The proceedings of the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists focused renewed attention on the Taiwan Sugar Corporation, which recently has not figured as prominently in the news as once it did.
TSC is the island's largest corporation in terms of investment. Aside from government, it has been the biggest employer.
Recent neglect of TSC is a result of the depressed international sugar price. Not until 1966 was sugar displaced as Taiwan's largest earner of foreign exchange. By the end of 1967, it had fallen to seventh place among exports.
The effect of the ISSCT meeting was to instill new confidence of a sugar comeback. Foreign technicians had high praise for TSC's program to automate mills and for the corporation's research and progressive field program. World demand will rise and carry the price up once more, the experts agreed, and TSC again will become a principal foreign exchange earner as well as employer.
More than 200 papers were presented during the ISSCT proceedings. Every aspect of cane cultivation and processing was touched upon. About a quarter of the research originated in Taiwan. Details of the conference will be found in a separate article in this issue.
Economic developments loomed large in the news for March. Minister of Economic Affairs K. T. Li told the Economic Affairs Committee of the Legislative Yuan that this year's priority goal is the build-up of the petrochemical and machinery industries. Diversification of agricultural processing industries will be sought in order to increase exports. Minister Li predicted another year of prosperity.
Addressing a television audience, Li said that further industrialization is essential. Investment of US$225 annually in basic industries will be required during the next decade, he said. He declared such basic industries as power, transportation and communications are not growing as rapidly as they should.
Construction of an integrated steel mill is expected to begin before the end of the year. A US$95 million rolling mill will be built in the first phase of the US$250 million project.
The final report from a high-level steel study group will be made to the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) in June. Sixty per cent of the investment is expected to be raised locally and the rest provided by foreign loans. Probably the equipment will be Japanese.
Scheduled for initial production this spring is the US$15 million polyester plant of the USI Far Eastern Corporation, an investment of the National Distillers and Chemical Corporation of the United States. Output will be 72 million pounds of polyester products annually to supply the local plastics industry and for export to Southeast Asia.
Construction of the plant of 1.5 million square feet in Kaohsiung county was started two years ago.
San Fu Industries Ltd. is putting two models of its new Sabaru automobiles on the market. One is a pickup truck and the other a delivery van, both retailing at under US$1,750. These vehicles are made in cooperation with Fuji Heavy Industries of Japan and will provide the first competition for Yue Loong, which made 8,000 cars and trucks last year.
Taiwan output of vehicles is expected to reach 13,000 autos and 265,000 motorcycles this year. Two other automakers have won government approval. Both Hsing Kuo and Liu Ho have technical cooperation agreements with Japanese companies.
Also planned for 1968 is the establishment of a second export processing zone similar to that at Kaohsiung. The site probably will be in southern Taiwan. As at Kaohsiung, the government will provide standard factory buildings and other facilities and offer such incentives as duty-free imports and tax exemptions.
The Control Yuan, watchdog branch of the government under the Republic of China's five-powers system, has appointed a seven-member group to look into governmental industrial protection. Minister K. T. Li said the government plans to phase out measures of protection, but that for the present it is necessary to protect infant industries and guard against dumping of foreign goods in Taiwan.
P. Y. Hsu, chairman of the Foreign Exchange and Trade Commission, said Taiwan will have to redouble its efforts to attain this year's goal of US$700 million worth of exports. Quotas have been placed on imports of Taiwan textiles and mushrooms, he noted, and international trade is generally tighter. The Communist offensive in South Vietnam hurt commerce with that country.
The quality of Taiwan goods must be improved, he said, and free China's business and industrial reputation kept above reproach.
FETC released figures showing record Sino-American trade in 1967 but with the balance heavily on the U.S. side. Taiwan sold US$132.5 million worth of goods to the United States while buying US$300.5 million worth. These were major items of trade (amounts in US$ millions):
Exports - Textiles, 26.8. Plywood and other wood products, 24.2. Metals and products, 11.7. Sugar, 10. Canned mushrooms, 10.3. Canned pineapple, 8.5. Chemicals, 6.7. Fresh and frozen fruit, 3.7. Paper and handicrafts, 3.1. Cement and other construction materials, 2.5. Marine products, 2.4. Feathers, 1.5. Rattan products, 1.3. Other agricultural products, 1.
Imports - Machinery and tools, 76.7. Cotton, 38.4. Vehicles and parts, 29.2. Metals and minerals, 27.2. Beans, 26. Wheat and flour, 18.5. Electrical appliances, 14.9. Chemicals, 10.5. Crude oil and fuels, 8. Wine and tobacco, 4.5. Wax and fats, 4.4. Instruments, 4.2. Paper and pulp, 3.6. Medicines, 2.7. Edible oil 1.9. Milk and cream, 1.3. Chemical fertilizer, 1.3. Rubber and products, 1.1.
Foreign investments held up well in January and February. The two-month total was US$16 million, a rate above the monthly average for 1967. January's US$10 million figure included US$4.5 million from the Gulf Oil Company of the United States for investment in the China Plastic Corporation.
U.S. investments were down overall, as had been expected in the wake of President Johnson's program to reduce the dollar drain.
Members of the Executive Yuan approved establishment of an office to bring together all government agencies in a one-stop screening of foreign investment applications. To be represented on the reconstituted Foreign Investment Screening Committee of the Ministry of Economic Affairs are the vice ministers of Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Finance and Communications plus the vice chairmen of the Foreign Exchange and Trade Commission and Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, the commissioner of the Provincial Reconstruction Department and the director of the Taipei Municipal Reconstruction Bureau.
The office in the Union Building on Paoching Road in downtown Taipei will have departments of taxation, foreign exchange, industrial and business administration, and investment survey. Prospective foreign investors have complained of time-consuming red tape in the past. The new plan is supposed to reduce paper work and speed approvals or rejections.
FETC announced it is providing support for the China Credit Information Service, a private enterprise, in gathering information about international market conditions. Already surveyed are export prospects for plywood, shoes and Christmas tree lights.
Twenty-one trade and industrial leaders went to Bangkok for the opening of the Chinese Products Display Center there. They also attended the inaugural ceremony of the Thai-Chinese Trade and Development Corporation.
Increased trade also is sought with Australia, which will sign a commercial agreement with the Republic of China soon.
Power must keep pace with expanding industry. Officials of the Taiwan Power Company said production of electricity will reach 3 million kilowatts within the next decade.
Construction of the island's first nuclear power plant will be started at Linkou in northern Taiwan within the next year. A nuclear power act is now pending before the Legislative Yuan. Its terms include government guarantee for repayment of a US$70 million loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
Nuclear power output will be at least 300,000 kw. Taiwan now has installed capacity of 1,440,000 kw. About half comes from thermal and half from hydroelectric sources.
Transportation kept pace with business and population needs as the World Bank approved a US$17.5 million loan for further modernization of the Taiwan railroad system. The Taiwan Railway Administration will use the government-guaranteed loan to buy diesel locomotives, signal systems, track and bridge materials, passenger and freight cars and maintenance equipment. TRA previously received a World Bank loan of US$20 million.
Communications Minister Sun Yun-suan said transportation and communications will require US$125 million a year for the next four years to modernize facilities. Passenger business is expected to grow by 8 per cent and freight by 5 per cent annually between now and 1972.
The Taiwan Highway Bureau, which operates the island's network of' interurban buses, reported record revenue of US$1,825,000 in January. Revenue for 1968 is estimated at US$21 million.
Visitor of the month was Thailand's Deputy Premier Praphas Charusathien, who came for six days in mid-March. General Praphas is also deputy supreme commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. Although Thailand is a member of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, he was reported to be sounding out the governments of East Asian nations on the possibility of a regional alliance with more teeth.
The Thai leader said that any Asian collective security organization must have the repulsing of Communist aggression as its principal objective. Free China must be a member of any successful anti-Communist line-up in this part of the world, he added. The Republic of China is not a member of SEATO.
General Praphas had two meetings with President Chiang Kai-shek and visited many military installations, including those of the offshore island of Kinmen. He stopped in Manila before coming to Taiwan and went on to Japan and Korea after leaving Taipei. One of his advocacies during his Taiwan stay was the invasion of North Vietnam by the South Vietnam allies.
From Tokyo came a report that Japan and Outer Mongolia have agreed to Moscow discussions that could lead to the establishment of diplomatic relations. Foreign Minister Wei Tao-ming said the government of the Republic of China had expressed opposition to any such talks. Outer Mongolia is considered a part of free Chinese territory.
Ambassador to Japan Chen Chih-mai, who returned to Taipei for consultations, said he believes the Japanese do not intend to enter into diplomatic relations with Kulun (Ulan Bator) at this time. The Outer Mongolians have been indulging themselves in wishful thinking, he added.
The Republic of China recognized the independence of Outer Mongolia in the Sino-Soviet treaty of 1945. Subsequently, the Russians violated the treaty by undertaking the military build-up of the Chinese Communists. This led to ROC denunciation of the accord. Outer Mongolia thus reverted to its previous legal status as a part of China. Pragmatically, Outer Mongolia is presently regarded as a puppet of the Soviet Union.
Government sources said the Chinese government has no intention of curtailing the Vietnam assistance program despite hazards resulting from increased Communist activity. Many Chinese agronomists working in the field are special targets of the Viet Congo.
Y. K. King, director of the Chinese Agricultural Mission to Vietnam, was called home to become a consultant to the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction. The acting director will be Leonard L. C. Chang, who has headed the farm service division. All 142 members of the mission came through the Viet Cong Tet offensive safely.
Chinese farm advisers have been serving in Vietnam since 1959. The current contract with the South Vietnamese government expires in July.
Professor David Rowe of Yale University, who is in Taiwan collecting material for a book about free Chinese aid programs in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, said Taiwan farming methods are well adapted to developing countries. He has seen many of the Chinese farm teams in action in Africa.
"Before they came, the people there didn't believe the land could produce rice and vegetables," he said. "But the Chinese agriculturalists showed them they could do it and they did it by down-to-earth methods."
The 230 technicians working in the Ivory Coast will have made that country virtually self-sufficient in food by 1970.
Negotiations pointed toward a US$10 million loan for Indonesia were going smoothly. Jakarta hopes to buy Taiwan rice, textiles and other consumer goods on a six-month credit line underwritten by Indonesian banks and traders. Free China may also extend technical cooperation in agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining.
An Indonesian delegation came to Taiwan for the second time and met with high-level officials, including P. Y. Hsu, Central Bank of China governor and FETC chairman. A group of 30 Indonesians may be trained in Taiwan banking and business practices. Establishment of two-way shipping services is under consideration.
News of aid to free China was less happy. Sup port from the Sino-American Fund for Economic and Social Development - which administers residual funds growing out of the U.S. aid program that ended in mid-1965 - will be cut from US$50 million to US$37.5 million annually beginning with the 1968-69 fiscal year. The reduction results from overspending between 1965 and 1967.
The fund's original resources totaled US$250 million. The schedule calls for a distribution of 60 per cent loans and 40 per cent grants. The Taiwan Provincial Government depends heavily on the fund for implementation of its development programs.
Taipei's port of Keelung soon will be at the saturation point of expansion. The government has there fore set up a committee to recommend the site of a new international harbor in northern Taiwan. The contenders are Suao on the northeast coast, Tamsui at the northwest tip and Wuchi on the coast near Taichung in north-central Taiwan.
Six Japanese experts will come to Taiwan for a six-month survey of possible sites. A committee supporting Tamsui has been established. At the mouth of the Tamsui river, which flows through Taipei, this harbor was once of international importance. But the river silted up and Tamsui has been a quiet fishing village for more than half a century. Industrialization of the area has reawakened interest in the possibilities of Tamsui port. One of the plants is an investment of Philco of the United States. When complete, this factory will represent an expenditure of US$24 million.
Keelung's newest expansion program will get under way in July and will cost nearly US$14 million. Cargo handling capacity will be increased by 800,000 tons annually when the project is completed in 1971.
Agricultural objectives were announced for 1968. They include record rice production of 2.5 million metric tons, 60,000 more than last year, and these other major targets: 3,795,000 metric tons of sweet potatoes, 130,000 mt of peanuts, 74,000 mt of soybeans and 67,450 mt of corn. The Taiwan Food Bureau will extend loans for cultivation, irrigation, pumps, irrigation works, tools and cattle.
Gerald H. Huffman, the American member of the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction and chief of the mission administering residual U.S. aid, left for a post in Vietnam. He praised Taiwan's agriculture as "productive, intensive and sophisticated" but suggested there is still ample room for improvement.
Rice yields can be increased by more than 30 per cent, he said, and the cultivation of vegetable and fruit can raise the general productivity of scarce arable land and boost farm incomes. He predicted that farm output will continue to grow at a rate of 5 to 6 per cent a year. He suggested that animal husbandry, forestry and fisheries be given stronger emphasis.
Succeeding Huffman as temporary American representative on JCRR is Arthur W. Hummel Jr., deputy chief of the U.S. Embassy mission. Robert L. Brown, U.S. counselor of economic affairs, will be acting AID representative until June 30, when the AID office will close its doors.
JCRR bas purchased US$105,000 worth of equipment to help the Provincial Farmers' Association establish a dairy producing certified milk. The location will be Changhua in central Taiwan. Completion of the plant and installation of the Dutch equipment is expected before the end of the year. A Japanese adviser pronounced Taiwan's natural conditions for dairying as superior to those of Japan. He was impressed by the plentiful forage provided by the island's slopelands. Daily production of the dairy will be 20,000 kilograms of milk supplied by some 2,000 cows.
Plans were announced by the Taiwan Provincial Government to spend more than US$2 million to develop ground water and increase rice production during the next three years. A total of 427 deep wells will be drilled and the increment of rice is expected to be 25,000 metric tons annually.
Government moved in to help banana growers weather the loss from severe winds of last February 14.
Damage was estimated at more than 2.5 million baskets or nearly US$9 million. A subsidy of US20 cents will be granted for each broken tree and US$250 in low-interest loans will be made available for each hectare of damaged plantation. Banana trees will be supported by bamboo stakes in an attempt to mitigate damage during the coming typhoon season.
Taiwan population growth was down to 2.27 per cent in 1967. The government hopes to cut the figure to 2 per cent in the next 10 years. The average rate of increase for the last decade was 3.091 per cent. The 1967 reduction was 0.821 per cent. In 1958 the increase was 3.4 per cent.
A population planning bill is now pending in the Legislative Yuan. Family planning is supported by several private organizations. Including military forces, Taiwan' s population now exceeds 14 million. Density is the second highest in the world after the Netherlands. Density in terms of arable land is even higher than Holland's.
Taipei has growing pains, too. The city was given special status last July and will have a population of nearly 1.5 million after six satellite towns lose their separate identities next July 1. The newly established construction department of the Public Works Bureau announced plans for widening of principal streets, for improvement of drainage and for construction of 12 new junior high schools by August, when the nine-year program of free education comes into effect. Two new parks are planned for this year.
Taipei is spending about US$125 million a year for new buildings. In January, nearly US$4 million was invested in residential properties alone. Most were four-story apartment houses.
A new building code is in the making. The height limit of 35 meters will be lifted to permit the construction of buildings that may rise as high as 50 stories. Land values have reached a point where structures of 20 stories or more will be more economical than 35-meter structures. However, the higher the rise, the larger the amount of adjacent open area that will be required under terms of the new code.
The Central Bank of China agreed on loans totaling US$7.5 million to the Taipei City Government for two housing projects, one of 2,270 units, the other of 1,000 units. The first will house those moved out of unlicensed structures scheduled for razing. The 1,000 units will be sold to low-income families. City plans can for construction of 6,210 units this year.
Work will start soon on a US$5 million project to increase the city's water supply by 200,000 metric tons a day. Completion is scheduled for 1970. The present Taipei capacity is 360,000 tons a day. Water is delivered to more than 165,000 households numbering nearly 1.2 million people.
Hotel construction also is booming. Thirty-two medium and small hostelries with 3,129 rooms will open their doors this year. Ten are in Taipei (1,260 rooms), 11 in Taichung (800 rooms) and 11 in Kaohsiung (1,069 rooms). Tourism authorities say Taipei still needs two large hotels in the 500-room class. The Hilton chain has expressed interest in operating a Taipei hotel financed by local capital.
For January, tourists numbered 21,230 compared with the 14,390 of the corresponding month in 1967. Japanese numbered 7,087, Americans 6,327 and overseas Chinese 3,840. The estimate for the year is 300,000 compared with 253,000 in 1967.
Social security will be extended to more than 100,000 white-collar workers as of July 1. Included are salesmen, school workers, newspapermen, employees of civic organizations and social workers. The employer will pay 75 per cent of the premium and the employee 25 per cent.
Vice President C. K. Yen called for the retirement of aging civil servants so young blood can be brought into the government. He said that if pension funds are inadequate, superannuated employees can be retired but kept on the payroll. This system is used in the armed forces.
The Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen announced it has helped resettle 165,324 former members of the armed forces since 1954. The productivity of ACRS enterprises rose by nearly 20 per cent last year. Employment is provided in agriculture, industry, mining, engineering, forestry, fisheries and animal husbandry.
The Chinese National Federation of Industries and 10 associations representing various industries have established a committee to direct programs to train skilled workers. Taiwan will require 46,000 additional skilled and semi-skilled workers annually during the next decade. Vocational schools can turn out only 12,000 a year. The joint committee plans pre-job, on-the-job and apprentice training.
Need for workers is especially great in small industry to improve quality control and keep up with technological advances.