Now that the United States has established diplomatic relations with Red China, the Chinese Communists are resorting to ceaseless united front trickery in an attempt to deceive the people of the world and especially of the United States with their smiling-face offensive. At the same time, they are attempting to undermine the anti-Communist solidarity of our Chinese compatriots who still enjoy freedom here and abroad. This is a common practice of the Chinese Communists and is usually ignored, but this time the record needs to be set straight and so I am prompted to spell out the solemn position of the Republic of China.
In leading the National Revolution and establishing the Re public of China, our National Founding Father, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, sought to ensure the freedom and equality of China. Since the founding of our Republic, large numbers of revolutionary martyrs and comrades have joined forces to:
- strive for the international equality of China by fighting a costly eight-year war. Finally, the unequal treaties with foreign countries were abrogated and China became one of the five great powers of the world.
- struggle for the political equality of the people by overcoming innumerable difficulties to write the Constitution of the Republic of China and usher in democratic constitutional rule.
- ensure the economic equality of the people by hard work to satisfy their basic requirements, rid them of poverty and assure them a life of affluence in perpetuity.
In attaining these three goals, our martyrs and comrades made great sacrifices and gave their lives in the struggle of the last 70 years or so. Although our country has been confronted with many crises, we have never ceased moving in the direction of these objectives. Under the leadership of the government, the Chinese people made great sacrifices of sweat and blood in their efforts to seek national unification in the Northward Expedition and the War of Resistance Against Japan. We can never tolerate anyone who attempts to extinguish this part of our history. Throughout the course of this struggle, the Chinese Communists always played the role of saboteurs. Their efforts to sabotage us included the Canton Uprising, Nanchang Uprising, Hupeh-Hunan Autumn Uprising during the period of the Northward Expedition, and many examples of obstructionism during the War of Resistance.
The Chinese Communists have also attempted to disrupt our struggle for national construction and unification during these scores of years. They have undermined our efforts to build a united and free China, introduced Marxism Leninism and established an armed rebel regime based on the Russian model. All this is well known and has pained the hearts of the Chinese.
In the last nearly 30 years, the government and people of the Republic of China have endeavored to improve and perfect the government in the Taiwan area and have laid down a strong foundation on which our ideal is based. We are determined to make this the blueprint for the reconstruction of all China, so that each of our compatriots can have:
- international respect from other countries;
- the right of political equality;
- an economically prosperous life.
These are our consistent goals and inescapable duties.
After the United States announced plans to establish diplomatic ties with the Chinese Communist regime, the Chinese Communists' united front instrument, "the standing committee of the national people's congress," issued on December 25 a "letter to the people in Taiwan." The letter proposed to suspend the shelling of Kinmen, clamored for the establishment of postal, air and trade links, and expressed willingness to negotiate with us. Obviously, the Chinese Communists undertook these moves and told these lies in an attempt to confuse the American people and deceive the U.S. Congress and press. The Communists hoped to weaken prospective support for the Re public of China, obstruct the stability and peace of the Taiwan Straits and the Asian-Pacific region, and counteract the dissatisfaction of the people of the world with the mistaken U.S. policy of breaching faith with us and recognizing the Chinese Communists and abrogating the U.S.-ROC Mutual Defense Treaty. They hoped especially to undermine our combat will power and damage the spirit and morale of our people, thus creating favorable conditions for their future military operations. In fact, the Communist proposals are not new. They are a playback of the old trick of mainland usurpation through "peace talks."
Peace and unification are the common aspirations of the Chinese people. But the unified country we seek must be one that can promote world peace, advance human welfare, implement democratic and constitutional government, safeguard basic human rights, encourage the free economy and respect the private ownership of property. Only in a country unified under these conditions can all of the people enjoy the rights of equality and freedom, share the benefits and participate politically.
The Chinese people want the world of Great Harmony that we have traditionally cherished and not unification based on the Shih Huang-ti model of the Ch'in dynasty. We seek an open world, not an impenetrable cage in which everyone watches everyone else. We need a modernized society in which all of us are equally wealthy and not backward communes in which all are equally impoverished. We need to fit our Chinese culture and society into the mainstream of the modern world and thereby create a more beautiful future for humankind. We do not need a system that resorts to blind opposition and even to the obliteration of Chinese culture by pulling out the Chinese cultural root.
The "peace talks" proposed by the Chinese Communists are merely "another form of class struggle." Plainly, they seek to induce us to surrender. "Peace talks" are one of the Chinese Communist tactics for seizing Taiwan by stages and also one of their ultimate approaches for the communizing of all China. The Chinese Communists want us, the Chinese people who are living in freedom, to abandon our present way of life, to give up our wealth and well-being, and to throwaway our rights of equality, of sharing benefits and of political participation. At the same time, the Communists wish to destroy the hope of the Chinese people of the mainland that their freedom can be re gained.
The Communists insist on class struggle. In a Communist society, a man's class is decided by his family background. This fixes his "status" in the Chinese Communist jargon and also decides the destiny of his children. Anyone who yields to Communist deception today will become an evil "reactionary" tomorrow and be subjected to endless purge and struggle. Let us ask: Who among those of us living in freedom does not belong in the Chinese Communist view to the "five black categories?" No matter what sweet words the Communists use to divide us, this cannot be denied. We have learned from our compatriots on the mainland that the settling of accounts is not to be limited to the last generation or to this generation, but is to continue through all generations.
The Chinese Communists have repeatedly urged us to establish postal, air and trade links with them. On the mainland the people are allowed to eat only with food coupons, move only with travel permits, are restricted in their right to education and may not choose their jobs freely. The Chinese Communists have placed all resources under total control for political purpose. Where, then, is freedom of movement and freedom of trade? The people of the main land do not believe that the Chinese Communists will keep their promises, nor are we so childish as to believe their lies.
We have learned from history that those who place their trust in Communist falsehood will face a tragic end. The seizure of the three Baltic States by Russia, the usurpation of the mainland and the fall of Vietnam are examples of tragedy fresh in our memories. If we cannot serve as courageous freedom fighters today, we shall become refugees drifting on stormy seas by tomorrow.
The Chinese Communists still have many other tricks up their sleeve. These may include wheedling Chinese students abroad into going to the mainland, soliciting foreign loans and recruiting foreign entrepreneurs to enter into joint ventures to build factories and exploit oil deposits by making a big fanfare of their "four modernizations" and 10 year economic development plans. The Chinese Communists will use such sinister means to deceive and confuse the people. They will employ any means of chicanery to attain their goal.
If the Chinese Communists dare to face the true reality, they should immediately accept these often expressed aspirations of the mainland people to:
- forsake Marxism-Leninism and give up world revolution;
- get rid of Communist dictatorship and safeguard the rights and freedom of the people.
- disband the people's communes and return property to the people.
These steps would enable the people on the mainland to enjoy freedom and prosperity in the way of life we have developed in Taiwan.
I want to solemnly counsel our compatriots at home and abroad and the people of the world - seriously, firmly and with the greatest confidence and determination - that: Only when our compatriots at home and abroad have come together sincerely under the leadership of the Republic of China in common endeavor can we rebuild a strong and unified China characterized by freedom, democracy, progress and prosperity. To do so is the only way to:
- perpetuate our 5,000-year-old cultural tradition;
- safeguard the freedom and happiness of all the Chinese of this generation;
- liberate our persecuted compatriots on the mainland quickly.
- ensure the survival and continuing growth of our offspring in the millions upon millions of years to come.
This is the only bright and glorious outlet for the Chinese people. This is the only way to ensure genuine peace in Asia and the world.