The China News pointed to C. K. Yen's extensive travels as indication of the "new dynamism and imagination that permeates the executive branch of the Chinese government" under his guidance. The brief Australia visit presented an opportunity for meetings with President Lyndon B. Johnson and other chiefs of state as well as for a personalized Chinese tribute to the memory of Prime Minister Holt, who was an outstanding freedom fighter and a loyal friend of the Republic of China.
Allies of the Vietnam war were present at Melbourne, and as the China News said: "Our stake in the Vietnam war is almost as great as South Vietnam's. Should the war be lost or stalemated and South Vietnam sacrificed to the Communists, our chances of mainland recovery would be dealt a serious blow. The government therefore has a deep-laid compulsion to keep in closest touch with those who are defending South Vietnam, to make its views known, and to offer all possible assistance."
On January 4, Vice President Yen leaves for a week's state visit to Thailand, where he will be received by King Bhumibol Adulyadej and confer with Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn. Accompanying the Vice President are Mrs. Yen and a party of 11.
Thailand and China have a centuries-long record of good neighborliness. Not until the Chinese Communists usurped mainland power was there any difficulty between Thai and Chinese peoples. The overseas Chinese population of Thailand is one of Southeast Asia's largest. Vice President Yen will have opportunity to meet with Chinese leaders and help assure their loyalty to the Kingdom of Thailand and the free world.
Both His Majesty and Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn have visited Taiwan - the King in 1963 and the Prime Minister last year. They showed interest in the application of Taiwan's scientific agricultural methods in Thailand, which is overwhelmingly a farming country.
On the occasion of the Vice President's visit, Thai officials will be likely to seek his counsel about combating Chinese Communist-instigated infiltration in the eastern part of the country.
Another year-end traveler was Defense Minister Chiang Ching-kuo, who went to Japan for six days at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato.
General Chiang, the elder son of President Chiang Kai-shek, was received with a warmth that is rare in formalistic Japan. He had an audience with Emperor Hirohito and extensive discussions with Prime Minister Sato, who visited Taiwan in 1967, and other leaders.
Chinese Communists reacted angrily to Chiang Ching-kuo's presence in Tokyo and Osaka. They indefinitely postponed negotiations to renew their unofficial trade relationship with Japan. Trade between the Chinese Reds and Japan was down from the 1966 high. Some observers suggested a trade suspension might be in the offing for 1968.
Details of Defense Minister Chiang's trip will be found elsewhere in this issue.
Members of the United Nations again upheld the Republic of China's right of Chinese representation. The Albanian resolution to expel the ROC and seat the Chinese Communists was defeated by 58 to 45 with 17 abstentions, 1 not participating (Laos) and 1 absent (Saudia Arabia).
Compared with 1966, this was a gain of 1 vote for the Republic of China and a loss of 1 for Peiping. The number of abstentions was the same in both years. U.N. membership had increased from 121 in 1966 to 122. However, the count should have been 59 to 45 with 16 abstentions. One vote against Peiping was lost because a substitute Ecuador representative misunderstood his instructions.
The free Chinese cause showed solid progress in the renewed U.N. decision to consider China representation an important question requiring a two-thirds majority. The 1967 count was 69 to 48 with 4 abstentions, a pick-up of three votes. The 1966 alignment was 66 to 48 with 7 abstentions.
Italy's "two Chinas” study proposal again was rejected overwhelmingly - 57 against and 32 in favor with 30 abstentions. This compared with 62 against and 34 in favor with 25 abstentions in 1966.
The Republic of China's position had been reinforced by a more active diplomacy as well as by Chinese Communist turmoil and continued aggression. Many speakers pointed out that the effectiveness of Red Chinese control over the mainland is open to serious doubt.
Russia's speech of support was brief and perfunctory. A Jakarta newspaper backed by the Indonesian army openly rejoiced at Peiping's defeat and said the Republic of China is the legal U.N. representative of the Chinese people. Chinese Ambassador to the U.N. Liu Chieh took note of the fact that ardent support of seating Red China had passed out of the hands of the Soviet bloc.
January 23 will bring the 14th anniversary of Freedom Day, an occasion that presaged the mainland's present repudiation of Chinese Communism.
On that January day in 1954 more than 14,000 former Chinese Communist prisoners of the United Nations Allies arrived from Korea to begin a new life of freedom. They had repudiated Communism under incredibly difficult circumstances.
The Korean War Armistice stipulated that prisoners of both sides would have a free choice of domicile. However, the POWs were to be taken to a Panmunjom camp supervised by the Neutral National Repatriation Commission and subjected to "explanations" by representatives of the side for which they had fought.
The 14,000 Chinese and more than 7,000 North Koreans were held at Panmunjom for 90 days. Communists reviled and threatened them in explanation sessions that amounted to attempts at brainwashing. In some cases the Indian custodial troops were compelled to intervene to prevent the Communist interrogators from using physical violence.
Peiping and Pyongyang quickly found that they were not getting anywhere. Prisoners were defiant. They shouted down their tormentors and sometimes had to be restrained from attacking them with bare hands.
Only a few hundred POWs were actually summoned to hear the "explanations". At the expiration of the 90 days, all prisoners were freed by NNRC to go where they wished. Relatively few of those who had come from Red China and Communist North Korea returned. Of 21 Americans who cast their lot with the Communists, almost all have now returned to the free world.
The 14,000 Chinese were received in Taiwan with great rejoicing. All were resettled long ago. Those who wanted to go back to school were given the opportunity. Others received farmland or vocational training. None has defected or indicated regret at his choice.
Freedom Day is celebrated annually with a mass rally attended by many of the former POWs, civic leaders, and freedom fighters from throughout the world. Never before in human history had so many men had opportunity to renounce tyranny in favor of liberty. Never before or since has Communism suffered such a repudiation at the hands of man's unconquerable spirit.
In the wake of the Fifth Plenary Session of the Ninth Congress of the Kuomintang, the Executive Yuan (cabinet) took on a new and younger look with three changes.
The Ministry of Finance went to Yu Kuo-hua, 54, a banker's banker who had been board chairman of the Bank of China. He studied economics at both Harvard and the London School of Economics and succeeds Chen Ching-yu, 67.
Named Minister of Justice was Cha Liang-chien, 63, who stepped up from the presidency of the Supreme Court. He replaces Cheng Yin-fun, 67, who subsequently was named deputy secretary general of the Presidential Office.
The Communication portfolio went to Sun Yun-suan, 55, a former head of the Taiwan Power Company who returned only recently from Nigeria, where he ran the national power company under United Nations auspices. Sun is an electrical engineering graduate of the Harbin Polytechnical Institute and received advanced training with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The Executive Yuan also got a new Secretary General. He is Tsiang Yien-si, 53, former commissioner of the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction and an agronomist who developed a new variety of corn known as Tainan No.5. He succeeded Hsieh Keng-min.
As Prime Minister, Vice President C. K. Yen has been striving for the creation of a more efficient, streamlined government machine. The new ministers - accenting comparative youth and wide technical experience - were appointed in the spirit of this modernization.
This will be an election year in the island province of Taiwan. Two elections are already scheduled and three probably will be held.
On January 21, the electorate will go to the polls to choose 847 city and county councilmen, an increase of 13, and the 313 chiefs of villages, townships and cities under county administration. On April 7, the voters will choose 72 provincial assemblymen, 16 county magistrates and 4 mayors of cities under provincial jurisdiction.
Subsequently (no date has been set), the National Government is planning an election to fill vacancies and choose the additional representatives called for by the growth of Taiwan's population in the Legislative Yuan. This will be the first election to national offices since the Communists usurped power on the mainland. It is made possible by amendment of the temporary provisions of the Constitution in 1966. New blood also will be supplied for the National Assembly and Control Yuan.
Taipei, which was elevated to Special Municipal status last year, will not participate in the local elections. The city is now co-equal with Taiwan Province and no longer will have representation in the Provincial Assembly. Taipei's mayor is appointed by President Chiang Kai-shek, as is the governor of Taiwan. The Taipei City Council has been held over pending the election of a new body after the addition of six satellite towns to the city next July 1.
The quality of candidates in the forthcoming local elections will be the highest in China's history. They must be high school graduates or have equivalent experience and have received the blessing of a screening committee. A maximum age was proposed but not adopted.
Campaigns are short but spirited. The government pays campaign expenses and this year will make more places available for stumping. Candidates may speak to any and all issues. The only ban is on personal abuse.
When Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China by the Japanese in 1945, the people had no experience whatsoever with self-government. After two decades of democratic experience, they have become astute selectors of the officials who preside over their affairs.
Local government has been so successful that the National Government is considering a larger measure of power for the Provincial Government. The Taipei City Government already has a large measure of autonomy under the direct supervision of the Executive Yuan.
Nineteen sixty-seven was another record year for the Taiwan economy. Exports exceeded US$650 million and total trade went well over the US$1.3 billion mark.
For the first nine months, industrial production increased by 17.8 per cent and agriculture by nearly 5 per cent. Per capita income reached close to US$210 for a gain of nearly 10 per cent and a real gain (allowing for price increases) of nearly 6 per cent. The gross national product for the year is expected to be up by nearly 13 per cent (nearly 9 per cent with allowance for inflation).
Minister of Economic Affairs K. T. Li, returning from a trip to Europe, said Taiwan can increase its sales to that continent by further diversifying products. He said that European entrepreneurs are interested in Taiwan investment. The Bank of Switzerland is extending a US$2 million loan to the Taiwan Power Company to buy Swiss-made power transmission equipment.
Foreign investment exceeded US$60 million in 1967, another record and almost double the total for 1966. Electronics led the list, followed by textiles, metals and chemicals. When all plants are operational, their production will total US$150 million annually and employ nearly 40,000.
Overseas Chinese investment was about US$10 million. The Control Yuan has recommended that the government set up a single agency to handle overseas Chinese investment applications. The National Government's watchdog agency said about half of overseas Chinese applications had not been implemented, partly because of excessive red tape.
Fifty-three per cent of the Taiwan population is now living in cities. Urban population is expected to treble and overall population to double by the year 2,000. The City Planning and Housing Committee of the Council for International Economic Cooperation and Development is studying the problems that are expected as a result of this growth.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration is going ahead with a US$2.5 plan to prepare the Taipei international airport for supersonic jetliners by 1972. The runway will be extended to 10,000 feet and an 8,000-foot auxiliary strip added. Three new aprons will be built, raising the number to 12. A new terminal building will be constructed to handle 1,200 incoming passengers at a time. The present terminal will be used exclusively for departing passengers. CAA expects the expanded airport to be adequate for from 10 to 15 years.
However, the government has an alternate plan to build an international airport at Taoyuan with runways of 13,000 and 9,000 feet at a cost of US$15 million. Taoyuan is about 20 miles southwest of Taipei and closer to the sea. The noisy supersonic jets could land and take off without passing over heavily populated areas.
Taipei's present international airport is located on the northeastern edge of the city within an easy 15-minute drive of the downtown section.
Railroad facilities are sure of further modernization in 1968 as a consequence of World Bank approval of a US$17.7 million loan to the Taiwan Railway Administration. The 12-year loan at 6 per cent interest will pay for 26 diesel locomotives, 116 coaches, 470 freight cars, and part of the cost of double tracking the main line between Changhua and Tainan. One condition of the loan is that TRA increase its rate of earnings from 5.5 to 6 per cent annually.
TRA is planning a new rail yard in northern Taiwan. Discussion is under way on steps to get railroad tracks out of the heart of Taipei but no decisions have been reached. The main line now runs through the city on the surface and ties up traffic at the many grade crossings.
Bus and auto transportation to the northern suburbs will be speeded with a tunnel under the hill on which the Grand Hotel is situated. Completion is scheduled for mid-1968. The 22-meter-wide tunnel will carry four lanes of traffic northward. Southbound traffic will use surface routes. The Chungshan North Road bridge will be widened to permit four-lane traffic.
Harbors are affected by Taiwan's seemingly ceaseless growth. In 1966, Kaohsiung, the island's largest port, had capacity of 7.2 million metric tons. The figure will be 10 million metric tons at the end of this year and 30 million by the end of 1970.
Keelung, which serves Taipei, is the only other large-volume port. Geography precludes any expansion to match that of Kaohsiung on the southwest coast. Harbor engineers are looking for an alternate port in northern Taiwan. One plan is to re-develop Tamsui, whence vessels once sailed up the river of the same name to the vicinity of present Taipei city.
Power and irrigation needs of Taiwan are assured of continuing development. Agreements were signed with Japan for loans to finance: (1) a Lower Tachien hydroelectric power plant, (2) power transmission facilities, (3) Taiwan Machinery Corporation improvement, (4) Taiwan Aluminum Corporation improvement, (5) Taiwan Shipbuilding Corporation improvement.
Japan is helping to finance the Tsengwen dam and reservoir out of a US$150 million loan agreement signed in 1965. When completed, this project will be larger than the Shihmen dam and reservoir, presently Taiwan's largest.
Coal is an important source of Taiwan energy - but the supply is growing more difficult to extract. The Taiwan Provincial Government has set aside more than US$11 million to explore deep mines. Present production of 5.5 million metric tons annually is nearly a million tons short of requirements.
Further prospecting will be carried out under the sea. Taiwan's coal reserves are estimated at 260 million metric tons, good for 50 years. The long-range extraction program calls for the mining of 7.3 million metric tons annually by 1974.
Tang Eng Iron Works was reorganized five years ago when it ran into financial difficulties. Now the company has given up and decided to sell out to the government. The remaining cost will be about US$2 million for stock shares and land. Tang Eng will become the Chung Hsing Steel Works, move to another site in the Kaohsiung area, and be brought up to date as an integrated steel and iron operation.
These were other economic notes:
- Taiwan has 220,000 businesses valued at more than US$1.8 billion.
- An Electronic Science Exhibition was held at the National Science Hall in Taipei with a demonstration of color television. Taiwan is expected to have color TV within two or three years. The second commercial television station will go on the air late this year.
Agriculture was in the news, too. Inescapably so on Taiwan, which despite the dramatic expansion of industry remains a farm community in virtually 50-50 proportion. This is not only an economic reflection but acknowledgement that nearly 14 million people must be fed.
A demonstration program of the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction gives promise of increasing rice production by 10 per cent or more annually. Improved techniques were applied starting in 1963 and have been extended to increasingly large areas.
Another JCRR undertaking is expected to raise the yield of upland crops by between 5 and 40 per cent through economical and efficient use of irrigation water. The demonstration utilized a three-crop pattern that includes corn, peanuts, sorghum, soybeans, sweet potatoes, sesame, watermelons and rapeseed. The increased yield of spring crops is especially high.
Another experiment has transformed sandy land into paddy producing two crops of rice a year. The Taiwan Sugar Corporation introduced near Tainan city a method recommended by Dr. R. L. Cook of Michigan State University. Asphalt barriers are placed under sandy soil at depths of from 20 to 50 centimeters so as to retain moisture. With some 70,000 hectares of sandy land, Taiwan could increase rice output by 700,000 metric tons annually through use of the Cook method.
G. H. Huffman, the U.S. member of JCRR, warned that Taiwan's agriculture is facing new challenges arising out of its very successes. Pest problems increase, he said, as more fertilizer is used and crop yields mount. Marketing also poses problems as production rises.
More than 40 participants from 12 countries came to Taiwan for a nine-day seminar on land reform - a tribute to the outstanding success of the Republic of China in redistributing farm land and virtually eliminating tenancy. A four-day field trip acquainted the visitors with Taiwan's program.
Signed by the Republic of China and the United States was an agreement under which Taiwan will receive US$37.5 million worth of American surplus agricultural commodities during the next two years. The commodities are US$23 million in cotton, US$10.6 million in tobacco and US$3.9 million worth of inedible tallow. Payment will be in local currency.
Fifty per cent of the proceeds will be set aside for local expenses of the U.S. government. The rest will go to the Republic of China as a grant to help finance its international cooperation projects in developing countries. This is an American vote of confidence in a free Chinese aid program that now reaches into Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America.
The African program includes 17 countries and soon will be extended to others. American assistance of more than US$9 million a year will make possible a more rapid expansion.
Major General Richard G. Ciccolella told the Christmas luncheon of the American University Club that the free world cannot expect to gain concessions from the Communists at the conference table.
Formerly the chief of the U.N. half of the Joint Armistice Commission supervising the Korean truce, General Ciccolella detailed his experiences in negotiating with the Communists at Panmunjom. He said the Reds can be influenced only by a firm stand backed up by military force.
General Ciccolella is the new chief of the American Military Assistance Advisory Group to the Republic of China. He attested that ROC forces are among the strongest in the Asian area and have just been reinforced with new planes and additional tanks.
Taiwan has lots of traffic but no traffic engineers. The government is contemplating a training program with United Nations assistance. The trainees would receive their schooling in Taiwan in the situations they would be expected to resolve.
In 1966, Taipei alone had 6,045 serious traffic accidents and a death toll of 948. For the first 10 months of 1967, the accident count was 5,947 with 1,075 killed and 7,551 injured.
Women members of the Kuomintang had their Ninth Working Conference and heard Madame Chiang Kai-shek urge them to redouble their efforts for the modernization of the Republic of China. The conference began a fund-raising campaign to relieve the poor and underprivileged of Taiwan communities hard-hit by last year's typhoons and floods.
The First Lady called upon women members of the ruling party to adhere to the principles of the New Life Movement inspired by President Chiang Kai-shek and consequently to improve service to their communities. She compared community service to an orchestra, saying that without each person's help, the community cannot develop and progress.
More than 500 Kuomintang women leaders and workers attended the conference. Seventy-four awards were made.
December brought brisk weather to Taiwan that seemed less subtropical than usual. Snow atop Mt. Hohuan was waist-deep. Traffic on the East-West Highway was blocked by drifts.
Mountain hostels were opened to those who wanted to try their skis. Taiwan has one lift in operation during the brief winter season of a month or two. This winter's skiing may last longer than usual. Ordinarily the snow season is confined to January and February.
Temperatures in Taipei ranged in the high 40s and low 50s by night during mid-December.
Taipei will have its widest and most spectacular boulevard by the end of 1968. It will start at the airport and terminate at the Presidential building in the downtown area. The width will range from 40 to 100 meters for the three miles.
The route will be from the airport south via Tunhua North and South Roads to the statue of Yu Yu-jen, the late president of the Control Yuan, thence westward on Jenai Road to the Presidential building. A part of Jenai Road where shacks were removed in a slum clearance program last year will be 100 meters wide with trees on either side. This project plus the widening of other major thoroughfare and two new parks will cost more than US$15 million in a project that will require four years.
January will be a month of preparation for Taiwan's first conference of the Pacific Area Travel Association just after the Chinese New Year in February.
PATA's decision to meet in Taipei more than 700-strong attests that the island has come of age in a touristic sense. For 1967, the count of visitors was expected to reach a quarter of a million, not counting the American servicemen who came from Vietnam on leave.
In the first 10 months of last year, the count was nearly 208,000. Japanese came in the largest numbers, closely followed by Americans.
The Kuomintang and the government have decided to go ahead with tourism development despite the confrontation with the Communists. It was agreed that those who come to Taiwan acquire an understanding of the Republic of China that is highly important in accomplishment of the nation's objectives.
Taiwan tourism has been growing at a rate of between 35 and 40 per cent annually for the last several years, the highest figure in Asia.
Many of the PAT A delegates will take trips down-island to see Taiwan's spectacular mountain scenery and the attractions of the tropical southeast and southwest coasts at Taitung and Kaohsiung.