"The worsening of the situation on the Indochina peninsula and the resurgence of appeasement of the Communists coincided with the passing of President Chiang," the Premier said.
On the surface these developments represented serious setbacks and obstacles for the Republic of China's anti-Communist struggle. "But our people's devotion to the late President, as evidenced in their grief over his passing, has made our government and people more united than ever before and unshaken by these external developments," he said.
The Premier said the Republic of China is unshakable and stands firm as "a strong and united nation." Free China is "sustained by a patriotic people, managed by a responsible government adhering to principle and based on an open, orderly and righteous society." he said.
Members of the Kuomintang, following Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People, "are well-organized and oriented to the revolutionary spirit."
"This gives rise to an invincible spiritual strength that sustains us," the Premier said.
Discussing the nation's material strength, the Premier said free China has an economy with great potential and armed forces that are highly trained and possessed of strong combat capability.
Premier Chiang pledged to uphold the three basic principles of the ruling Kuomintang:
- To adopt Dr. Sun's Three Principles of the People as the supreme guideline for the nation's political, economic, cultural and social reconstruction.
- To carry out President Chiang's anti-Communist policy of toppling the despotic Peiping regime, protecting China's cultural heritage and delivering the Chinese people from slavery.
- To rally the support of the masses for the revolutionary task of the Kuomintang in consolidating the party's foundation, carrying out democratic ideals and safeguarding human dignity.
Relief to mitigate the losses of rice growers from heavy rains was ordered by Premier Chiang. He met with magistrates, mayors and other local leaders in southern Taiwan to inquire about the extent of damage to the first rice crop.
Governor Hsieh Tung-min was also present. Premier Chiang spelled out these measures to relieve farmers:
- Repayment of interest-free loans will be extended for a year.
- The Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau will buy up as raw material all grain that sprouts as a result of flooding.
- Farm taxes may be reduced, depending on the amount of damage.
About 40,000 hectares of paddies in central and southern Taiwan were damaged. This is about 11 per cent of the planted area of the first crop.
Rains also damaged other crops.
To celebrate the 51st anniversary of the Chinese Military Academy, Premier Chiang presided over a meeting and inspected the cadets at Fengshan City in southern Taiwan.
The Premier was accompanied by Gen. Ho Ying-chin and Gen. Ku Chu-tung, senior officers of the Whampoa Military Academy, forerunner of the present academy; Maj. Gen. Slade Nash, chief of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group in Taipei; and other Chinese government and military leaders.
The Whampoa Military Academy was founded in Canton in 1924 with the late President Chiang Kai-shek as its first commandant.
Premier Chiang and his party inspected about 3,000 cadets of the academy.
The Premier urged cadets to turn their grief over the passing of President Chiang into new strength, unity and insistent effort to accomplish the anti-Communist and national-recovery missions.
The Chinese government will face the world situation calmly and steadfastly, he said. "We know what we should do - employing deeds to comfort the spirit of our leader in heaven," Premier Chiang added.
Gen. Ho and Gen. Nash also spoke. Citing an old Chinese saying that "one reaps no more than what one has sown," Gen. Nash urged cadets to study diligently and contribute to the nation.
Administrative officers were urged by Premier Chiang to be just and fair-minded in dealing with the public.
Addressing a seminar for provincial administrators, the Premier said good officials can be easily judged by the people.
Like clean water, clean politics is not polluted by corruption or other evil practices.
The Premier encouraged officials to improve their working efficiency through competition.
Citing Miss Lee Chiu-hsia, triple gold medal winner in the Second Asian Amateur Athletic Championships at Seoul in May, the Premier said officials could learn from her.
Miss Lee told the Premier that the secret of success is hard work and "don't look back, always go ahead."
The Premier said:
- The patriotic spirit expressed by people during mourning for the late President Chiang is an important example to those who carry out administrative work.
- To face the changing world situation and overcome international setbacks, the people should step up their efforts on behalf of national reconstruction. These efforts must be based on sound administrative performance.
The Premier said that in the last three years many achievements have been made under the administration of Governor Hsieh Tung-min but that this is not enough.
"We have to struggle for further progress," the Premier said, urging the participants to work more and talk less.
President Yen Chia-kan urged provincial administrators to make Taiwan a model province of the Republic of China .
In a message on the eve of the 1975 seminar for administrators, President Yen said the goal of provincial reconstruction is to build Taiwan into a model province, reflecting a happy and harmonious society.
"The successful reconstruction of Taiwan will serve as a model for the reconstruction of the China mainland after its recovery from the Chinese Communists," he said.
President Yen said all eight topics on the agenda for the seminar were well-conceived and should be thoroughly discussed.
However, Yen said, special attention should be given to implementation of President Chiang's order to improve administrative efficiency.
"President Chiang had already shown us the way to improve administrative efficiency and build Taiwan into a model province," President Yen said.
He summarized President Chiang's teachings on provincial administration in this way:
- The government's administrative goals should be closely related to the interests of the people.
- Rural and urban reconstruction projects should be undertaken simultaneously.
- Clean politics and social morality should be stressed.
James Shen, ambassador to the United States, warned the leaders of some Asian countries that they "are bound to suffer a great disappointment " if they hope the Chinese Communists will fail to support Communist insurgents and dissidents in their countries.
"Mao and Chou may pledge with their newly found, accommodating friends that they wi1l not . continue their sinister schemes of infiltration and subversion," Ambassador Shen told the 21st annual convention of the Sino-American Cooperative Organization at Colorado Springs.
He said that the cause of freedom and democracy in East Asia is in great jeopardy after the Indochina debacle, "and that the countries seeking to appease the Chinese Communists are contributing to its weakening in spite of their ardent desire to preserve their own sovereignty and national identity. "
The Chinese envoy cited the Peiping regime's active and open support for various Communist insurgents in Asian countries, saying that "in Asia the intrigue and aggressive activities of the Chinese Communists have been clearly in evidence from the Himalayan slopes to the Java Sea."
Ambassador Shen said that in spite of information media and academic research, the Chinese Communist regime is "still grossly misunderstood" in the United States.
There is not enough awareness of true conditions on the Chinese mainland, he said. The disposition to listen with credulity and interpret things in terms of Western experience seems to be quite prevalent among certain segments of the American people.
The ambassador continued: "To equate a big land mass and large population as actual power without regard to low productivity and low subsistence level; and to deal with a regime in terms of rationality and pragmatism as if it is a type of government like their own while it is actually a dictatorship of the worst kind, are two of the most common misconceptions.
Other misconceptions:
- To treat the intransigent and military behavior of the Chinese Communists as a general assertion of "Chinese nationalism" against the background of foreign encroachments and the unequal treaties.
- To regard the behavior of the Chinese Communists as "Chinese behavior" and to label their truculent policies vis-a-vis the world at large, the neighboring countries and the United States as "Chinese policies."
Ambassador Shen said that although the government he represents is no longer on the Chinese mainland, "it is the heir to the policy and cultural heritage of China and has built a viable free society on the island of Taiwan. Our stance is the antithesis of what Peiping stands for and what it has done", he declared. "We are a peace-loving and law-abiding member of the international community."
Many U.S. Congressmen have reiterated support of the Republic of China.
They were responding to an open letter sent by 500 freedom seekers at a meeting marking the 13th anniversary of the Hongkong "May Exodus" of refugees in Taipei.
Members of Congress included six Representatives - W.R. Poage (D-Tex.), Louis Stokes (D Maine), Bill Archer (R-Tex.), John J. Rhodes (R Ala.), Melvin Price (D-Ill.) and Larry P. McDonald (D-Ga.) - and three senators - Hiram L. Fong (R-Hawaii), Edmund S. Muskie (D-Maine) and Dewey F. Bartlett (R-Okla.).
The freedom seekers urged the U.S. Congress men to ask the U.S. government to honor its treaty commitments to allies.
They also urged the American lawmakers to support the cause of the Republic of China.
Peiping's insistence on the inclusion of the so called "anti-hegemonism" clause in a treaty of "peace and friendship" with Japan is a bid for dominance in Asia, Gen. Ho Ying-chin said.
Warning Japan against reaching "a point of no return" in its eagerness to sign the treaty, the wartime commander of China's ground forces also advised Tokyo not to "surrender twice for one defeat."
Speaking on the 23rd anniversary of the Sino Japanese Cultural and Economic Association, Gen. Ho said the Chinese Communists have more than the Russians in mind in demanding the anti hegemonism clause.
While trying to playoff the Japanese against the Russians, Peiping seeks to prevent Japan from establishing strong armed forces.
Peiping's scheme was made clear by Teng Hsiao-ping last year at the U.N. General Assembly special session on energy, Gen. Ho said.
"Teng declared that the Chinese Communists sought to unite the 'third world' (meaning them selves and so-called nonaligned and underdeveloped nations) as a central force in winning over the 'second world' (meaning Japan and other developed nations) for an attack on the 'first world' (meaning the United States and Soviet Russia)."
Therefore, Gen. Ho continued, Peiping's insistence on the anti-hegemonism clause is a united front plot aimed at Chinese Communist hegemony in Asia and then the world by defeating the United States and Soviet Russia.
Gen. Ho said the Chinese Communists hope to increase the influence of the Japanese leftists and undermine the substantial cultural and economic relations between Japan and the Republic of China.
Japan has already signed a peace treaty with the Republic of China, Gen. Ho pointed out. It will be surrendering twice for one defeat if another treaty is signed with the Peiping regime.
"This is against the principles of international law. Japan would lose all its national standing and its spirit of international morality," Gen. Ho said.
Japan and the Republic of China signed an air agreement, which will allow a Japanese airline to land at Taipei and Kaohsiung on flights to Hongkong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta and Dacca.
China Airlines, the Republic of China's flag carrier, will serve Tokyo and another city to be decided later and fly onward to the United States or Seoul.
The agreement was signed by Teizo Horikoshi, chairman of Japan's Interchange Association, and Chang Yen-tien, chairman of the East Asia Relations Association of the Republic of China, in Taipei. It will remain in effect unless either party gives 90 days notice of abrogation.
Premier Chiang Ching-kuo, also chairman of the Kuomintang Central Committee, told the ruling party that the resumption of air services by the two carriers should strengthen substantive relations between Taipei and Tokyo.
His administration halted services of the China Airlines and Japan Air Lines April 20, 1974, because remarks of Japanese Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira were "insulting" to the nation.
The Ohira remarks were erased by Foreign Minister Kiichi Miyazawa at a Diet session July 1. Miyazawa said the flag of blue sky and white sun (the Republic of China's national standard) is regarded as a national flag by those countries which recognize the Republic of China.
Foreign Minister Shen Chang-huan issued a statement on the signing of the private air agreement.
He said Japanese Foreign Minister Kiichi Miyazawa "has formally stated that Japan is willing to promote bilateral friendly interchange (with the Republic of China) on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit and in accordance with established international customs.
"The strengthening of Sino-Japanese relations will contribute to the promotion of prosperity and stability not only for the Chinese and Japanese peoples but also for Asia as a whole," the foreign minister said.
It is the policy of the Republic of China to deal with all free world nations, whether they have diplomatic relations with this country or not, under the moral principles of righteousness, honesty and honor, Shen said.
Nuclear weapons are not being developed by the Republic of China, which is committed to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, according to the country's top science administrator.
Dr. S.S. Shu, chairman of the National Science Council, was commenting on a Time magazine report that the Republic of China had set 1980 as the probable target date for perfection of a nuclear weapon and a delivery system.
"The Time report is ill founded," said Dr. Shu who is also president of National Tsinghua University, where most of free China's nuclear research is carried out.
"It is not a matter of whether we have the capability of manufacturing nuclear weapons," he said. "Peaceful application of nuclear energy is our national policy. President C.K. Yen (then Vice President) made that abundantly clear in his speech at the International Symposium on Power Reactor Technology last January."
Dr. Shu said Premier Chiang Ching-kuo has expressed free China's peaceful intentions in nuclear research.
The Republic of China acquired its first nuclear reactor more than 14 years ago. Six reactors for power development will be installed during the next few years.
In addressing nuclear scientists from many countries last January, Yen Chia-kan said reactors in free China had been used for academic research and the production of radioisotopes for use in agriculture, industry and medicine.the Republic of China was among the first nations to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The instrument of ratification is in the custody of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The pledge to abide by the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty does not mean that free China will do nothing to strengthen its defense capability in the face of growing threats of military attack by the Chinese Communists.
Premier Chiang told the Legislative Yuan in April: "We shall try to make rockets and missiles. Instead of asking others for help, which is not always dependable, we must stand on our own feet. "
Construction of the Taoyuan airport is going smoothly, a spokesman of the Civil Aeronautics Administration of the Ministry of Communications said.
The project will be completed on schedule, barring the unforeseen.
Work was started in mid-1974 and the first stage will be completed by the end of 1977.
The airport near Taoyuan is about 18 miles southwest of Taipei and will be linked to the North-South Freeway by a feeder expressway. Travel time to Taipei will be about half an hour.
Three terminal buildings occupying a combined area of 1,750,000 square feet will be built. There will be 50 passenger lounges. .
The main runway of 12,000 feet will be supplemented by two others, eight taxiways, 22 parking aprons and 14 cargo bays.
The 150-foot control tower will be capable of directing 42 landings and take-offs per hour. Twenty-five ramps will give passengers easy access from plane to terminal and vice versa.
Kaohsiung got its new harbor entrance in mid July. The port now accommodates ships of up to 75,000 tons. When further dredging is completed a year hence, vessels of 100,000 tons will be able to enter the harbor.
Kaohsiung's second harbor entrance was eight years in the building and cost US$37 million. (File photo)
With whistles blasting and water jetting from hoses of six tugboats, Governor Hsieh Tung-min sailed through the portal in his yacht. Then came four destroyers of the Chinese Navy in full battle dress and five big foreign merchantmen.
Construction of the 350-meter entrance began in 1966. Total cost was US$330 million.
The entrance was designed and built by Chinese. Use of round instead of square caissons for the breakwater saved US$4 million dollars and a lot of time.
The new entrance 12 kilometers east of the old one marks another milestone in the 112-year history of the harbor, Taiwan's largest and one of the 10 biggest international seaports in the world.
Seventy-four deep water berths can be built near the second entrance. Buoys will raise the total to more than 180 and increase the number of ships entering and leaving Kaohsiung to more than 70 daily.
Kaohsiung is an industrial city. With the establishment of a big steel mill, a huge shipyard and other heavy and petrochemical industries, transportation of raw materials and products will require large ships.
Engineers and workers of the Retser Engineering Agency set a new world record by emplacing four caissons in a single day at the Taichung harbor construction site.
Each of the caissons is 18 meters long, 16 meters wide and 8 meters high. Weight is 1,356 metric tons.
The previous record of three caissons was made in Japan.
The work schedule calls for emplacement of 38 caissons this year.
Taichung Harbor authorities are accepting applications from individuals and companies for investment in silos, warehouses, loading and un loading companies, container sheds, ship repair plants, tugboats and shuttle boats.
According to regulations the ownership of fixed installations built by investors will belong to the Taichung Harbor Bureau. Investors will sign a lease for their land. Leases can be renewed.
Taichung port will open to shipping in November of next year when first-phase construction is completed.
Taiwan will have no brownout or blackout for a long time to come thanks to the addition of a giant generating unit at the Talin plant of the Taiwan Power Co.
Economic Vice Minister Chang Kwang-shih told the Legislative Yuan that Taipower is still in the black despite high fuel costs.
However, he said, the company is unable to finance major power development projects out of earnings.
Chang estimated Taipower needs some NT$ 4,000 million for development. He said "maximum support" of the government is assured.
Major projects include three thermal power generating units of 500,000 kilowatts each, six nuclear power generating units with combined capacity of 6,140,000 kilowatts and a hydroelectric unit of 500,000 kilowatts.
At the present rate of economic growth, he said, Taiwan will have sufficient power for the next eight or nine years.
Vice Minister Chang said the government will continue to stockpile oil in anticipation of possible new disturbances in the Middle East.
Yang Chia-yu, Taipower board chairman, said power rates will be maintained at the present level despite the expected rise in oil prices.
Taipower has lighted 2,489 remote villages in the last 21 years.
One of the recent light-ups was at Liuchiu Village on a small island off southwest coast. The island of three square miles has 15,000 people. The transmission line stretches around the island.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States has agreed to provide an additional US$60 million loan to Taipower to finance purchase of equipment for its second nuclear plant.
L.K. Chen, president of company, said the bank previously had extended US$333 million. The amount fell short in view of soaring costs.
Increases in the price of uranium will not affect operation of the three plants. Taipower has already concluded long-term contracts with suppliers.
A 20-year uranium supply contract was signed for the first and second plants. The contract for the third plant was shortened to five years.
Inland and overseas postage rates have been in creased 20 per cent. This is the first large scale increase in the last 15 years.
New rates are NT$10 (about 26 US cents) for an airmail letter to America, Europe or Africa; NT$2 (a little more than 5 US cents) for an ordinary domestic letter.
In 1975, the postal service registered a deficit for the first time since 1950.
Postal rates in the Republic of China are lower than those in the United States, France, Britain, West Germany, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.
Minister of Communications Henry Kao said that the Directorate General of Telecommunications will invest NT$9,000 million (US$236,890, 000) to expand and improve telephone service in 1976.
The number of dial telephones will be in creased by 240,000 in the 1976 fiscal year, including 89,600 in the Greater Taipei area, 20,000 in the Greater Taichung area and 36,000 in the Greater Kaohsiung area.
An additional 1,800 public phones will be installed and service made available to remote villages.
These are goals for fiscal 1976:
- Urban telephones: 820,000 subscribers, an increase of 25 per cent.
- Domestic long-distance calls: 71,690,000, up 1.68 per cent.
- International cables: 21,360,000 words, up 10.11 per cent.
- International long-distance calls: 4,471,000, up 21.62 per cent.
- International telex service: 5,340,000 minutes, up 81.03 per cent.
By the end of 1981, there will be over 3 million telephones in Taiwan, or 17.5 sets per 100 persons.
A third receiving station for satellite telecommunications will be built. Legislators approved the revised banking law to streamline banking operations and improve credit control.
Major provisions include:
Article 5: Loans that mature in one year are called short-term credit, those of up to seven years are medium-term loans and those of over seven years are long-term loans.
Article 12: Loan guaranties will include real estate and movable property, commercial bills and assurances from public treasuries, banks, government credit agencies and corporate boards of directors.
Article 20: Banks are divided into commercial, savings and specialized banks, and trust and investment companies.
Article 38: Banks may extend medium- and long-term loans of up to 20 years for residential or commercial properties.
Article 39: Medium-term loans may be made available to individuals for purchase of durable consumer goods.
Article 41: Bank interest rates should be calculated on an annual basis. Maximum rates for deposits will be decided by the Central Bank of China. The Banking Association will propose rates for loans subject to approval by the Central Bank.
Article 79: Savings may not be withdrawn before maturity. Depositors may borrow on the certificates.
Rural economic assistance has been a big help to the whole economy, Economic Minister Y.S. Sun said.
The program launched in January of 1973 has created a rural economic boom in the midst of an overall slump.
Sun said the rural economy has provided a cushion for unemployment. Most workers laid off by factories were absorbed in the rural villages from which they had come.
Rural prosperity helped domestically oriented industries maintain their production levels.
The farm rehabilitation program cost the government NT$2,000 million (US$52,630,000) over a two-year period. Farmers received low-interest loans amounting to another NT$1,800 million (US$47,360,000).
Of the 318 projects launched under the program, 290 have been completed. Farmers reaped benefits estimated at more than NT$2,500 million (US$65,789,000).
Major features of the program included:
- Improvement of transportation and marketing.
- Investments in public construction, land development and utilities.
- Improvement of techniques, especially in rice cultivation.
- Establishment of 183 special crop zones in 22 categories, including those for cattle, hogs, silk, watermelons and green asparagus.
- Opening of small factories to provide sideline employment in the countryside.
- Research, development and modernization.
- Reconstruction on Kinmen and Matsu to relieve irrigation and drinking waters shortages.
The rice-fertilizer barter system was terminated. Farmers can buy as much fertilizer as they wish at prices below the world average.
Taxes and loan regulations were eased.