It is confidently expected that the coming Conference to be held at Taipei will give another strong impetus to the anti-Communist task that was mapped out at Chinhae eleven months ago. That task was defined by the Chinhae conferees and embodied in two historic documents, entitled Principles of the Organization of the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League and Declaration of the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist Conference, both of which were published in the July, 1954 issue of the Free China Review. In the first of the two documents, members of the Chinhae Conference resolved to "alert all peoples to the menace of Communism," to enlist all peoples in the war against Communism,” to "mobilize all freedom-loving women against' Communism," to "expose Communists and fellow travellers wherever they may be found, in education, society, rural areas, labor, and the economic sphere," and to "fight Communism in every way, and with every means at our command, whenever and wherever we find it." In the second document, the Chinhae conferees set forth an outline of common beliefs consisting of the following items:
First, they believe that the fall of the Chinese mainland behind the Iron Curtain "is the cause of aggressive threat to all the nations in Asia, particularly Korea and Indochina." Consequently, they hold that "Without an integral Republic of China, there will be no peace and' security in Asia."
Secondly, they believe that not only we cannot compromise with Communism but cannot live together with it in coexistence."
Thirdly, they believe that "the peoples' anti-Communist unity is a prelude to an anti-Communist unity of all Asian nations." They find that "There is an urge for an Asian anti-Communist front which will bring about an anti-Communist crusade in Asia." Consequently, they hope that the Asian and Pacific nation will "hasten to set up an organization for collective security" with the "participation of the determinedly anti-Communist nations with effective strength."
Fourthly, they believe that "only democracy can triumph over totalitarianism" and urge the people of Asia to "choose and develop a political system and a form of life which will meet the needs of the people" themselves.
" Fifthly, they believe that "Asia for the Asiatics is also the world's Asia. Asia is for the free world and the free world for Asia," They wish to cooperate with the other peoples of the world on the basis of equality to combat Communism." They foresee the establishment of a “free and prosperous Asia" to "serve as a stabilizing factor for the world" "after liberating the people behind the Iron Curtain." This, they point out, is entirely different from the Soviet puppet Chou En-lai's slogan of "Asia for the Asians," which means in fact simply “Asia for the Russian Imperialists."
On the basis of these common beliefs, the Chinhae Conference called upon all free nations of the world to outlaw the Communist party and strictly prohibit all Communist activities; to declare Soviet Russia an aggressor and oust her from the United Nations; to bar the Chinese Communist regime from membership in the world organization; and to stop holding any conference with Soviet Russia and her satellites that may encourage aggression and sell out Asia.
As the anti-Communist task to which members of the Chinhae Conference addressed themselves has to be carried on over a period of many years, they set up a permanent organization known officially as the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League with a Central Liaison Office in Korea and a local branch in each Asian member-nation or locality. The Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League, Republic of China, which is composed of 505 affiliated associations, was inaugurated soon after the Chinhae Conference and is in charge of making preparations for the convocation of the Second Conference at Taipei in the current month.
According to tentative plans, delegates to the Taipei Conference will be kept busy for a whole week. On the first day of business, they will hear a report from the Central Liaison Office and reports from individual delegations, adopt rules of procedure, organize a Conference Secretariat, and elect members of Committees. During the next three days, they will meet in Committees and in plenary sessions to discuss and adopt resolutions. One of the most important documents they will be called upon to consider is a draft Charter of the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League. On the fifth, sixth, and seventh days, they will be invited by the host country to make a tour of Free China to inspect various aspects of Chinese life, cultural, industrial, agricultural, and social. In particular, they will be given an opportunity to examine a large collection of Chinese art treasures, which are not accessible elsewhere, and to see how land reform programs have been successfully carried out in Taiwan. It is believed that at the end of a busy week the delegates from various parts of Free Asia will have a better idea of each other's viewpoints and will be in a better position to cooperate more effectively in their common struggle against International Communist aggression.
The basic spirit which will inform the Taipei Conference, as it informed the previous Conference at Chinhae, is best summarized in the preamble of one of the resolutions adopted at Chinhae, in these memorable words:
"We, the peoples of Free Asia, met together in unfettered assembly, do hereby pledge our lives, our property and our honor to an unceasing fight for truth and justice, for freedom and for the suppression of all those forces seeking the enslavement of man and the enchainment of nations. We solemnly promise that we shall never rest until the earth has been made safe from Communist or any other aggression, and until the self-determination of all nations is assured.
"Ours is a call to all free peoples everywhere to join with us in repelling the Godless Communists, and in beginning the erection of a world system that will assure our children and our children's children that aggressors can never again steal into their lands and their homes. We are wholly convinced that aggressive totalitarianism can be stopped, rolled back, and eventually eradicated. This we must do, because the world can never endure half slave and half free. It must be one or the other, and our choice lies unalterably on the side of freedom."
These incisive words will strike a responsive chord in the hearts of millions of people who are presently shut behind the Iron Curtain on the Chinese mainland and in North Korea and North Vietnam. How to convey the message to the enslaved peoples is a problem in effective counter-propaganda, which it behooves the Taipei Conference to consider and tackle.
The fight against Communism is a twofold task: it calls for the consolidation of all anti-Communist forces, on the one hand, and the piercing of the Iron Curtain by a well-planned program of information to win over the enslaved population to the side of freedom, on the other. Such a view of the anti-Communist work defines the scope within which the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League would operate and the anti-Communist crusade in Asia could be carried on.