President Chiang said the Chinese "political philosophy of virtuous rule and world harmony is unique among the cultures of mankind." This is because the Chinese people, practicing a Tao which combines internal uprightness with external justice, have developed a culture which meets the needs of all times, established a moral example for the Orient and created criteria of spiritual evaluation for the civilizations of the world.
"Dr. Sun carried on the moral heritage of the sages," the President said. "He skimmed the essence from both Chinese and foreign cultures, took precautions to avoid all that could produce undesirable effects and brought together all the excelling points in the vital synthesis of San Min Chu I culture, thereby creating a new epoch for China. He has enabled all mankind to march forward toward the Age of San Min Chu I (Three Principles of the People—Nationalism, Democracy and the People's Well-being), a time in which all men will respect the Tao and place the highest value on virtue."
Mao Tse-tung and "his gang of traitors" are outside the pale of the Chinese cultural tradition, the President said, and this is why they have dedicated themselves to Chinese cultural destruction. They can only fail and go down to destruction, he added, because "Chinese culture is encouraging hundreds of millions of people to reveal their moral nature and their heavenly virtue."
Ceremonies marking Dr. Sun's birthday were held throughout Taiwan and in overseas Chinese communities. Awards were presented for contributions to Chinese culture and education. Wreaths and flowers were placed at Dr. Sun's statue in front of the Taipei City Auditorium. Three Japanese companies chose the day to make donations totaling NT$3 million to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Building now under construction in Taipei. Dr. Sun spent considerable time in Japan and was greatly admired there. The memorial building will be one of the biggest in Taipei and have an auditorium seating 3,000.
Taiwan's anti-Communist struggle continued on various fronts. On the occasion of President Chiang's birthday, a million commemorative badges bearing the chief-of-state's portrait were floated to the Chinese mainland by balloon. On the reverse side of the aluminum badges were four Chinese characters: T'ao Mao Chiu Kuo (Punish Mao and Save the Nation). Meteorologists said some of the balloons could have reached Sinkiang and Tibet.
Hundreds of letters from mainlanders were received by the Central Broadcasting Station (Voice of Free China) during this year's October-November national holiday season. They came by way of Hongkong and other Asian communities and spoke of the hard life under the Communists, the hope for early counterattack and national recovery by forces of the Republic of China, and wished the President health, long life and a return to the national capital at Nanking.
Returning from Rome, Ambassador Hsu Shao-chang blamed Italy's recognition of the Peiping regime on the ideology of the Socialists. He said Italy gained absolutely nothing from the move.
More than 100 scholars and experts will attend the December 14-19 Sino-American Conference on Mainland China at the Shihchien Hall in Taipei. It is sponsored by the Institute of International Relations and more than 30 papers will be presented.
Economic growth will reach 10 per cent this year, compared with last year's 8.8 per cent. The 1969 dip was largely the result of two typhoons which damaged agricultural production. Per capita income was expected to rise from the US$259 of last year to US$292. Foreign trade will be favorable by a small margin. The rise in commodity prices is estimated at 3.9 per cent, down from the 4.5 per cent of 1959.
Minister of Economic Affairs Sun Yun-suan said economic stability had been maintained despite three unfavorable factors: substantial increase in foreign exchange reserves, raising of the rice price and pay hikes of about 25 per cent for government employees and members of the armed forces. He said stabilization measures will be continued in 1971.
Foreign trade will top the US$3,000 million mark this year. Through October, volume was US$2,519 million with exports of US$1,275 million and imports of US$1,244 million. Figures for the comparable period in 1969 were US$1,889 million in total, US$905 for exports and US$984 million for imports.
The United States remained in first place among trading partners with Japan second. Balance with the U.S. was favorable; that with Japan showed a larger deficit than last year as a result of a lower volume of banana purchases.
Finance Minister K. T. Li said the government would advance US$2.5 million in loans to export industries which sell their products on a credit basis. The program will be administered by the Bank of China. Another US$2.5 million will be channeled through the Bank of Communications to help manufacturers buy Taiwan-made machinery and electrical equipment.
Because money supply reached US$785 million at the end of August, an increase of 18.9 per cent over the figure for a year before, Minister Li said the government is considering a mild tightening of credit. Also as of the end of August, deposits of all financial institutions were US$2,387.5 million, up 19 per cent; savings were US$1,382.5 million, up 24.7 per cent; and loans, US$2,037.5 million, up 20.5 per cent.
The Bank of China announced conditions for the export loans. The period of installment credit must be at least 12 months and the amount is not to exceed 90 per cent of the production cost. Repayment is not to exceed the period of credit and may not be longer than five years for capital equipment and three years for other products.
Stricter guidelines for exporters are being laid down by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Quality of goods will be standardized and inspections tightened. Marketing information will be supplied exporters and efforts made to avoid overselling. Import restrictions will be lifted for raw materials that can be processed and readily exported. The opinions of those who import Taiwan goods will be solicited in order that quality and design may be improved.
Customs authorities will begin using computers next year to expedite tax refunds on raw materials which are imported for processing and then exported. The number of cases handled monthly is now 17,000 and rising fast.
Trade with Canada and Italy is not expected to fall as a result of the severance of diplomatic relations. The Milan trade office of the Council for International Economic Cooperation and Development will remain open.
Returning from a trip to Europe, Yu Kuo-hua, governor of the Central Bank of China, called for expansion of trade with that continent. He visited England, Holland, Belgium, Spain, West Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Greece. All are interested in more commerce with Taiwan and prepared to cooperate in banking relationships.
Trade with the six countries of the Common Market was US$165.2 million in 1969 with exports of US$92.3 million and imports of US$72.9 million. An agreement reached with the European Economic Community calls for the export of 11,445 metric tons of cotton textiles annually for three years. Ten per cent of quotas may be reserved or shipped in advance. The breakdown is West Germany, 3,475 metric tons; Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, 3,690 m/t each; France, 1,680 m/t; and Italy, 2,600 m/t.
Approval has been given by the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) for establishment of a trading company in New York. The China Trading Center Ltd. will have offices in the International Trade Center Building. A display hall will be set up.
More than 300 Chinese traders from 30 countries will participate in the Eighth World Chinese Traders Conference in Los Angeles next May 16 to 18. Taiwan products will be shown.
Sixteen Australian chemical industry traders came to Taiwan for a week and left with orders totaling A$88,500, many of which marked the introduction of new lines. Follow-up orders for 1971 are expected to reach A$1,056,000.
Simplified import and export regulations will come into force beginning in January. Many of the more than 200 requirements will be scrapped. Twelve different export regulations will be combined into one. Banks will handle export permits for noncontrolled items and the Board of Foreign Trade will handle controlled exports.
Lowly handicrafts will earn US$80 million this year, up from the US$51 million of 1969. The United States buys 70 per cent of the output.
Shoe exports were US$23,864,152 for the first nine months of 1970 with the United States buying 88 per cent. Rubber and tennis shoes are included; so are slippers.
Canned food will become one of Taiwan's most important exports in the next few years. Volume topped US$100 million last year. The biggest increases will be canned oranges, mushrooms, pineapple and asparagus.
Foreign investment was US$96,650,000 in 94 cases for the first nine months of 1970. The increase was 35.8 per cent. Overseas Chinese supplied nearly half of the investments (46) but only 11 per cent of the capital.
Consideration of the revised Statute Governing the Encouragement of Investment in Taiwan was under way at the Legislative Yuan. The draft enlarges incentives for capital-intensive heavy industry and sophisticated plants requiring advanced technology.
Economics Minister Sun Yun-suan said foreign and overseas Chinese investment is still desired from industries which use local materials and components, introduce new technologies, cooperate in exploitation of natural resources (especially offshore petroleum), provide large amounts of capital, engage in research and afford training in operations and management.
He specified such industries as steel, energy, shipbuilding, machinery, petrochemicals, aluminum and copper, electronics, textile dyeing and processing, and smaller industries with high export potential (toys, wigs, porcelains, etc.).
Foreign exchange reserves are nearing US$600 million and the Central Bank of China wants to slow them down in order to retard currency expansion. Bank Governor Yu Kuo-hua said these steps are being taken: (1) liberalizing imports of machinery, spare parts and raw materials; (2) permitting outward remittances of small amounts; (3) requiring a 10 per cent deposit for long-term letters of credit; (4) suspension of revolving funds to factories, mines and enterprises; and doubling the time limit for settlement of import certificates.
Minister Sun urged the modernization and sophistication of Taiwan industry to meet fierce competition in the international marketplace. He said the government must encourage heavy industry. Specific plans call for increasing power output from 2.5 million kilowatts to 6,160,000 kw by 1976, construction of an integrated steel mill at Kaohsiung, expansion of the Keelung shipyard and construction of a new yard at Kaohsiung, development of nine petrochemical programs, raising of aluminum production from 38,000 to 70,000 tons annually, and transforming electronics into a genuine manufacturing industry rather than an assembly line to take advantage of cheap labor.
Vice President and Premier C.K. Yen proposed a three-point program to improve industrial safety and sanitation. His message to the First Industrial Safety and Hygiene Conference called for the strengthening of safety inspections, the improvement of the working environment and the establishment of modern management. The meeting discussed 144 specific proposals. One hundred and thirteen workers lost their lives in 77 accidents during the first 10 months of 1970. One hundred and six of the fatalities were in coal mining.
Nan Ya Plastics has supplanted Taiwan Cement as the Republic of China's ranking company in terms of sales volume. The China Credit Information Service said that Nan Ya sales totaled NT$1,775 million in 1969, followed by Taiwan Cement, NT$1,456 million, and Tatung Engineering, NT$1,443 million. Then came Formosa Plastics, a Nan Ya affiliate, NT$900 million; Yue Loong Motors, NT$830 million; Formosa Chemicals and Fibers, another Nan Ya affiliate, NT$710 million; Asia Cement, NT$700 million; Far Eastern Textiles, NT$680 million; Taiwan Matsushita Electric, NT$670 million; and Pacific Electric Wire & Cable, NT$630 million. Average growth of the "big 10" was 19.126 per cent.
Cooperation with the United States, Japan, Australia and West Germany is possible in the construction of the Kaohsiung steel mill. U.S. Steel is interested. Economics Minister Sun said that the total investment may exceed US$400 million. Initial production would be 1 million tons a year, rising to 2 million tons in the second stage and thereafter to 6 million tons, if demand warranted. Neither plans nor investment have been finalized. The steel project has been under study for several years.
The business slowdown in the United States affected American-invested electronic plants in Taiwan. Labor forces were curtailed temporarily but Philco-Ford Taiwan Corporation denied plans to close its factory at Chuwei, Tamsui. Most American investors are planning to increase production when the U.S. recession ends.
Taiwan electronics and electrical appliance output increased 250 times from 1960 through 1969. Investment exceeds US$150 million in 163 plants, of which 83 are owned by Chinese, 49 by Japanese, 23 by Americans and 3 by Dutch. Americans lead in investment at US$85 million. Employment totals 40,000. More than a million television sets were made in 1969.
Export of automobile parts to Japan is expected to begin next year with pistons and steering wheels. This could lead to the manufacture of more vehicle components in Taiwan and the eventual reduction of auto prices.
Import of cars may be decontrolled and the duty set at 100 to 150 per cent. The present tariff is 50 per cent. However, other exactions make the price of an imported car somewhat higher than a local product. The government is of the view that if imports are much more costly than Taiwan-made cars, the sales of the latter will rise to a point where mass production economies will become possible.
Another part of the plan is to cut the commodity tax on local cars from 15 to 10 per cent while raising the tax on imported vehicles to 20 per cent.
A fund of US$250 million will be established by the government to finance heavy industries. Plans are being worked out by the Ministries of Finance, Economic Affairs and Communications, the Council for International Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Central Bank of China. Medium and long-term loans would be made to put the nation's savings to constructive use.
The Sino-American Fund for Economic and Social Development and bank loans will raise US$25 million for development of another industrial park a Kaohsiung. This would be the site of such heavy industries as steel and shipbuilding.
Taiwan Provincial Government plans were announced to construct a new industrial zone at Taichung in preparation for the opening of an international port nearby. The cost of developing the site at the foot of Mt. Tatu will be US$3,250,000.
Motorola Taiwan Electronics Corporation dedicated its plant. Other openings were those of Little-fuse Taiwan Ltd., Tatung's Panchiao refrigerator factory with capacity of 300,000 units annually and Arvin Taiwan Ltd.
The Chinese Petroleum Corporation reported earnings of US$32.5 million in the first six months of 1970, or 53 per cent of the target for the whole year. CPC refined 2.93 million kiloliters of crude in the January-June period and produced 48,000 kiloliters of crude and 440 million cubic meters of natural gas. Output of the Kaohsiung refinery will reach 230,000 barrels a day by the end of 1971.
CPC will establish an oil depot of at least 300,000-ton capacity in northern Taiwan and eventually build a second refinery there to augment Kaohsiung production.
Marble production, which reached 41,000 cubic feet last year, is to be expanded in the Hualien area on the east coast. About a third is designated for export to Japan, Thailand, Okinawa, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Canada and the United States.
More than US$7 million may be spent modernizing the coal industry, which is increasingly depressed as a result of accidents, mounting expenses and seams which are more difficult to exploit. The government would put up US$1.5 million and back loans of US$3,250,000. Mine owners would raise US$2.5 million. Machinery would be installed at 25 larger mines with combined annual output of 1.9 million metric tons. The Ministry of Economic Affairs says the out put of these mines would be raised to 3.4 metric tons and production costs reduced. Coal production was down to 4,640,000 metric tons last year.
Construction of the Chingshan hydroelectric power station of the Taiwan Power Company will be completed this month. Generation at the 360,000-kilowatt plant will start in January. There are two turbines of 90,000 kw capacity. The other two will be added later. Located on the Tachia River at Ho ping village in Taichung county, the Chingshan project (formerly called Lower Tachien) cost US$60 million. It is part of a complex including Kukuan, Tien-lun and Hsinpokung stations on the lower reaches of the Tachien and Tachien station on the upper reaches.
Ground was broken for TPC's first nuclear generator at Chien Hua village in northern Taiwan. The 636,000-kilowatt unit will become operational in 1975 and a sister plant in 1976. Cost of the first plant will be US$150 million.
TPC will invest US$80 million in developing the power resources of the Liwu River in eastern Taiwan. A loan of US$20 million is expected from the Asian Development Bank. There will be two plants with total capacity of 240,000 kilowatts.
Production of lower quality cigarettes and liquors will be phased out by the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau because of the increasing demand for higher quality products. Of cigarette sales, 70 percent now are concentrated in the seven filter brands.
A 38-year-old retired warrant officer of the Chinese Army has invented an amphibious vehicle and sugar cane harvesting machine. The vehicle can carry 15 and negotiate rivers, swamps, sandy areas and slopes. Maximum speed is 60 kilometers an hour and cargo capacity is 1,000 kilograms. The cane harvester combines harvesting, cropping and transportation functions in one combine. It will do the work of 50 harvesters.
Unemployment was only 0.91 per cent as of April, according to a Taiwan Provincial Labor Force Survey and Research Institute study. Taiwan population is listed at 14,437,000 with 8,100,000 (56.18 per cent) aged 15 or older. Of the employables, 8,100,000 (54.25 per cent) were fully employed, 72,000 (0.89 per cent) underemployed, 2,798,000 (34.50 per cent) in the potential labor force and 765,000 (9.43 per cent) in the non-labor force.
Education levels among the employed showed 172,000 college graduates, 62,000 normal school graduates, 227,000 senior vocational school graduates, 158,000 senior high school graduates, 109,000 from junior vocational schools, 425,000 from junior high schools, 2,392,000 graduates of primary schools, 187,000 unschooled literates and 740,000 illiterates.
Among the unemployed, 36,000 could not get a job because of lack of experience, 8,000 had been laid off, 2,000 were in poor health, 9,000 were incompetent, 12,000 had quit of their own volition and 9,000 were out of work for other reasons.
Given the approval of the Financial and Economic Conference of the Executive Yuan was a four-year, US$12.5 million program to improve the transportation and marketing of farm products. Included are such projects as intensified training, organization of transportation systems, enlargement of collection stations and construction of new ones, improved grading, packing and shipment of vegetables, building of modern urban markets and establishment of retail outlets for frozen vegetables and meats.
Surplus rice stocks have risen to about 600,000 metric tons. For next year, farmers will be encouraged to curtail some rice planting in favor of crops which are in export demand. The amount of the reduction is under study by the Taiwan Food Bureau. The program is advisory, not compulsory.
Mechanized growing of rice will be demonstrated next year in 10 specially selected areas throughout Taiwan. Machines to be used include power tillers transplanters, power sprayers, small combines and driers. Interested farmers will be taught the use of the machines.
Farmers have been urged by the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction to plant more feed crops. Taiwan currently imports large quantities of animal feeds and the world price is rising. JCRR said the yield of corn per hectare could be raised from 3.5 metric tons to 5 metric tons. An increase of production from 50,000 to 500,000 metric tons was suggested.
About 230,000 hectares of land have been consolidated since the program was started in 1962. The original goal of 300,000 hectares will be reached by the end of 1972. A new 10-year program to consolidate 200,000 hectares will begin in 1973. Consolidation brings scattered plots together and makes possible mechanization and improved irrigation and transportation. Rice production has been increased by as much as 32 per cent on consolidated farms.
Taiwan will ship 300,000 cartons of Kaohsiung bananas to Japan at US$2 each in the October-December period. The price is low because the winter crop is of inferior quality.
Porkers grow big in Taiwan. Chen Yi-hui of Taichung county has an 8-year-old hog which weighs 1,584 pounds, is over 2 meters long and over a meter tall at the shoulder. Girth is in excess of 2 meters. This would make a lot of soul food but Chen is thinking that exhibition might be more profitable. Hundreds of people are beating a path to the Chen farm to see the animal.
Government will spend more than US$12 million in the next 10 years to increase output of fowl and eggs. The chicken population will be increased from 33 million to 79 million and the number of ducks raised from 15 million to 27 million. Annual consumption of eggs will be upped from 65 to 107 and fowl from 4.29 kilograms to 7 kilograms.
Rapeseed and sunflowers are to be planted in dry-land areas to provide nectar for bees in the winter time. Taiwan has about 40,000 bee colonies and honey production of 1 million pounds a year. This food source has been neglected because of a lack of information and small demand.
A new edible pond fish has been developed by crossing the Taiwan wu-kuo yu (tilapia) with a species from Africa. The taste is acceptable and the new fish, as yet unnamed, is easier to raise. Commercial production is expected by next spring.
Construction is under way on the 235-meter dam for Tsengwen reservoir in Tainan county of southern Taiwan. The artificial lake will be Taiwan's largest upon completion in 1973. The Retired Servicemen's Engineering Agency has about 3,000 men on job. Total cost will be about US$150 million. Irrigation will be provided for 85,000 hectares. Power output will be 256 million kilowatt hours annually.
These were among VIPs who visited the Republic of China in the October-November period:
—Yoshihiko Tsuchiya, deputy director of the Japanese Self-Defense Agency, who visited Kinmen (Quemoy) and received a decoration from the Chinese government.
—Hcihachiro Otake, member of the Japanese House of Councillors, who said Japan's China policy will not be changed.
—Prom Thos, Cambodian minister of industry.
—A group of 110 speakers of Japanese prefectural and city councils.
—Lt. Gen. Luis Diez-Alegria, commander of Spanish civil defense forces.
—Sir John Rodgers and Sir Tufton Beamish, British MPs.
—Dr. Ahmad Matin-Daftary, senator and former prime minister of Iran.
—Sam Eppelle, director of information of Nigeria.
—A 17-man industrial mission from Thailand.
—M. L. Sandhi, head of the political science department at Nehru University in New Delhi and an Indian parliamentarian. He said most Indian people are friendly toward the Republic of China.
—Commodore Dioscoro Papa, commander-in-chief of the Philippines navy.
—U.S. Secretary of Transportation John A.Volpe.
—U.S. Air Force Secretary Robert C. Seamans Jr.
—U.S. Representatives Otto E. Passman and Edwin W. Edwards of Louisiana.
—Admiral John S. McCain, commander-in-chief of U.S. Pacific Forces, who presented the Legion of Merit to Maj. Gen Wen Ha-hsiung, who was deputy executive officer of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense from May, 1965, to June, 1969, and who is now senior adviser to the Executive Yuan and special assistant to Vice Premier Chiang Ching-kuo.
—Admiral John L. Hyland, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
—Vice Admiral N.C. Johnson, commander of U.S. Amphibious Forces Pacific.
—Herbert R. Rainwater, commander of the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars.
—Mayor Sam Yorty of Los Angeles.
—Leo V. Newman, goodwill ambassador of the State of Arizona.
—Chinn Ho of Honolulu, one of Hawaii's leading investors, who was looking over prospects in Taiwan.
Now in the planning stage is a 10-year program of tourism development. Specialists from Hawaii are participating.
Wellington Y. Tsao, director of the International Technical Cooperation Division of the Council for International Economic Cooperation, took over the chairmanship of the Tourism Council, Ministry of Communications. He succeeded C.C. Wang, the vice minister of communications. A Tourism Affairs Bureau will be established to take over functions of the Tourism Council, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau and the Taipei Tourism Office.
Tourism specialists said more visitors can be expected from Europe with additional promotion and easier access to visas. It was suggested that European travel agents submit names through Taiwan travel agents and that approval or rejection be cabled. Visa procedures would be completed on arrival. In 1969, European visitors totaled 17,571, or 5.5 per cent of the total.
The tourist count for the first 10 months of 1970 was 398,163 plus 34,270 American servicemen. Estimated foreign exchange earnings were nearly US$69 million. The increase over the same period last year was 29.5 per cent. Overseas Chinese numbered 53,456. Among foreigners, Japanese led with 141,457 followed by Americans with 107,338.
The Joint Service Center was opened at 172-1 Po Ai Road to provide exit and entry processing for Chinese and overseas Chinese traveling on ROC passports. Representatives of the Ministries of Interior, Economic Affairs, Finance, Communications, Education, Defense and Justice, Taiwan Garrison Command, Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, Government Information Office, Taiwan Provincial Police Department, Taipei City Police and Reserve Forces Command are present. All may be involved in exit or entry approvals. Applicants previously had to visit each of the agencies concerned. The office is open 124 hours a day.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs may provide liaison with the center. MOFA is simplifying passport issuance. Certificates of domicile registration are no longer required in making application.
Issuance of tourist passports will not be considered for the time being, the Executive Yuan announced, because of problems of conscription, national security and foreign exchange.
Currency declarations are no longer required of departing passengers. However, the limit of US$400 in currency still applies.
Taiwan tourism is expected to get another boost from the reduction of air fares for group tours between Japan and East Asian destinations. For Taiwan and Hongkong, the cut will be 40 per cent. Japan Airlines plans the use of Boeing 747 jumbo jets on the Tokyo-Taipei-Hongkong run starting next April.
As of spring, Japanese tour groups need have only 35 members instead of the present 100. The higher figure led to the chartering of planes for group tours. Nearly 600 such charter flights flew into Taipei from Japan last year.
Northwest Orient Airlines flew a 747 into Taipei's Sungshan International Airport for the first time. Lengthening of the runway was completed some time ago. Jumbo flights of Northwest will serve Taipei by way of Tokyo and both Honolulu and Seattle.
Expansion of Sungshan Airport will be completed in April at a cost of US$5 million. The terminal is being expanded to accommodate 2,150 passengers at a time. An air cargo depot has just been completed. In the first nine months of 1970, air cargo totaled 28,139 tons, an increase of nearly 40 per cent
Newly in operation at Sungshan is an electronic device to detect weapons or metal carried by passengers. The two detectors were purchased in the United States at a cost of US$30,000 each. One has been installed in the international terminal and the other at the domestic terminal.
China Airlines will begin transpacific service from Hongkong to Los Angeles via Taipei, Tokyo and Honolulu April 26. There will be four Boeing 707 flights weekly to augment the present six-times-weekly service between Hongkong and San Francisco. The San Francisco flights are nonstop from Tokyo eastbound and via Anchorage westbound.
CAL will accept delivery of a Caravelle in February for domestic service and charter flights to Hongkong, Manila and Seoul.
The Directorate General of Posts has inaugurated air-surface parcel service to the United States. Packages are flown from Taipei to San Francisco and then continue to their destination by surface mail. The charge is about half that of airmail: US$2.50 for the first kilogram (2.2 pounds) and US$2 for each additional kilogram. If parcels are not received within 12 days of mailing, the post office will refund the difference between the surface and air-surface charge.
Physical education will be given increased emphasis in free Chinese education. As a first step, the Ministry of Education is surveying 200,000 children to determine height and weight averages. These will be compared with those of other Asian children. Preliminary indications are that primary school children have put on height and weight since start of the nine-year program of education.
The First Asian Regional Conference on Educational and Vocational Guidance was held in Taipei. Japan will be the site of the second meeting in 1973. Twelve resolutions and three recommendations were adopted. Strengthening of vocational education and augmented international cooperation were advocated.
College teachers are one of Taiwan's most serious shortages. A survey showed 2,219 full professors and 1,924 associates at the 91 four-year colleges and universities of Taiwan. Many schools must depend on part-timers.
Plans of the Ministry of Education call for the strengthening of faculties. Science, medicine and Chinese culture will be stressed.
MOE said 467 Chinese scholars and graduate students are prepared to return to Taiwan from abroad for teaching or research stints of a year or longer within the next few years. However, a private poll of 372 Chinese educators in the United States suggested that only about 5 per cent had plans to return to Taiwan and that 77 per cent had decided not to return. Of those prepared to return for short-term assignments, poor pay is the biggest obstacle. The median annual salary of those questioned in the private poll was US$15,540.
Dr. Chiu Wei-yao, senior research of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Agency, told the Legislative Yuan that the Republic of China has the technical skills and industrial capability to orbit a satellite. He said that U.S. cooperation would be desirable and that many Chinese scientists and engineers would be prepared to return home and work in a Taiwan equivalent of NASA.
Taiwan will have a year-long celebration of the Republic of China's 60th anniversary in 1970. The kick-off will be a huge parade of floats on January 1. The climaxes will come on the October 10 National Day and President Chiang Kai-shek's birthday October 31.
Surveys have begun for the route of the 81-kilometer railroad to link Suao and Hualien on the east coast. This will be the next-to-last step in completing the round-the-island rail system. A cross-island southern link to Taitung is yet to be built and the Hualien-Taitung railway will have to be trans formed from narrow to broad gauge.
Eighty engineers are working on the survey, which will be completed next April. The route was worked out last year. Markers are now being erected. The line, which must penetrate a rugged area where the Central Mountain Range drops abruptly into the Pacific, will be built in five years at a cost of nearly US$55 million. There will be 11 stations, 14 bridges and 19 tunnels.
United Nations technical assistance will be sought in the determination of "sufficiency ratings" for Taiwan's highways. The study will be used as a guide to balanced development of 2,500 miles of main road.
Nearly US$14 million will be spent on a five-year plan to rebuild the highway system in northern and eastern Taiwan. The scenic East-West Cross-Island Highway will be widened to two lanes. Also slated for widening is the Suao-Hualien road which is cut through the same rugged area that the railroad must traverse.
The Taiwan Highway Bureau will buy 1,340 buses in the next six years in an expansion and modernization of service. Of the present THB fleet, some 400 vehicles are slated for retirement. One hundred and fifty of the new buses will be in service by the Chinese New Year season late in January.
Pedestrians and motorcycles didn't do so well in Taiwan traffic last year. Nearly a quarter of fatalities were pedestrians and two-wheelers were involved in some 36 per cent of accidents.
The Northern Taiwan Regional Development Commission has completed planning for the development of 3,677 square kilometers of Taiwan and will be disbanded at the close of 1970 after two years of work. About 30 new communities will be created to accommodate a population increase of 2 million in the next 20 years.
Governor Chen Ta-ching told tax collectors that government revenues could be increased by a third if all loopholes were plugged. "Then there would be no need to create new taxes or increase rates," he said. He said that some tax collectors and supervisors had been corrupted.
The Central Bank of China will loan US$3,750,000 to the Provincial Government to help build 2,500 public housing units. The Central Government estimated that construction costs have risen by as much as 20 per cent.
Bonds totaling US$2.5 million are being floated in December to buy land under the equalization program. Interest will be 4 per cent annually.
A two-month seminar on typhoon forecasting got under way in Taipei. Sponsors were the Taiwan Provincial Weather Bureau and the National Science Council. Before 1966, Taiwan was overwarned. Only half of predicted typhoons came close enough to cause damage. Since then the figure has risen to 70 per cent, largely through the assistance of radar.
The Provincial Weather Bureau soon will be exchanging weather information with many other countries through Pacific satellite communications. The cost of a satellite channel will be US$150,000 a year.
Taipei needs 200,000 housing units to meet minimum standards of shelter, according to a report submitted to the National Housing and Community Development Commission. Each Taipeilander has residential space of 2.4 ping (1 ping=36 square feet) compared with an acceptable minimum of 4 ping.
The city has plans to destroy 12,000 squatters' shacks housing 15,200 families by June 30 of 1973. The dislocated are to be resettled in new apartment projects. More than 14,000 families have been resettled in the last four years.
Taipei will have 89 retail markets with 9,266 stalls by 1975, according to a US$3.5 million plan of the municipal government. The 34 existing markets will be rebuilt or replaced. New markets will be two story structures with freezers and other modern facilities.
Taipei's water supply will be increased from 500,000 to 700,000 cubic meters by next June.
To keep the city cleaner, the Environmental Sanitation Department has undertaken a program of "clean schools" and is utilizing the mass media to persuade the citizenry to help eliminate dirt and trash. Air and water pollution are priority targets. Covered garbage cans have been introduced and more garbage trucks put in service. Keeping of livestock within the city is being restricted and eventually will be prohibited. Drainage is being improved and public lavatories built and maintained.
City enterprises are expected to earn well over US$4 million this year. The Taipei City Bank and waterworks are the biggest earners. Others are housing, hospital, pawnshops, bus system, print shop and theater. Taipei vegetable markets are losing money.
Newly inaugurated is the Taipei Labor-Management Arbitration Board to serve as a court of last resort in settling disputes. The board will exercise jurisdiction only when mediation efforts fail.
Answering criticisms of the Control Yuan ("watchdog of government"), the Taipei City Government said it was expanding the police force, buying more patrol cars and radio equipment, and adding three major pieces of fire-fighting equipment.
The Control Yuan entered the feud between the City Council and Mayor Henry Kao, who was accused of not respecting the opinions and decisions of Taipei's legislative body. Recommendations of the Control Yuan go to the Executive Yuan for final decision and possible enforcement.
Taipei City said taxes would be increased, from two to five times on key properties if the owners persisted in holding the land for speculative purposes and refusing to erect structures.
The city is trying to reduce the pain of taxation. One plan is to set up taxation bank accounts which would be debited automatically. Additional tax offices have been opened and refund, procedures simplified.
Revision of the inheritance and gift tax will be considered by the Legislative Yuan. The inheritance tax will start at 4 per cent on property valued at US$2,500 and rise to 60 per cent on US$250,000 or more. Tax on gifts ranges from 5 to 60 per cent.
The Provincial Department of Finance has abolished advanced, declaration of estimated income tax for professional people, sale proprietorships and partnerships. The department concluded that the requirement was not serving any useful purpose.
Dead at the age of 30 was Miss Wang Hui-fen, the "Hongkong kidney girl." She had received a transplant at the Taiwan University Hospital 171½ months before. Death was not attributed to failure of the transplanted kidney.
Taita has performed 11 kidney transplants. Doctors said Miss Wang had lost the will to live because of declining eyesight and superstitious belief that a transplant would not work. The hospital plans to continue transplants.
The university hospital has been experimenting with liver transplants in dogs. More than 100 operations have been performed in three years. Some dogs have lived more than a month. The problem is rejection of the transplant.
The Chinese Air Force Hospital has used a dog's skin to save the life of a badly burned serviceman. With 65 per cent of skin area burned off, the patient lacked skin of his own for grafting. The dog skin was not grafted but used to relieve pain, reduce loss of water and prevent infection. Dog skin patches were removed after four days and new ones put in place. The treatment saved Chao Chun-ling's life.
Mortality from tuberculosis has declined from 285 to 30 per 100,000 in the last 20 years. Nevertheless, Vice President C.K. Yen told the Seventh Conference of the Eastern Region of the International Union Against Tuberculosis in Taipei that TB is still fifth among the causes of death in Taiwan. He said the number of infectious cases had not been materially reduced in recent years.
The Dental Department of Taiwan University Hospital is participating in a World Health Organization study of fluoridation as a means of preventing tooth decay. A preliminary survey indicated that among 14-year-old school children in Taipei, between 60 and 80 per cent have caries.
One of President Chiang's most highly prized 83rd birthday gifts went into operation. It was a mobile clinic donated by the Taipei Municipal Headquarters of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party). Staffing is provided by doctors and nurses of Taiwan University Hospital, the Veterans' General Hospital, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taiwan Sanitarium and Hospital, and the Taipei City Health Center. Pharmaceuticals are donated by leading drug makers.
The Vocational Assistance Commission for Retire Servicemen has helped resettle more than 206,000 veterans since 1957. Chairman Chao Tsu-yu told the Legislative Yuan that VACRS has 95 production units.
Completed by the Legislative Yuan was the third reading of the organization law of the Ministry of National Defense. It provides that the defense minister must be a civilian. Departments are to be in charge of manpower, materiel, regulations, budget and judge advocate.
Defense Minister Huimg Chieh and General Lai Ming-tang, chief of the general staff, congratulated Vice Admiral Walter H. Baumberger on the 15th anniversary of the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command. This is the highest ranking American military establishment in the Republic of China. It is charged with the defense of Taiwan against Communist aggression.