Taiwan Today

President cites need for Oriental culture President Chiang Ching-kuo urged peoples and nations of Asia to "bring to the full scope their traits of traditional Oriental culture—intelligence, benevolence and courage." In a message to the 16th General Assembly of the Asian Parliamentarians' Union in Taipei, President Chiang said Asians should never be "bewildered, worried or frightened." The message was read by Ma Chi-chuang, secretary general to the President. President Chiang said measures of appeasement, detente and of trying to play the Communists off against each other are mistaken. This is a chaotic world in which friend is not always distinguished from foe, right is often confused with wrong and moral courage has all but disappeared, President Chiang said. He attributed this to the rise of Soviet influence after World War II. The U.S.S.R. has supported other Communists in insurrection and subversion, the President said mainland China bore the brunt of this and was shut behind the Iron Curtain. Since then, there has been no peace in Asia. The Korean and Vietnam Wars erupted. "The people of China and the three Indochinese states have been subjected to slavery and persecution," President Chiang said. "Traditional Oriental culture has been ravaged. These Communist-controlled areas have become the sources of Free World turmoil. "Unfortunately, the free and democratic nations have failed to see this. They have faced the Communist challenge with appeasement, detente and the policy of uniting with one bloc of Communists against another bloc of Communists. "This erroneous policy has developed the Chinese Communists as an enemy and encouraged Russia to accelerate expansionism in the Asian-Pacific region. "Looking at the whole situation, we can see that crises are arising everywhere and threatening freedom and democracy. The termination of these crises and the curbing of turmoil so as to ensure lasting stability, peace and prosperity in the Asian-Pacific region and save the people of the world from catastrophe depend on the unity and cooperation of free and democratic nations and of the Asian nations and peoples in particular. "We should bring to the full scope our traits of traditional Oriental culture—intelligence, benevolence and courage—and adhere to the spirit of never becoming bewildered, worried or frightened in the common struggle for truth and justice. "At this crucial moment of world upheaval endangering the continuity of human civilization, the meeting of prominent Asian parliamentarians in Taipei has great significance." Also addressing APU, Premier Sun Yun-suan reiterated that the Republic of China's basic national policy of not compromising or dealing with the Communist bloc will not be changed under any circumstance. He said the security and peace of the Asian-Pacific region can be maintained only through the joint efforts of all the people. "We have to destroy Communist totalitarianism with the power of Asian culture," Premier Sun said. "We have to uphold justice with genuine equality and goodwill. "Only then can we eliminate war and march towards a cosmopolitan world; only then can there be genuine and lasting peace for all mankind." Dr. Ku Cheng-kang, president of the 16th General Assembly, urged parliamentarians and people of the Asian-Pacific region to increase APU's strength. He also called for enhanced economic cooperation and cultural exchanges among nations and ties of cooperation among governments. Dr. Ku said parliamentarians should seek more military, economic and technological assistance from developed countries. Former Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi urged participants to use powerful "parliamentarian diplomacy" to create a glorious outlook for the Asian and Pacific region, including security and happiness. "We must do our best to utilize the powerful diplomatic weapons of parliamentarians," he said. Delegates agreed to change the name of APU to APPU (Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians' Union). APU has six members (Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Nauru, Thailand and the Republic of China) but the following observers attended the Taipei meeting: Indonesia, Malaysia, Guam, India, Sri Lanka, Tonga, American Samoa, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Mariana Islands, Micronesia, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Delegates also agreed to use their influence to correct biased and false Western news reports on the Asian and Pacific countries. The next General Assembly will be held at Manila in 1981. Enough hotel rooms for major cities Taiwan has enough hotel rooms to accommodate tourists for several years to come. The Tourism Bureau said tourists exceeded 1,300,000 in 1979 and will total 1,400,000 this year. Earnings from tourism were US$800 million last year. According to the Tourism Bureau, there are 129 tourist hotels with 18,688 rooms in Taiwan, an increase of 52 per cent from the 12,292 rooms of early 1978. Thirty-five hotels with 9,429 rooms are of international standard. Fourteen hotels are under construction and four with 1,118 rooms are nearing completion. The other 10 with 3,306 rooms will open before 1982. Many tourists skipped Taiwan because of the shortage of rooms between 1974 and 1978. The government eased restrictions against hotels in residential areas, offered low-interest loans to be repaid in 10 to 12 years and allowed five-year tax holidays. Twenty-three hotels with 9,083 rooms were built under this encouragement program. Loans amounted to more than NT$5.4 billion. The Tourism Bureau said Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung have enough hotel rooms for the next three to four years. Rooms are insufficient in such scenic spots as Sun Moon Lake, Alishan and Kenting. With the approval of the Executive Yuan, the Tourism Bureau is encouraging entrepreneurs to add 917 rooms at Sun Moon Lake, Alishan, Kenting, Lishan and Hsinchu. The tourism industry provides jobs for about 22,000 persons. But turnover is fast. The government is consulting with National Taiwan University, National Chengkung University and Soochow University to offer courses to serve tourism. Vocational training programs will be provided for high school graduates. The Executive Yuan amended regulations to permit establishment of night clubs at Taipei hotels with 400 rooms and at other hotels with 300 rooms. The annual fee for a night club license in Taipei or Kaohsiung was raised from NT$3.75 million to NT$5.6 million. In Keelung, Taichung and Tainan the fee went up from NT$3.037 million to NT$4.5 million. Elsewhere the hike was from NT$2.7 million to NT$4 million. 35 per cent in Taipei have no religion Thirty-five per cent of people in Taipei have no religious beliefs. Buddhists account for 51 per cent of the population. The survey of 2,809 residents over 15 years of age listed Protestants, Catholics, Moslems, Taoists and others as constituting the remaining 14 per cent. The survey yielded these other findings: —Twenty-six per cent of Taipeilanders have a college education, 41 per cent are high school graduates and 30 per cent went only to primary school. —Small families account for 58 per cent but 20 per cent of families include three or more generations. —Two-thirds of residents own their homes. —About 60 per cent of families break even in income and expenditures, 29 per cent save regularly and 8 per cent borrow to live. —Ninety-three per cent of families own refrigerators, 86 per cent have color TV sets and 77 per cent have telephones. —Eighty-four per cent subscribe to one or more newspapers and 25 per cent to magazines. —Fifty-three per cent rely on public buses for transport and the next largest group depends on motorcycles. —About 10 per cent have traveled abroad. —Seventy-two per cent are satisfied with their diet, 64 per cent with their clothing, 63 per cent with their housing and 51 per cent with their transportation. Radio pioneer comes for visit One of the pioneers in Chinese telecommunications visited the Republic of China for three days. Charles E. Stuart, who helped the Republic of China build its first radio telecommunications system in 1946, and his wife visited friends and scenic spots. Stuart said that if President Harry Truman had granted the Republic of China a requested loan for armaments and had backed the Chinese currency in the years after World War II, the Communists couldn't have usurped the Chinese mainland and there would have been no wars in Korea and Vietnam. During the Sino-Japanese War, Stuart helped transcribe the government's weak radio signals from Chungking at his residence in Ventura, Calif. After the war, he and IBM helped the International Department of the Ministry of Information establish an automatic radio telecommunications system transmitting at a speed of 100 words per minute. In 1947, Stuart, a dentist by profession, was given a special award by President Chiang Kai-shek. Seminars examine higher education Sino-American Seminars on Higher Education were held on the campus of National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei with some 80 scholars and educators attending. Minister of Education Chu Hwei-sen presided at the first seminar on trends and problems of higher education in the Republic of China. Dr. Yang Kuan-jen, director of the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, was moderator. The second seminar on trends and problems of higher education in the United States was moderated by Dr. Clement C.P. Chang, president of Tamkang University. Other sessions were led by Dr. Ou-Yang Hsun, president of National Chengchi University, and Vice Education Minister Li Mo. Spacing of births urged by planners The Taiwan Provincial Health Department called on families to extend the intervals between the births of their children. "Although national family planning has worked very well, the population growth rate remains at 2 per cent annually," an official of the department said. The birth interval from marriage to the first child has been cut from 16 months in 1970 to 12 months this year. The interval from the first birth to the second was reduced from 30 months in 1970 to 24 months. "Extending birth intervals is good for family planning and for people," the department said. Sun Yat-sen U. opens at Kaohsiung The reactivated National Sun Yat-sen University was inaugurated at Kaohsiung in a ceremony presided over by Li Huan, the university's president. ROC Vice President Shieh Tung-min, a graduate of National Sun Yat-sen University on the mainland, was the keynote speaker. He called on students and faculty members to promote the ideals of Dr. Sun's Three Principles of the People. "The Three Principles of the People have stood the test of time and proved to be the best guide for national reconstruction," he said. Founded in 1924 as the University of Canton, the university was renamed National Sun Yat-sen University the next year as a tribute to the Founding Father. Vice President Shieh was graduated in the 1931 class, the only one from Taiwan, which was under Japanese occupation. Association boosts ROC-Chile ties Relations between the Republic of China and Chile got a big boost when industrial associations of the two countries signed a sisterhood agreement. The Chinese National Federation of Industries and the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril were joined as T.S. Lin, chairman of the Chinese association, and Hernan Daroch, president of the Chilean association, signed the agreement in Taipei. The Chilean mission of seven industrialists and traders and five government officials met with local business leaders and trade officials. The Chileans held a symposium at the Ambassador Hotel to introduce their investment climate to some 200 industrialists. Chile, Daroch said, is rich in mineral resources and fishery, agricultural and forestry products. ROC-Chile trade increased nearly 90 times between 1972 and 1979. Volume was US$1.422 million in 1972 and more than US$127 million last year. Lin said volume will be around US$150 million this year. Major exports to Chile are electrical appliances, electronics, textiles, auto parts, plastic products and sundry goods. Acupuncture serves as major anesthetic Doctors at the Veterans General Hospital used acupuncture as an anesthetic to perform major surgery. Wang Cheng-chung, 56, was suffering from cancer of the stomach. He went into shock when given an ordinary anesthetic. Doctors decided to try acupuncture. Wang was given a small tranquillizer before the operation, which took 100 minutes. Wang felt pain only as the incision was being closed. In Taiwan, acupuncture has been used as an anesthetic in extracting teeth and removing tonsils but not for major surgery. People express emigration views The Ministry of the Interior has mailed 1,800 questionnaires to find out what people think about emigration. Findings will be used to formulate an emigration policy. Questions include the following: —Do you think emigration will cause a labor shortage? —Do you think emigration will relieve Taiwan population pressure? —Do you think emigrants will have difficulty adjusting to their new environment? —Do you think emigration is a brain drain? —Do you approve government encouragement of emigration? —Do you want to emigrate? Teresa Teng sings for mainlanders Songstress Teresa Teng, better known as Teng Li-chun to the Chinese, sang "Until When, My Love?" in a broadcast to the Chinese mainland as she visited Kinmen (Quemoy) to cheer troops. Miss Teng is popular in Taiwan, Japan and on the Chinese mainland. Her sweet voice and gentle songs have broken through the Iron Curtain. Tapes of her songs are played all over the mainland despite Communist proscription. She is called "the Little Teng who brings us happiness" in contrast with "Old Teng (Hsiao-ping) who brings us miseries." In addition to songs for mainlanders, Miss Teng told them through loudspeakers that "You don't have the freedom to sing or to listen to songs. But don't be sad, because we're coming back soon." She sang 10 songs for soldiers stationed on the island bastion just off the mainland. It was the 27-year-old star's second visit to Kinmen. 1,000 attend medical meeting Premier Sun Yun-suan urged participants in the International Seminar on Chinese Medicine to open up new frontiers in medical research and work for the benefit of mankind. The seminar was sponsored by the Chinese Medicine Association of the Republic of China, the National Health Administration and 14 other medical and health organizations. Attendance exceeded 1,000 with 183 coming from the United States, South Korea, Canada, Thailand and Malaysia. There were three groups: Chinese medical practice, Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture. Papers numbered 113. One topic compared Chinese and Western approaches to medicine. On display were some 300 books and documents on Chinese medical practice, 650 books and slides, 400 medicinal herbs and prepared Chinese medicines, more than 200 books on acupuncture and 50 instruments used in its practice. Rare manuscripts came from the archives division of the National Palace Museum. Population growth projected at 1.8% The natural population growth rate in the Taiwan area for 1980 is expected to be 1.8 per cent—higher than in Japan, Hongkong, Singapore and South Korea. Population is expected to stand at 17.7 million at year's end, an increase of 400,000 in 1980. Infant mortality is projected to be 1.9 per cent, higher than Hongkong, Japan and Singapore. Migration from rural areas to cities has led to housing problems. By the end of this year, 68 per cent of the Taiwan population will be living in cities compared with 76 per cent in Japan and 48 per cent in South Korea. Tomb relocations slated in Taipei The Taipei Department of Social Affairs reported to Mayor Lee Teng-hui on plans to relocate 110,000 tombs in municipal suburban cemeteries by 1986. The tombs cover an area of 80 hectares. Relocation will be carried out in three phases. The first phase will begin in 1983 with relocation of the No. 9 and No. 6 cemeteries. The No. 9 cemetery is at Mucha and the No. 6 cemetery is at Nankang. The two cemeteries have 62,000 tombs. The second phase will begin 1984 with relocation of the No. 7 and No. 8 cemeteries. Both on Wuolung Street. A total of 13,000 tombs will be involved. The third phase is slated for 1986. It covers the 36,000 tombs at the No.6 cemetery on Hoping East Road and the No. 10 cemetery at the end of Keelung Road. The cemetery sites will be turned into parks, residential areas or reserved lands to be used later. Tombs will be moved to other Taipei municipal cemeteries. The new Fu Teh cemetery and the Yangmingshan Cemetery will get most of the relocated tombs. Costs will be paid by the City Government. Young men given Golden Hand Awards Golden Hand Awards were presented to the 10 outstanding young men of the year at the Chung Cheng Institute of Science and Technology in Taoyuan. Those honored by the Junior Chamber of Commerce were: —Lin Chia-hsin, 39, for fruit planting. —Wu Cheh-yuan, 35, for police detective service. —Hsu Yi-wen, 29, who is deaf and dumb, for physical education. —Hsu Jui-tung, 30, engineer of the China Shipbuilding Corporation, for ship designing. —Tsao Chang-jen, 31, principal of the Chung Shan High School on Kinmen, for teaching. —Hsieh Po-sheng, 38, doctor at National Taiwan University Hospital, for research on kidney disease. —Lin Jung-kuei, 36, for furniture making. —Tsai Chung-hsiung, 40, deputy director of the overseas department of the Kuomintang, for contributions to society. —Wang Eng-hsiu, 35, of the Retser Engineering Corporation for construction work in Saudi Arabia. —Yu Mu-ming, 40, National Defense Medical Center teacher, nominated for social work with youths. Kenting Park expansion Okd The Cabinet approved a Taiwan Provincial Government proposal to expand the Kenting National Park by more than 3,300 hectares. After expansion, the park will include 17,740 hectares of water extending from Chiaoloshui to Maopitou and 14,900 hectares of land. The enlargement was suggested in consideration of ecological resources, land ownership and terrain. The Kenting National Park at the southern tip of Taiwan includes a tropical arboretum, scenic beaches and waters populated by tropical fish. The highway leading to the park is being widened in anticipation of a growing tourist influx. Confucius, teachers get annual honors To commemorate the 2530th birthday anniversary of Confucius and mark Teachers' Day, a rally was held in Taipei with Mayor Lee Teng-hui presiding. At sunrise, Mayor Lee presided over Confucian ceremonies. The mayor said education is a highly creative career. Students can be persuaded to become useful and capable only when teachers are patient and also willing to learn. Citations were given 1,701 distinguished teachers.