The Executive Yuan (Cabinet) has announced termination of the national defense special assessment June 30. Effective May 1, 1962, the levy ranged from 20 to 50 per cent of 14 taxes and duties. Revenue for the 14 months is estimated at US$57,500,000.
Items subject to the additional levy were the income tax, customs duties, commodity taxes, slaughter tax, entertainment tax, banquet tax, land value tax, deed tax, salt tax, electric light charges, telegraph and telephone charges, railroad passenger fares, and interurban bus passenger fares."
First Quarter Trade
This year's first quarter exports totaled US$77,125,000 for a favorable balance of US$4,874,000. Imports totaled US$72,251,000, including US$15,546,000 in U.S. aid.
Up sharply were exports of sugar, canned mushrooms, and tea. Processed agricultural exports totaled US$15,679,000 for a gain of 52.9 per cent.
Exports of industrial products increased but the percentage was down. Value rose from the US$17,604,000 of the first three months of 1962 to US$20,354,000. Percentage of total exports dropped from 30.8 to 26.39 per cent.
The same was true of agricultural exports, which were up US$1,098,000, an increase of 18 per cent. But the percentage dropped from 10.67 to 9.33.
Capital goods imports showed an increase of US$2,696,000, or 17.4 per cent. Principal items were factory equipment and machine tools.
Consumer goods imports rose by US$2,612,000, or 17.4 per cent. Pharmaceuticals and soybeans led the list.
Imports of agricultural and industrial raw materials nosedived by US$8,200,000, or 18.4 per cent.
The government expects exports to reach US$300 million this year. The 1962 figure was US$238 million.
Shihmen Dam Progress
The huge Shihmen Dam project entered final stages of construction when the diversion tunnel was plugged May 15. The dam began to store water two weeks later.
First multipurpose dam construction undertaken by the Chinese government, Shihmen will provide irrigation, power, flood control, and domestic water. Incidental benefits will be sediment control, recreation and tourism, and wild life preservation.
The dam is 133 meters (447 feet) high and has a volume of 310,000,000 cubic meters (10,946,100,000 cubic feet). It is located on the Takekan creek, 32 miles from Taipei.
Preparatory work was initiated in July, 1955. After diversion of the river in December, 1960, construction was concentrated on the main dam.
The Shihmen Development Commission said work has progressed on schedule from the start despite several typhoons.
Two 45,000-kilowatt generators will be installed.
The reservoir will irrigate 58,000 hectares (143,260 acres) in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Taipei counties; boost rice production by 74,000 metric tons a year; and provide domestic and industrial water for the 148,000 inhabitants of Taoyuan.
Earnings From Fruit
Taiwan's fruits are earning more than US$22 million a year in foreign exchange. The 1961 figure was US$26.5 million.
Canned pineapple and bananas lead the list, followed· by dried and preserved fruits, oranges, and watermelons.
Taiwan is the largest exporter but not the largest producer of pineapple in the world. Its production ranks third, next to the United States and Malaya.
From 1955 to 1961, canned pineapple exports rose 13 times. In 1955, exports totaled 160,000 cases. In 1961, nearly 3 million cases were sent abroad for earnings of US$12 million, or 46 per cent of the fruit export total. In 1962, the amount was US$10.8 million, but the percentage rose to 48.
Bananas long have been a key export. Between 1934 and 1938, bananas made up 94 per cent of Taiwan's total exports to Asia and 5.6 per cent of the world's banana trade.
A slump was registered after World War II. But with financial and technical assistance provided by the government, production had climbed from 32,153 metric tons in 1945 to 128,914 in 1961. Exports rose from US$2 million in 1952 to US$12 million in 1961. Japan bought less last year because of a paracholera epidemic, and exports were down to US$8 million.
Taiwan exported US$2 million of dried and preserved fruits, and US$1.8 million of other fresh fruits in 1962. Fruits were sold to 25 countries and localities in 1960 and to 33 in 1962. Japan is the biggest customer, followed by the United States, West Germany, Hongkong, Singapore, and the Netherlands.
This was the export picture in 1962:
Room for Growth
Taiwan can continue to show a 4-5 per cent annual growth rate in agriculture for a "considerable number of years," according to Howard L. Parsons, director of the U.S. AID Mission to China.
Parsons said the island's agriculture has made remarkable progress since the end of World War II, despite several years of drought and a disastrous flood in 1959.
By 1952, production of farms, forests, and fisheries had attained the pre-war level. By 1962, output was 75 per cent above pre-war, Parsons said.
He pointed out that the productivity of arable land is second to Japan in the Far East. He attributed this to modern technology and the land reform program.
But Parsons said production of rice and other crops "remains well below the point of economic feasibility and technological capability."
The top American aid official in China said the best way to boost production under present conditions is to increase output of arable land by making more effective use of irrigation, fertilizers, improved crop varieties, and other scientific methods.
Parsons said there is more than 741,000 acres of hillside land in Taiwan, and that it can be developed for pineapple, bananas, citrus, tea, citronella grass, and similar crops without great expense.
East Coast Boom
The Taiwan Provincial Government will establish an East Taiwan Development Commission to help ease population pressure.
Governor Huang Chieh will be chairman. Chen Yu-chin, a member of the provincial council, will be in charge of the project.
Part of the US$125 million will be sought from the International Development Association of the World Bank.
First priority will be given communications and irrigation. The government will push a number of highway projects, build more than 131,200 feet of dike, and conduct a water resources survey.
Scientific farming will help recover 148,000 acres of marginal lands. In addition, there are more than 24,700 acres of upland farm and 24,700 acres of prairie to be developed.
According to a preliminary survey conducted by the provincial government, East Taiwan has outstanding natural resources. Virgin forests cover 1,225,000 acres. Granite resources are estimated at a billion tons.
Fisheries will be developed by enlarging harbors at Taitung and Hualien and constructing vessels.
African Aid Centers
The Sino-African Technical Cooperation Committee will establish permanent training centers to expand its aid programs in African countries.
Centers will be built at Taipei, Taichung, and Tainan. Those at Taichung and Tainan will be completed by the end of July for the third African agricultural seminar, scheduled for August.
As in the first two seminars, students will receive classroom and field training. Fifty-seven students from the following countries will participate: Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, the Congo (Brazzaville), the Congo (Leopoldville), Dahomey, Gabon, Liberia, Libya, Malagasy Republic, Mauritania, Ruanda, Senegal, Togo, Upper Volta, and South Africa.
The first seminar was held last year. The second began last February and will close late in July.
Deep Sea Fishing
Taiwan's fisheries have moved from coastal waters to the deep seas.
The Taiwan Provincial Government says exports to Europe and America are increasing. It is estimated more than 6,000 metric tons will be exported in 1963, compared with 2,209 in 1962.
The government will construct a new fishing harbor at Chiencheng, near Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, to step up development of deep sea fishing. The project will be started next year and is slated to take four years. The harbor will cover an area of more than 350,000 square meters (3,780,000 square feet) and accommodate some 210 fishing vessels ranging from 150 to 1,000 tons.
Taiwan has established a supply station in Singapore for the development of deep sea fishing. Fishing boats from Taiwan will anchor there and sell their catches. Other commercial arrangements in Southeast Asia also are being considered by the government.
New Factories
A new automobile plant will be established in Taichung, central Taiwan, this year.
It will have production capacity of 1,500 a year and will be the second in Taiwan. Factory area will be 4.8 acres. Capitalization is US$250,000. The company hopes to sell sedans for US$1,500.
The Universal Cement Corporation at Kaohsiung started production in May. It was constructed at a cost of US$6.3 million with annual capacity of 200,000 metric tons.
Heading the corporation is Wu San-lien, former mayor of Taipei.
A plant to manufacture 80,000 fluorescent lamps and 300,000 fluorescent tubes monthly was set in motion at Hsinchu, northern Taiwan, in May by the China Electric Corporation.
China Electric signed a cooperation agreement with the Mitsubi Electric Co. and Mitsubishi Trading Co. last year. The Japanese firms are investing US$250,000 to manufacture "East Asia" brand bulbs, fluorescent lamps, and tubes.
Sino-Thai Trade
Trade between China and Thailand has shown a rapid increase in, recent years.
The Chinese embassy in Bangkok reported exports from Taiwan rose from US$1,700,500 in 1956 to US$12,376,983 in 1962, an increase of eight times.
Chinese sugar was one of the major Thai import items in early years. Since the Thai government imposed a ban on imported sugar in 1959, Chinese industrial products have been doing well.
Main items imported from Thailand are jute, beans, and cattle hides.