Taiwan Today

Four years had gone by since the April 5 passing of President Chiang Kai-shek. In some ways, this brief time seemed like an eternity. The people of free China had missed their leader, even though others had rallied to fill the gap. In other ways, the moment of the Generalissimo's death seemed to have been only yesterday. The memory of his smile, his kindness and his courage still bums brightly in Chinese hearts.

On the fourth anniversary of the great man's death, leaders of the nation gathered at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei for a ceremony of remembrance. President Chiang Ching-kuo led the mourners in the traditional three bows to the national flag and a portrait of Chiang Kai-shek. After a minute's silent tribute, former President Yen Chia-kan spoke of the continued spiritual leadership of his predecessor in the Republic's highest office. This has assured national unity in the face of adversity, he said.

Time has continued to add to the stature of President Chiang Kai-shek as the inheritor of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's mantle of principal spokesman and interpreter of the Three Principles of the People, which constitutes the mainline political philosophy of the Republic of China. These Principles are Nationalism, Democracy and the People's Liveli­hood, which is also known as Social Welfare. In a sense these are unfortunately labels. The Three Principles are much more than three sets of value judgments, however important these values may be.

The late Chiang Kai-shek was aware of this just as Dr. Sun Yat-sen had been, presumably because he sat at the right hand of the Founding Father during some of the most important mo­ments in Dr. Sun's life. President Chiang the elder was present for the National Revolution. His hand was steady on his weapons when Dr. Sun's life was gravely threatened. When Sun Yat-sen saw that only the creation of a Kuomintang corps of skilled army leaders could reunify China and save the nation, it was Chiang Kai-shek who was waiting to take over as commandant of the famed Whampoa Military Academy. Most important of all, it was Chiang Kai-shek who was prepared to accept the torch of leadership from Dr. Sun when the Founding Father died while seeking peaceful reunification.

The meaning of the Three Principles has been summed up by President Chiang in many ways and at many times. On one occasion he said: "All of us should reorient ourselves toward the Three Principles of the People, especially the Principle of Social Well-being, to conform with the philosophy that 'All under heaven should work for a free and fraternal world in which the people rule.' We require vigorous practice for the forward march. No sacrifice is too great, even the greatest, life itself, in the cause of humanity and justice. We must be willing to make sacrifices and be fearless in making them in keeping with the ancient proverb, 'Sacrifice life to preserve virtue: do not preserve life at the expense of virtue.' This is the true meaning of vigorous practice, which is the same as revolutionary action; and only by revolutionary action can we demonstrate the meaning of vigorous practice. It was in this spirit that our Revolutionaries practiced the Three Prin­ciples of the People for the salvation of our national mankind."

It must be carefully noted that President Chiang Kai-shek said all should work for a free and fraternal world in which the people rule. This is the opposite of Communist philosophy. It is a belief and a conviction which echoes Confucius, Christ and Lincoln. Freedom and fraternalism and the rule of the people reflect the dream of good men through the ages.

President Chiang Kai-shek was not only a great and good man. He was also a farsighted and kindly one. His elder son, President Chiang Ching-kuo, has often written both of his father's foresight and kindness. There is almost nothing that has happened or is happening in the world that Chiang Kai-shek did not foresee, from the National Revolution to World War II and the continuing worldwide threat of the Communists. His kindnesses have become legend. As a Con­fucianist, and later as a Christian, he always sought to return good for evil. His sense of ethics was exceptionally strong. "Whether in handling people or affairs, facing superiors or inferiors, comrades or colleagues," he said, "we should deal with them patiently, tolerantly and with self-control and self-examination, rejecting party prejudices and banning the thought of rights and privileges. We should not act for private gain, nor seek achieve­ments for private credit. This is what constitutes generosity. Perceive our supreme duties, understand the main principle, resolve great doubts, cope with serious disasters, and at the same time avoid being beguiled by money or subjected to coercion. The degree of our talents will determine the extent of our accomplishments. Talent stems partly from natural gift but mostly from self-cultivation. "

President Chiang led such a life. He didn't content himself with talk and lip service. These were not platitudes. To him they were essential and eternal truths. He never failed to practice what he preached.

Dr. Sun's dedication was ever and always to the people. Possibly his favorite axiom of gov­ernment was Lincoln's observation that it should be of, by and for the people. As the Generalissimo said, the idea of the people "explains the greatness of the Three People's Principles, which takes in all kinds of ideologies and resolves them into one; the idea of sincerity explains the firm ap­plication of the Three Principles of the People when efforts are straightforward and thorough­ going."

Chiang Kai-shek was neither a conservative nor a liberal. As a good Christian and a good Con­fucianist, he always steered a middle course. Of the social goals of the People's Principles, he said, "Liberalism in its traditional sense implies that economic competition by individuals is a means of attaining social well-being. Actually, the strug­gle often results in the alienation of rich and poor and in subsequent class struggle. The aim of our Principle of the People's Livelihood is to eliminate monopoly capital through economic planning and ensure the well-balanced growth of the majority. Needless to say, economic freedom should be circumscribed by national planning; to curb the freedom of the minority is to ensure the freedom of the majority. The term freedom, however, should never be taken to mean laissez faire, for that would be an outrage to its true meaning; in the same way, if planning is interpreted as a form of control, that also would be a misinterpretation."

Both Dr. Sun and President Chiang Kai-shek left a great economic legacy for the Re­public of China, which could be called the most successful developing country in the world. Free Chinese economic advances are based on the Three Principles of the People, just as the ROC political success is based on the same source. The Chinese mainland was headed in this same direction at the end of the War Against Japanese Aggression, only to have the process interrupted by the Chinese Communist rebellion. The Gen­eralissimo came to Taiwan, resumed the presidency and began the herculean task of wresting an economic miracle from a rundown, bomb-devas­tated country that the Japanese had misgoverned for half a century.

The Taiwan of today was built on the founda­tion of hard work, the foresight of Chiang Kai-shek and the philosophy of the People's Principles. The Republic of China's island province has a mixed system: some socialism, some free enterprise and some combinations of the two. The govern­ment has its role and private enterprise has its place. Conflict is rare. Whenever doubts arise, or the direction is not clear, reference is made to the wishes and the needs of the people. That was the teaching of both Dr. Sun and Chiang Kai-shek.

In the last several years, the Republic of China has had one of the world's fastest rates of eco­nomic growth and one of the world's lowest rates of inflation. This is no accident. It is the direct result of the application of economic theories found up in the Principle of the People's liveli­hood. As both Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek saw it, a successful economic system must balance the forces at work in the marketplace with the first obligation of serving the people. Profits are not necessarily evil but have to be controlled. Socialism is not bad but has its limits. No one has ever understood better than Generalissimo Chiang the necessity of rewards. He learned the lesson in a lifetime military service. Dr. Sun once said, "All matters that can be and are better carried out by private enterprise should be left to private hands and should be encouraged and fully protected by liberal laws." This is not quite to say that "the government which governs least governs best." But it rules out total state control in any form, fascistic or communistic.

Private capital is essential, except that it must not stand in the way of the public welfare. Wide gaps in wealth are unacceptable. This is enunciated today in the insistence of President Chiang Ching­-kuo that wealth be gradually equalized. Taiwan has made more progress in this regard than any other developing country in the world - more progress, in fact, than most of the developed countries. Dr. Sun was far ahead of his time in Asia when he demanded implementation of pro­gressive income taxes and an inheritance tax.

Neither Dr. Sun nor Chiang Kai-shek were averse to public ownership. They were, however, particular about what should quali­fy. If an enterprise is to be adjudged of a monopolistic character, it should be taken over as a national undertaking. Otherwise the public would be at the mercy of an unscrupulous entre­preneur. Public corporations were not to be set apart from the communities in which they lived. They could seek capital investments and employ foreign technicians. Almost all the free Chinese state corporations of today solicit and obtain foreign loans for their expansion projects. The Taiwan Power Company, which is building three nuclear plants and planning another, could not keep up with the demand for electricity without seeking outside money. Foreign loans are being repaid at reasonable rates of interest earned by the Republic of China's reputation for financial reliability.

In their overall approach to the Three Princi­ples, Dr. Sun and Chiang Kai-shek always em­phasized that the starting place was spiritual. As Dr. Sun put it, "Man is distinguished from the other animals by the possession of human nature." He found the ultimate goal of human progress to be the termination of the animalistic and the birth of a higher man through the spark of the divine.

President Chiang Kai-shek spoke of the spir­itual dimension in this way: "What marks man off from the lower animals is his spiritual life. Lack of spiritual stability leads to a split per­sonality. When the individual cannot maintain the integrity of his personality, neither can society maintain a stable order and foster good manners. Modern psychologists have tried to cure mental diseases with scientific methods. While diseases of the nervous system are by no means medically incurable, science can do nothing to bind up mental wounds and help the sufferer to develop an integrated personality. Only religious faith and a strong belief in certain fundamental principles regulating the life of man are really inherent stabilizing forces that contribute to the normal development of the human personality. In plotting to disrupt Chinese society and exter­minate the Chinese nation, the Chinese Commu­nists began by persecuting religion and restricting our freedom of religious belief. It may be that our educators and scientists think of religion as a form of anti-scientific superstition and therefore do not attach much significance to the persecution by the Communists. Unfortunately, they fail to see that a man without faith has no purpose in life and that a society without religion has no spiritual stabilizing force. Only when we realize why the Communists must get rid of religion root and branch before they can succeed in conquering the whole world and enslaving all humanity, shall we be in a position to estimate with complete understanding the full significance of religion both to the individual and to society at large."

China's great national leader held that the Three Principles involved "a body of thought which embraces human feelings, the fitness of things and the legal aspects of things, and which gives all three factors equal emphasis." He recalled that Chinese political philosophy "holds we can settle all aspects of a case with impartiality only when we act according to the law. This idea is epitomized in Chuke Liang's aphorism, 'One feels grateful only after the case involving him has been settled in accordance with the law.' He also said, 'My heart is like a scale which weighs human rights and wrongs impartially.' This philosophy also holds that only a law formulated with con­sideration for human feelings and actual circum­stances can have any practical value. This leads to Lu Hsin-wu's views that 'law is created on the basis of the ways of heaven and the unwritten rules in human relationships' and that 'law should take into consideration human feelings.' "

Summing up the meaning and influence of the Three Principles, Chiang Kai-shek said: "The Three Principles of the People were instrumental in founding the Republic of China and blazing a trail of democracy and freedom for the peoples of Asia. It was designed not only to benefit our own country and our own people but everywhere to bolster a collapsing nation, to support the failing and sustain the threatened - that is to say to realize the goal of a world in which harmony and equality everywhere prevail, a goal espoused by our National Revolution. Later, because of China's victory in fighting and resisting the Japa­nese aggressors, various colonies in Asia gained independence after centuries of oppression by foreign powers. For the past two decades, our troops and people have fought a tenacious and courageous war against Communism and have remained firm in our determination for this task. Today we have become a beacon of hope for free Asia Our faithful observation of Dr. Sun's instruc­tion in his last testament to "ally ourselves in a common struggle with nations who treat us on the basis of equality' has made known to Asian countries the principles of national survival as against national collapse, of righteousness and justice as against aberration and injustice, of self­ strengthening and of self-encouragement. Only by so doing have we succeeded in holding back the floods of disaster that threaten to engulf the rest of Asia."

In 1966, President Chiang Kai-shek said the whole world will find its way to a new era of the Three Principles of the People. He sum­med up the fundamentals of Chinese culture as ethics, democracy and science.

Dedicating the Chungshan Building on the 101st anniversary of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's birth, he said: "People usually say: 'Filial piety and fra­ternity - are they not the root of benevolence?' This philosophy begins with reverence for one's own parents and culminates in a society wherein one will not only revere one's parents but also the parents of others, not only be fatherly to one's own children but also the children of other people; the aged will die in comfort and peace; the able­ bodied will render service for the welfare of the community; the young will be nurtured and reared; the widowers, widows, orphans and the disabled will be taken care of.

"The second fundamental is democracy. As the saying goes: 'The people are the most impor­tant element; they are the root of the nation and as long as the root is secure, the country will be stable and in good order.' For this reason, regard­ing internal affairs, the sages advocated the selec­tion of 'virtuous and able persons for government service and have urged the observance of the principles of good faith and cordiality in the relations among men.' In international affairs, the sages would restore severed lineage and raise again the collapsed; would set the chaotic in good order and lend support to the tottering. To the sages all are to be treated alike - the distant or the close by, the great and powerful or the small and weak, where 'the Great Way prevails and all under heaven is for the common weal.'

''The third factor is science, which may be broken down into means and ways to foster correct virtue, to enhance the utilization of things and opportunities, and to enrich life; therefore, Con­fucius considered that 'the most urgent task of government was to secure for the people material abundance and longevity.' To achieve these objec­tives the guidelines are simple: where wealth is equitably shared, there is no poverty; where harmony prevails, there will be no scarcity of peo­ple; and where there is contented repose, there will be no revolution. This ideal at its loftiest amounts to this: that 'it is deemed wasteful to allow re­ sources to lie unutilized anywhere, yet they are not necessarily to be exploited for private hoard­ing; it is likewise deemed wasteful to allow energy to remain latent in any body, yet it is not necessarily to be expended for private purposes;' and 'all things may be clothed and nourished without being tyrannized.'''

The Three Principles have the same foundation as Chinese culture, President Chiang said. "Dr. Sun's approach to national reconstruc­tion is based, first, on ethics as the root of sincerity of thought, rectification of the heart, cultivation of the personality and regulation of the family; second, on democracy as the blueprint of national welfare and world peace; and last, on science for enhancement of the people's livelihood by fostering correct virtue, by enhancing the utilization of things and opportunities, and by enriching life. Thus for us the ideology of the Three Principles of the People is centered on benevolence, which treats the cosmos and all things in it as one organic whole. This, then, is what the classics mean by 'the virtues belonging to nature, the union of the external and the internal, and appropriate timing.'''

President Chiang Kai-shek was regarded as a man of action during his lifetime. That he was. His military leadership and sense of strategy and tactics ranked him with the greatest generals of Orient or Occident. His energy was unbounded. He wanted to know about everything and almost always did. Dr. Sun Yat-sen is generally credited with having been more of a philosopher, although critics have said that he might have systemized his thinking to a larger extent.

The fact is that both were among the greatest philosophers of our time and that their philoso­phies still reach out to encompass all aspects of life. If system seems deficient, it is because even in Chinese the writing and known thinking of these two men have never been brought together as a cohesive whole. Perhaps the subjects and the images projected by the two are outsize: too big to fit the screen.

Slowly, Chiang Kai-shek is gaining the recogni­tion he deserves for his political and economic thinking as well as for his vaulting faith and inspiring leadership. His figure and his memory continue to move the hearts of men. That was made clear on this year's fourth anniversary of his death. Tears filled the eyes of thousands who attended memorial services for him. China needs these feelings and these tears. China needs to be moved to complete the unfinished work of the Generalissimo.

At the same time, China also needs to have the philosophy of the Three Principles welded to the framework of Confucianism and updated with the developments now emerging on the eve of the 21st century. Possibly it is prophetic that Chiang Kai-shek presided over the Republic of China's venture into the nuclear world. He had always been interested in the nuclear concepts of Chinese thinking - by all concepts of wholeness and fission. Out of these old ideas as well as the new science must come the philosophy that will guide China to the victory of completeness and the Three Principles of the People in the years just ahead.

The challenge of our time and one that will be served by research and work at the Chung Cheng Memorial Center now under construction in Taipei is the completion and rounding off of the Chiang Kai-shek philosophy. This will owe much to Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the Three Principles, and also much to Confucius and Christ. At the same time, and maybe even more important, it will be the unique expression of Chiang Kai-shek himself. He borrowed ideas wherever he could find them­ as do all philosophers. His own contribution is, however, the unique catalyst that could lead the world into the era of the Three Principles and assure lasting peace.