must let the political, social and economic movements of history gravitate about the prob­lem of livelihood," he said.

When the Republic of China took back Taiwan from the Japanese in 1945, absentee landlords dominated agriculture and state corporations dominated business and industry.

Land reform was the first great change carried out in the economic system based on the Principle of the People's Livelihood. Absentee ownership of farms was terminated by buying up the land and selling it to tillers. About 90 percent of today's farms are owned by those who work them.

Some land owners became entrepreneurs as they acquired shares of stock in government cor­porations which were subsequently turned over to private management. State ownership was maintained only in areas that performed essential services and could not be easily transferred to private interests. Remaining state corporations are still subject to sale if conditions permit.

As independent farmers began to prosper in a predominately agricultural land, the government encouraged the development of light, privately owned industries. At first these engaged in import substitution of textiles and other daily necessities. Excess production sought export markets until private enterprise finally came to rely on external sales as its major goal.

At the outset of the 1980s, foreign trade has reached a point where volume is approximately equal to the gross national product. More than any other country in the world, the Republic of China on Taiwan exports to live — about US$25 billion worth of goods in 1981 with an approxi­mate balance of imports.

The result of the government-free enterprise mix is an economy which will be providing per capita income of about US$6,000 by the end of the decade. Life is good and getting better. The living standard is Asia's second highest after Japan.

Agriculture remains important because it provides a steadily improving livelihood for nearly a third of 18 million people on an island of less than 14,000 square miles. Modernization which includes extensive mechanization has raised the unit farm yield to a high level. Exports of sugar, fruit and such processed foods as mushrooms, asparagus and pineapple are major foreign exchange earners.

Textiles and electrical machinery apparatus set the pace for industrial exports. Taiwan-made goods go out across the world to more than 150 countries. Even the mainland Communists have been buying them abroad for domestic use in a propaganda effort to demonstrate that the Chinese can produce high quality products in quantity.

Light industry turned out a wide mix of goods ranging from pins to calculators in past years. Now the trend is toward more capital-intensive, technology-intensive products. Cheap electronics are giving way to more expensive and increasingly sophisticated products.

Some motor vehicles have been exported. A new plant is contemplated to make 200,000 cars annually with a substantial number for export. Ships made in the world's second biggest drydock are transporting oil and goods of many countries.

Hundreds of foreign and overseas Chinese in­vestors have brought about US$2 billion in capital to the Republic of China. The share of Americans is climbing toward US$1 billion. Foreign-owned plants produce a wide variety of goods. At first they took advantage of Taiwan's plentiful supply of intelligent, loyal and relatively low-cost labor. Now they are coming to rely on the Republic of China's technical expertise and management know-how.

Free China's economy has been strong enough to overcome Chinese Communist isolation efforts and the diplomatic blow inflicted when the United States and other countries withdrew formal recognition in a bid for expected trade rewards from normalization of relations with the mainland.

As things have turned out, the profits to be reaped from trading with the Republic of China are bigger and more certain than those to be found on the mainland. Under one name or another, offices of the world's major economic powers have returned to Taipei. The count of foreign banks has risen to 23.

Trade with the United States moved well past the US$11 billion mark in 1980 as the ROC took eighth place among American economic partners. Both the United States and Japan are represented in Taipei by establishments which are embassies in all but name.

Because of reliability and stability as well as prosperity, the Republic of China is considered one of the world's best credit risks by leading banks all over the world. Interest rates for development and industrial loans are exceptionally favorable.

Taiwan's successful entrepreneurs are looking abroad for investment opportunities. Electrical appliance and machinery plants have been opened in Britain, the United States and other countries. This outflow of capital is welcomed by the government in contrast with the mainland. Investment partnerships with the Chinese Communists are impossible.

To serve economy and people, the government is continuing with huge development undertakings that were begun with the Ten Major Construction Projects of the 1970s.

Included in the Ten Projects were the next-to-last link in an around-the-island railway system, mainland rail electrification, expressway construction, new ports, new Taipei area airport, nuclear power plants, an integrated steel mill, a huge shipyard and expansion of the petrochemical industry.

Besides providing the infrastructure expansion necessary to assure uninterrupted economic growth, the government is expediting agricultural modernization and encouraging economic and cultural development of towns and counties as well as the big cities.

The Ten Major Construction Projects were largely inspired and initially implemented by President Chiang Ching-kuo during his tenure as Premier. The cost of the 10-year program approxi­mated US$7.5 billion. The ongoing Twelve New Projects will cost that much or more.

To assure that the people will not suffer from overemphasis on economic growth, President Chiang Ching-kuo has laid down the rule of "growth with stability and stability with growth."

Except in 1980, when the high price of oil fueled the fires of inflation, Taiwan prices have been substantially under control in recent years. The people have not lost too many of their gains to inflation. Workers have paid for their higher wages with increased productivity.

Government tax policies are keyed to the development of industry and the encouragement of agriculture. As the 1980s get under way, direct taxes are overtaking indirect levies for the first time. Despite the heavy defense burden, people pay less of their income in taxes than in the United States and European countries.

Free China's economic advance is largely attributable to the fact that government, private enter­prise and the people are solidly united behind the effort to make Taiwan the model province for the development of a free economy on the Chinese mainland.

People of the mainland have repeatedly asked to "learn from Taiwan." Both President Chiang and Premier Sun Yun-suan have replied that intensive learning can begin as soon as compatriots in continental China get rid of Communism and open the way for a repetition of the "Taiwan miracle" under conditions of economic freedom.

Man lives not by bread alone. When the island of Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China by the Japanese in 1945, it was a cultural desert.

Even basic education was frowned upon by the occupiers. A limited number of young people were able to obtain secondary schooling. A mere handful had the opportunity to attend college.

Aborigines were usually limited to a couple of years of primary school — just enough to learn suf­ficient Japanese to understand orders.

Chinese and Western art, drama and literature were discouraged. Nor did the Japanese offer much of their own culture as a replacement. They con­sidered the people of Taiwan as too inferior to understand the nuances of noh drama or even kabuki.

By 1980, the Republic of China on Taiwan was ready for its first extended season of cultural offerings by its own artists and visitors from all over the world.

Drama, music and dance were presented to capacity audiences. There was a new flowering of Chinese opera. A second and even more impressive season got under way in the fall of 1981.

To be opened by the mid-1980s at the Taipei Memorial Center dedicated to President Chiang Kai-shek is the world's first perfect Chinese opera theater, designed to accommodate only this unique style of drama.

Western culture will not be neglected. The Memorial Center will also have a huge concert hall to augment facilities already available at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Center.

Chinese opera is being modernized and new plays written and produced, the first in many years. Chinese orchestral music and folksongs are entering a renaissance.

Three television networks, all broadcasting daily for six hours and on week-ends for twelve, are presenting both Chinese and Western culture. The government requires the three to devote more than half of their broadcast time to educational and cultural programming. This still leaves ample time for entertainment.

Cultural horizons are being further widened by tourism, for the people of Taiwan. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese are traveling to Southeast and Northeast Asia, the United States and Europe annually. Nearly everyone can go and tour groups cut the cost to a low level.

Taiwan gates are open to reciprocal tourism by peoples of all free countries. Nearly a million and a half visitors are coming annually with Japanese and Americans leading the way.

The Republic of China is a great place to live but also a rewarding place to visit.

Attractions range through the whole gamut of Chinese life and culture to one of the world's greenest and most beautiful islands. Chinese cuisine is the world's best, most varied and, as prices go today, among the most economical.

New hotels abound. First class room rates are lower than those of Hongkong and Tokyo. The economy-minded tourist can find excellent accom­modations for US$25 a day and even less.

Mountain vistas and seascapes are to be found within an hour or two of Taipei, a fascinat­ing modern Chinese city of nearly 2% million people. Visitors on their way through Taiwan via Japan and Hongkong can land at Taipei in the north and depart via the second largest city and biggest port of Kaohsiung in the south, or vice versa.

Those who are looking for Chinese color will find it in the streets and byways of Taiwan Province - and safely, too. Even back lanes can be walked by night as well as day. Hold-ups and muggings are to be seen only in the movies.

English and Japanese are widely spoken. There is no communications problem. Shops offer many bargains, especially in handicrafts of wood and semiprecious stones. Taiwan jade is cheap and attractive. The visitor can bargain in the old­-fashioned way or go to price-fixed stores. The gov­ernment maintains a handicraft center with carefully controlled prices.

Young people from all over the world have come to know the Republic of China and Taiwan through a year or two of Chinese study. In the ROC, the student learns the language. On the Chinese mainland he learns only the language of propaganda.

At any given time, close to a thousand foreign students are in Taiwan studying Chinese and observing the free Chinese way of life.

Reciprocally, several thousand Chinese stu­dents go abroad annually to continue their educa­tion at graduate schools in the United States and other countries.

But the pressure for education abroad is not so high as once it was. Taiwan has more than 100 schools of advanced learning. Many of these offer master's and doctor's degrees that are as highly respected as those earned overseas.

In medicine, Chinese doctors trained in Taiwan schools are excelling in surgery and other branches of the healing skills.

Doctors at Taiwan University Hospital re­cently performed two separations of Siamese twins that won recognition around the world.

As a result of improved medical care and diet, the people of Taiwan are living an average of more than 70 years. The life expectancy of both men and women is approaching the Japanese level, which is the highest in the world. Young people are taller and heavier. Such diseases as malaria and cholera have been eradicated.

Nearly 100 percent of children receive primary school education. More than 90 percent go on to junior high school. Illiteracy is virtually unknown among members of the younger generation.

Senior high school entrance is competitive but most young people who wish further education are able to obtain it. College doors are open to those whose scores are roughly in the upper fourth of the joint entrance examination. Cheating and special privilege are of no avail; the examination is as fair as it is humanly possible to make it.

Although the birth rate has been declining, more than 26 percent of the population is in the classroom. Confucius said that learning is the most precious aspect of life. That is still the philosophy of education in the Republic of China.

Taipei probably has more art galleries per capita than Paris or New York. Sculpture and ceramics are booming. Poetry clubs are supporting old forms and developing new ones. The advance of literature is to be observed in a plethora of bookstores.

Ballet schools are teaching both Chinese and classical Western dance. The troupe of Cloud Gate dancers has created an eclectic style acknowledged to be something new in the world of artistic dancing.

The movie industry produces more features than most other Asian countries. These films are shown not only at home but in Southeast Asian countries with sizable overseas Chinese commu­nities. A realistic and objective film on life in Red China was shown allover the world in 1981 and enthusiastically applauded. The Chinese Commu­nists felt compelled to threaten the Hongkong government into blacking out marquees after only a day of showings for "The Coldest Winter in Peking."

The Republic of China's province of Taiwan is the heartland of Chinese culture for both Chinese and interested foreigners. The Chinese of the main­land who have cried out to learn from Taiwan in economics and politics, are turning their atten­tion to the ROC's culture. The mainland has no culture of its own and dares not risk imports. It has remained for the Republic of China to preserve the best of traditional Chinese culture and blend it with the best to be found abroad.