In a message to the 23rd FCRA convention, President Chiang said FCRA should "continue taking effective relief measures and actively support, by applying various methods, the anti-Communist revolutionary struggle of our compatriots on the mainland."
President Chiang also called upon FCRA to continue revealing the true nature of the Chinese Communists:
"FCRA should step up its reporting of true stories of Chinese refugees fleeing for freedom at the risk of their lives and expose the evil and cruel nature of the Chinese Communists.
He asked for more assistance to refugees who have come to Taiwan for resettlement and to the people of the offshore islands of Kinmen and Matsu, who live under the constant threat of Communist artillery bombardment.
Vice President C.K. Yen spoke at the opening ceremonies, which were attended by government and civic leaders, representatives of refugees and freedom fighters.
Established April 4, 1950, FCRA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to the relief of Chinese refugees.
Nearly 80,000 refugees have been resettled in Taiwan with FCRA assistance in the past 23 years. FCRA relief has been given in 8,122,392 cases.
Other FCRA operations include dispatch of relief supplies to famine-stricken areas on the mainland, war area relief, educational aid to refugee students and intellectuals, vocational assistance and training, and winter relief.
Vice President Yen spoke at the dedication ceremony of the Pacific Glass Corporation plant in Taoyuan. He expressed belief Pacific Glass will make a significant contribution to the economic growth of the Republic of China.
Among those attending the dedication were Robert Murphy, retired undersecretary of state, U.S.A., now chairman of Corning Glass Works of which Pacific Glass is a subsidiary, and Walter P. McConaughy, American ambassador to the Republic of China.
Pacific Glass was established in 1972. It makes bulbs for TV picture tubes.
Premier Chiang Ching-kuo urged youths of the nation to make themselves "the pillars of the anti-Communist struggle."
Addressing a Youth Day rally, the Premier asked young people to sacrifice their personal interest and success in the interest of the nation and for the freedom of the people.
He said: "We shall never give up our anti-Communist stand. We must eliminate the Chinese Communists in joint efforts under the leadership of President Chiang to achieve our sacred mission of national recovery."
Premier Chiang received 28 representatives of 1973's Outstanding Youths, who were honored at the Taipei City Auditorium rally.
James Shen, Chinese ambassador to the United States, said Taipei-Washington relations will enter a new phase after "liaison offices" are opened in Washington and Peiping.
Ambassador Shen said the opening of the offices is a "major development." But he stressed that "the basic bilateral relations between the U.S. and the Republic of China have not been changed in the past one year." "The present relations between the United States and this government will be maintained," he added.
"The United States," the ambassador said, "has pledged publicly and privately to keep the present friendly and diplomatic relations with us."
Shen said the current development in Washington-Peiping relations is a "tactical maneuver" on the part of the Chinese Communists. It was during the trip of Dr. Henry Kissinger, President Nixon's national security adviser, to Peiping last February, Shen said, that Chou En-lai broached the idea of the "liaison offices." Diplomatic sources in Washington, Shen said, interpreted this as a sign of "weakness" on the part of Red China, "which is facing a serious threat" from within and from without.
The Chinese Communists are already infiltrating overseas Chinese communities in the United States, Shen said. It will be up to loyal and patriotic overseas Chinese to thwart them.
Ambassador Shen indicated that the government had mapped a plan to cope with the situation. He was in Taipei for home consultations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement condemning the Japanese government for transferring the former ROC chancellery in Tokyo to the Chinese Communists.
The statement said Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka's arbitrary decision had brought disgrace to Japan as a law-abiding nation.
"For this, the Japanese government should be condemned."
This decision, it added, is "detrimental to the interests of the Republic of China" and "constitutes another illegal act on the part of Japan to breach good faith in the international community."
The English-language Japan Times said the Japanese government's decision was "heartbreaking."
The editor, Masaru Ogawa, said: "Japan seems going out of its way to destroy its international image as a nation that can be trusted."
He said the Japanese government had succumbed to Peiping pressure.
Fifty-four pro-ROC members formed a Dietmen's Forum for the Promotion of Friendship and Cooperation between the Republic of China and Japan.
The group joined in opposing the government's decision to hand over former ROC properties to Peiping.
Members spoke out against aviation talks between the Chinese Communists and Japanese officials. They said Japan Airlines' 37 flights to Taiwan weekly should be maintained,
Kokichi Nadao, former education minister, was named Forum chairman.
Finance Minister K. T. Li said Jordan and Saudi Arabia were interested in obtaining assistance from the Republic of China in economic and trade development.
On his return from a three-week visit to the two countries, Minister Li expressed belief that diplomatic ties had been strengthened. Jordanian government officials and business leaders will visit Taiwan.
Saudi Arabia is considering how to use abundant oil money to build up industry, Li said. The ROC is expected to cooperate.
The Republic of China will help Liberia develop its sugar industry, Finance Minister Stephen A. Tolbert said in Taipei. Additional technicians will be sent to Liberia.
Tolbert said the Republic of China will also explore ways and means of encouraging private enterprises to invest in Liberia.
Ivory Coast will be helped to build a pineapple cannery in Abidjan.
Chinese will hold 35 per cent of the stock of the US$1 million plant under an investment agreement signed in Abidjan.
Delegates to the 12th Convention of the International Federation of Asian and Western Pacific Contractors' Association held in Taipei agreed to take an active role in the rehabilitation of Vietnam.
Another resolution called for a world federation of contractors by 1975.
Spain will establish a "liaison office" in Taipei to handle matters pertaining to trade and cultural exchange.
The Chinese organization in Spain will be known as the Chung Shan Cultural and Economic Center. It will look after the interests of Chinese nationals in other European countries.
Trade with Spain totaled US$8.87 million last year compared with US$1.8 million in 1971.
The Republic of China opened a trade office at its embassy in Madrid in January of 1972. It may be reopened. The Milan trade office was kept open after the break with Italy.
The East Asia Relations Association was inaugurated late last year to take over trade and consular services in Tokyo and Osaka after rupture of diplomatic relations with Japan.
Japan formed the Exchange Association which has branch offices in Taipei and Kaohsiung serving as de facto Japanese consulates.
Balanced foreign trade is a ROC goal, Minister of Economic Affairs Y.S. Sun said.
"We have just lifted the control on almost all import items," Sun said. Import procedures have been liberalized, he added.
Taiwan has been piling up its foreign exchange reserves because of its increasingly large trade surplus. The total reached US$1.5 billion last year. Sun said the Republic of China continues to welcome foreign investment and technical cooperation. Approvals exceed US$800 million.
He said the Republic of China is currently in the third stage of economic development, covering the 1970s.
"Although attention is directed toward export industry," Sun said, "our basic policy of coordinated development for both agriculture and industry remains unchanged."
To solve difficulties growing out of rapid industrialization, the nation is pouring large amounts of capital into rural areas to expedite agricultural modernization.
The trend is from labor-intensive industry to capital-intensive industry. Industry grew by 26.6 per cent last year.
The Board of Foreign Trade has given permission for local businessmen to process trading documents to meet the needs of the nation's foreign trade.
The approval will make it possible for businessmen to buy goods from one foreign country and sell them to a third country.
However, this sort of trading must not be detrimental to the nation's reputation in foreign trade.
A 14-member trade mission left for Europe on a month's tour. Composed of exporters and importers, the group visited Italy, France, West Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria and Great Britain. They represented Taiwan's textile, machinery, food processing and chemical industries.
William Wei, director of the Industrial Development Bureau, said industry is expected to grow by 24.5 per cent this year, compared with 26 per cent last year.
Testifying before the Legislative Yuan, Wei said the climate is "ideal for accelerated industrial growth."
Wei said output of heavy industry started to outstrip that of light industry in 1971. In 1972, production of heavy industry made up 53.4 per cent of the total.
The metal industry, started in 1949, is becoming a major foreign exchange earner. Machinery exports were US$23.5 million in 1968 and US$102 million last year.
Exports include machine tools, metal tools, printing presses, motors, textile machinery and agricultural machines.
There are more than 9,000 machine shops and factories in Taiwan. They employ 300,000.
The industry faces such problems as small market, obsolescent equipment, lack of revolving funds, shortage of skilled labor and difficulties in procuring raw materials.
The first locally assembled Cortina will roll out of the Ford Lio Ho Motor Co. plant here in late May. Raymond C.F. Chen, president of Ford Lio Ho, said price of the 1,600 cc sedan will be competitive.
Chen signed contracts with seven dealers, selected from more than 100 applicants. They are located in Taipei, Sanchung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.
Philco-Ford Taiwan Corporation, one of the biggest electrical apparatus companies in Taiwan, produced more than 390,000 television sets for export to the U.S. in 1972. The corporation also exported significant quantities of AM/FM radios, stereo component systems, hi-fi chassis and color TV panel modules.
Philco-Ford Taiwan has exported more than US$100 million worth of products since it began operations late in 1966 and has shown a sales growth of 25 to 30 per cent annually since 1969.
A building expansion program is in progress. The National Science Council is working with two leading universities to develop the television manufacturing industry.
The two universities are National Chiao Tung University and National Tsing Hua University, which are conducting research projects on the TV industry with the support of the NSC.
Although 3,500,000 TV sets were produced in 1972, about half of the Taiwan TV makers are "assembly plants" owned by private foreign capital. They ship their products to their home markets.
The rest of TV makers here operate in technical cooperation with foreign makers. Blueprints and parts are imported.
The National Science Council said the industry must develop its own know-how and marketing outlets.
NSC has granted National Chiao Tung University NT$4,698,470 for research on manufacturing TV parts and circuits.
NSC's cooperative project with Tsing Hua is on "manufacturing know-how." Tsing Hua gets NT$2,395,300.
In addition, the National Science Council is working with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Institute of Mathematics of the Academia Sinica and the Taiwan Railway Administration on a number of projects.
A Research Institute of Industrial Technology will be inaugurated in early July from three existing research organizations under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The component will be the Union Industrial Research Institute at Hsinchu, the Light Metal Research Institute at Kaohsiung and the Mining Research and Service Organization in Taipei.
The new institute will be a corporate body patterned after the Korean Institute of Science and Technology so it can operate without restrictions on personnel administration.
Rapid industrialization has not only created a shortage of farm labor but also the beginnings of a labor shortage in the industrial sector, Premier Chiang Ching-kuo said.
The Premier was speaking to the Legislative Yuan about the NT$2 billion program to reinvigorate sluggish agricultural development.
Fresh from a tour of rural districts in central Taiwan, Premier Chiang said, "Young people in the countryside are being attracted to factories in population centers, thus creating a serious shortage of farm hands."
Premier Chiang said one of government's priorities is to establish sound transportation and marketing systems to ensure quick distribution of farm output.
He said middlemen are enriching themselves at the expense of both farmers and consumers.
The government has already prepared a plan for the transportation and delivery of fishery products and vegetables, Chiang told the lawmakers.
The two-year agricultural program, which began this year, will emphasize basic construction such as water conservancy projects, irrigation systems and access roads in rural districts.
To protect coastal farms from floods during the typhoon season, dikes will be built and windbreaks planted.
Better seeds and modern farming techniques will be introduced. Production will be geared to domestic consumption and exports so there will be no surplus.
Governor Hsieh Tung-ming called on universities and food processing plants to help dispose of surplus vegetables and fruits.
He estimated that only 15 per cent of vegetables and fruits are exported. If the surplus could be processed for export, the rural economy would benefit greatly.
He said there is no lack of vegetables in Taiwan. The problem is poor transportation.
He suggested more canneries and the use of garlic, onion and leek to make medicines.
The governor believes horticulture can become a big business. Taiwan narcissus has established its reputation in overseas markets. Other flowers can be improved and exported.
Taiwan's Food Bureau will have a budget of over NT$5,315 million for food production in the next fiscal year, the Taiwan Provincial Assembly was told.
Shih Shek-ching, director, said targets have been set at 2,515,000 metric tons of rice, 3,550,000 metric tons of sweet potatoes and miscellaneous crops, 130,000 metric tons of peanuts, 70,400 metric tons of soybeans and 78,630 metric tons of maize.
The bureau will provide farmers with 530,706 metric tons of fertilizers on a loan basis.
Exports of cement will reach 150,000 metric tons this year.
Japanese traders have placed orders for more than 70,000 metric tons.
The price is US$25 per ton (FOB), double that of last year.
Cotton cloth worth US$150 million was exported last year, an increase of US$90 million over 1971. Volume is expected to reach US$200 million this year.
Most cotton cloth exports go to Japan, the United States, Africa and Europe.
Taiwan should explore the possibility of exporting yachts to Europe, an exporter said.
West Germany has 128 yacht clubs. Taiwan boats are competitive in the German markets. So far most yacht exports have gone to the United States.
The decorative lamp industry, started in 1964, is exporting at a rate of more than US$20 million a year.
There are 182 factories and workshops, more than 70 per cent of them in the natural gas belt of Hsinchu and Miaoli. The labor force exceeds 20,000.
In 1965, lamps worth US$380,000 were exported. Volume was US$17,130,000 in 1971. Ninety per cent go to the United States.
Basic changes are needed to speed up economic development in Taiwan, according to economist Wang Tso-jung of the National Taiwan University. He said the Republic of China can no longer maintain a fast rate of economic growth by relying on its cheap labor force.
"Other developing countries can do the same and their wage costs are even lower than ours," he said.
Aspiration for college education is chiefly responsible for the surplus of jobs, Pan Chen-chew, chairman of the Youth Vocational Assistance Commission, said.
The five job placement centers had 393,600 jobs and only 122,500 applicants in 1972.
Half of the applicants went jobless because they did not possess the skills required.
An eight-day consultative meeting between International Monetary Fund representatives and officials of the Republic of China was held in Taipei.
Representing IMF were J. Ahrensdorf, assistant director of the Asian Department; Mrs. Hui-chen Wu Yang, economist of the Asian Department; and John B. McLenaghan, economist of the Exchange and Trade Relations Department.
Representing the Republic of China was a 16-man delegation headed by S.Y. Wang, vice minister of finance. Minister Martin Wong of the Chinese Embassy in Washington served as one of three advisers.
Overseas Chinese and foreign investment approvals totaled US$13,137,000 in the first two months of 1973, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
Thirty-three investments were approved, 20 of them from overseas Chinese.
A total of US$3,571,000 or 27 per cent goes to service industries and US$2,325,000 or 17.73 per cent to electronics. The textile industry got 13.50 per cent.
Investors included Hercules B. V. of the Netherlands and Eli Lilly and Company, Refae Technology Development Corporation and Continental Electronic Corporation of the United States.
The government is raising the ceiling on the permissible total of foreign loans. The Executive Yuan asked the Legislative Yuan to raise the limit from US$1,000 million to US$2,000 million.
As of the end of January, US$930 million worth of loans was outstanding.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank reached an agreement with the Central Bank of China to extend loans through commercial banks to small and medium industries.
Henry Kearns, president of the Ex-Im Bank, said loans would also be extended to developing industries, including agriculture and fishery.
Loans will be for purchase of machinery and equipment from the United States.
Two more American banks, the Chemical Bank and Banker's Trust Company, both with headquarters in New York, are planning to open branches in Taipei.
The government issued NT$1 billion (US$26,315,790) worth of short-term bonds in March to absorb idle private capital and fight inflation.
Minister of Economic Affairs Y.S. Sun said consumer prices went up 5.63 per cent in the first two months of this year. The wholesale price index soared 11.68 per cent.
The bonds will mature in six years and bear interest of 8.4 per cent, a reduction of 0.4 per cent compared with bonds floated in the past.
Securities trading in 1972 reflected the excellent performances of most listed companies and booming economic and trade growth, according to the March issue of China Trust Quarterly published by China Investment & Trust Co.
The quarterly said brisk trading was encouraged by a series of measures taken by the government.
These included encouragement for the listing of stocks, temporary suspension of the securities trading tax, reduction in the margin requirement for regular trading, urging securities dealers to join in trading and lowering of interest rates on loans and deposits.
"Consequently, the overall value of stock trading amounted to about NT$54 billion and government bond trading was valued at NT$140 billion," the China Trust article said.
"The stock price index reached 228.03 per cent."
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the Ministry of Economic Affairs decided that the tax on securities would be resumed to curb spiraling stock prices.
Port congestion has developed at Kaohsiung as the result of grain imports.
As many as 134 ships were counted inside and outside the port in one day, according to the harbor administration. Most were loaded with grain.
The port of Keelung in the north was also crowded to capacity.
Yuan Teh-cheng, acting director of the Keelung Harbor Administration, reported the port handled 13,600,000 metric tons of goods last year, exceeding the estimated saturation point by 1,600,000 metric tons.
First-phase construction of Taichung harbor will begin in November. Seventy per cent of preparations and design work have been completed.
Chen Ming-cheng, director of the Bureau of Public Works, said the first stage would cost NT$3,784 million, mainly for building seawalls and deep water wharves and dredging seven berths.
When this phase is completed in October, 1976, the harbor will be open to traffic with annual handling capacity of 2.8 million tons.
Chen said the second phase will begin in November, 1976, and the third phase in November, 1979. The whole project is scheduled to be completed by October, 1982, when the harbor will have 32 berths and capacity of 12 million tons of traffic.
The entrance channel will be 250 meters wide and 15 meters deep. Diameter of the turning basin will be 1,000 meters with a depth of 15 meters.
The Taiwan Shipbuilding Corporation will build vessels with total displacement of 270,000 deadweight tons in the coming fiscal year. Repairs will total 1,800,000 tons.
Traffic exceeds capacity of Taiwan street and roads.(File photo)
The corporation has enough orders to keep it busy for several years. These include two tankers of 130,000 tons each, 10 tankers of the 30,000-ton class and six bulk carriers of 28,000 tons each.
The corporation is expanding its dry-dock so that 130,000-ton tankers can be built.
The company was started in 1967 with output of 39,000 tons. Production was 226,994 tons in 1971. TSBC has built three 100,000-ton tankers, two bulk carriers of 58,000 tons each, 13 bulk carriers of the 28,000-ton class and two refrigerator vessels of 5,600 tons each.
As of last year, the shipbuilding industry in the Republic of China had risen to the 15th place in the world.
The government decided to build a dry-dock capable of repairing 2 million tons of ship a year. Construction will begin simultaneously with a shipyard project at Kaohsiung. The cost will be US$25 million and the American Express International Banking Corporation will invest in the project.
NT$69,453 million has been allocated for transportation projects during the Sixth Four-Year Economic Reconstruction Plan which started last January, Communications Minister Henry Kao reported.
Kao pointed out that bottlenecks had arisen in railway, highway, ocean and aviation transportation.
Projects will include:
- NT$21 billion construction of the North-South Expressway. The 375-kilometer highway will be built in three major stages. Construction of the first section of 70 kilometers between Yangmei and Keelung has been started and will be completed by mid-1974.
Construction of the second stage also has begun. It involves two sections, one between Yangmei and Hsinchu and the other between Chiayi and Fengshan. These sections are to be completed by rnid-1976.
The third stage to be started soon involves construction of sections between Hsinchu and Taichung and through Chiayi.
- "North Bend" section of the railway network on the northeastern coast. The projected 81-kilometer line will cost NT$2 billion.
- Construction of Taichung harbor in central Taiwan.
- Improvements to narrow sections of existing highways, calling for expenditure of NT$1,480 million.
- New international airport at Taoyuan at a cost of NT$3,400 million.
The Taipei City Government will invest NT$1.4 billion in a modern drainage system over a four-year period, Mayor Chang Feng-hsu said. The mayor said the project is designed to eliminate the flood threat or at least to reduce flood damage.
In the last six months, 40 drainage ditches have been dredged and widened. Three new pumping stations will be added.
He reported the Wan-Ta project (urban renewal in the backward districts of Wanhua and Talungtung) is progressing on schedule. A total of 4,280 housing units will be built in the next two years for accommodation of displaced squatters.
A two-year comprehensive program will be carried out at Musa, Chingmei, Neihu and Nankang with emphasis on road improvement, community development, improvement of public utilities and agricultural development.
The mayor said the water supply system will provide 2,040,000 people with running water by 1976.
The city will erect 12,750 apartment units in the next six years.
NT$310,000,000 will be spent on improvement of roads and the installation of road signs. A multi-level parking garage will be built in the next fiscal year.
A 370-meter underpass, the longest in Taiwan, will be completed by the end of July to link Kungkuan with Chingmei, halfway point in the Taipei-Hsintien Highway.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs set the price of natural gas for household consumption at NT$3.65 (nearly 10 U.S. cents) per cubic meter, ending a 1½year controversy between the Greater Taipei Gas Company and the Taipei City Government.
One of the touchy problems facing Greater Taipei is how to collect the bills totaling over NT$15 million (US$397,370).
Greater Taipei started supplying over 10,000 households in Taipei with natural gas October 27, 1971.
It purchases natural gas from the Chinese Petroleum Corporation at NT$1.4 (a little over 3 U.S. cents) per cubic meter and asked NT$4.98 (13 U.S. cents).
The price MOEA fixed was final. It was lower than the price Greater Taipei asked but higher than the NT$3.03 (a little over 7 U.S. cents) the municipal administration wanted.
Another Kuomintang victory was chalked up in the election of local councils and the mayoral race of townships and secondary cities. Eighty-six per cent of Kuomintang standard-bearers were elected.
Some 4,700,000 voters went to the polls to elect 850 candidates to 20 county and city councils. Three hundred and thirteen others were chosen as township chiefs and mayors of secondary cities. They will serve for four years.
Township chiefs and mayors were sworn in April 1 and council members on May 1.
More than 70 per cent of council members and 60 per cent of new township chiefs and mayors are newcomers.
The average age of new council members is 41 and of township chiefs and mayors 43, substantially lower than the ages of incumbents.
The election went smoothly at the 6,502 balloting booths. Premier Chiang Ching-kuo visited many polling places in central Taiwan.
The voting turnout for council elections was 73.4 per cent and that for township chiefs and city mayors was 72 per cent. Voters casting their ballots numbered 4,794,767.
Of the 850 council members, 732 are men and 118 women.
Miss Huang Yu-chun was elected chief of Peiho township in Tainan county.
Three U.S. destroyers were turned over to the Republic of China. The vessels were built in the mid-1940s and fought in the Korean and Vietnam wars.
The armed forces received orders to participate in a wide-ranging service program for the benefit of the civilian population. "Operation Kindness" includes harvesting assistance, relief and disaster aid.
During harvest season, units stationed in rural districts are required to extend a helping hand to those short of manpower. Poor families and those of servicemen will receive aid on a priority basis.
Soldiers will help rural communities build and repair public facilities and maintain environmental sanitation during the busy farming season.
Military units will assist social workers in implementing the anti-poverty program known as "Operation Well-to-Do." Free medical care will be extended to the civil populace whenever necessary.
Disaster prevention and rescues will be handled by the military units closest to stricken areas. Special alertness is urged during the typhoon season.
Soldiers may not accept gifts in return for their services.
"Operation Kindness" will be implemented throughout free China, including the offshore islands. In Taipei, the Taiwan Garrison Command will be in charge. Elsewhere, the controlling authority will be the highest military command in the area.