Taiwan Today

I have always found that I am partial to facts and rather impartial to figures, al­though I am fully aware of their indispen­sable and abiding importance in any process to reach great and momentous as well as picayune and trivial truths, be they figures in statistics, accounting, social, political, or pure and applied sciences.

Figures, and I mean it only in the numeral sense, can no doubt lead to informa­tive and revealing analyses, nevertheless I have always found them jejune in their statistical recital. But today I have been specifically asked to do just this—to give you a clutch of figures showing the trans­ formation from a dislocated economic de­pendency to an integrated self-sufficiency. Ladies and Gentlemen, you know whereof I speak. I speak of the province of Taiwan of the Republic of China.

Now I shall start off by giving you some basic figures. The area of this island pro­vince consists of some 13,808 square miles, roughly the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined or somewhat smaller than the Netherlands. But unlike the Netherlands, three-fourths of the island is mountainous or hilly and mostly afforested with one-fourth of the land arable; hence intensive agronomic cultivation produces cornucopia for the island economy. The census of December, 1965, shows a population of 12,600,000, which is larger than the population of Au­stralia and some 82 other United Nations members. And more than 50 per cent of the population is under the 19-year-old age group. Therefore one can well see that the population is not old and aging but, on the contrary, young and vigorous. A good indication of the general health of the people can be gauged by the average life span of 65.3 years for men and 69.5 years for women.

Now for some economic indicators of Ilha Formosa— Island Beautiful, as the Portuguese mariners named it. The gross national product for Taiwan for 1964 a­ mounted to 2.58 billion dollars, an increase of 13.2 per cent over 1963. The national income in 1964 was 2.1 billion, and the average per capita income came to New Tai­ wan dollars 6.727, equivalent to U.S. dollars 168, an increase of 11.2 per cent over 1963. The commodity price index has remained stable, the 1965 index being 2.29 per cent lower than in 1963, while the unemployment rate of 6.55 per cent in October, 1963, dropped to 3.79 per cent in July, 1965.

Principal Crops

Being subtropical, the principal agricultural crops are rice, fea, sugar cane, citrus fruits, pineapple, and bananas. The rate of agricultural growth in 1965 was 6 per cent as compared to a population increase of only 3.04 per cent.

Nineteen fifty-two was the year when accurate statistics first became available. It marked the beginning of the first four-year plan in agricultural development and the beginning of a continuous higher standard of living. To obtain an idea of the produc­tion growth rate, assuming that the base year production index of 1952 was 100, then the agricultural production of 1965 was in­creased to 209 per cent. In rice production 1964 harvested 2,340,000 metric tons, a new record high. Since 1950 altogether 17 million tons of rice have been exported, acquiring some $285.8 million in foreign ex­change. The increased production of rice is not solely due to more modern methods of cultivation, but also due to the land-to-the-tiller program whereby 85 per cent of the farmers now own the land they till, thus augmenting the per acre yield by 50 per cent.

In contrast, let me give you some facts on China mainland agriculture as re­ ported by Mr. Riozo Kurai of the Asahi Shimbun, which has leftist leanings but is the most prestigious paper in Japan with a second highest daily circula­tion of over 3 million copies. Upon his return to Japan from mainland China last November, Mr. Kurai reported that every family there, large or small, cultivates on the average for the commune 40 ares (an are is 119.6 square yards), and that in the Peiping area every family is allowed an additional two ares for its private use, whilst in the Shanghai area only one are is permitted for private subsidiary food gardening. In the Peiping area the privately used two ares each year produce 100 Jen Ming Pi (Chinese Communist money) approximating the fic­titious rate of U.S. dollars 41.6 plus, and in the Shanghai area the one are for private use because of greater fertility of the land produces 80 Jen Ming Pi which is equivalent to the fictitious rate of U.S. dollars 33.3 plus. The interesting and noteworthy point is that the privately used land which in size is only one-20th or one-40th of the communal land produces as much as one-quarter or one-fifth of the 40 ares. In other words, unlike the farmers in Taiwan the mainland­ers are reduced to serfdom—the status of peasan's before the Emancipation Edict of 1861 in Russia. This is putting back the clock and therefore the mainland people do not exert their best effort except in tilling the tiny plot of land allotted to their own use.

The main industries on the island are power, coal, canning, wheat milling, textiles, paper, alkalis, fertilizer, oil refining, plywood and plastics, while the new prospective industries are petrochemicals, electronics, and other labor-intensive industries. Again tak­ing 1952 as the base year with the produc­tion index at 100 per cent, the industrial production index for 1965 is 485.7 per cent. In line with the government policy of encouraging private enterprise, in industrial production private enterprise in 1965 contributed 62.1 per cent of the total output whereas in 1952 it contributed only 42.7 per cent.

Stable Currency

As we all know, the barometer of a country's economy is the stability of its foreign exchange. The exchange rate between the New Taiwan currency and the U.S. dollar bas remained mostly steady at the ratio of 40 Taiwan dollars to one U.S. dollar for the last 10 years.

In foreign trade the total volume in 1965 topped one billion U.S. dollars for the first time in the island province history, or tripled that of the 1955 figure of 323 mil­ lion U.S. dollars. The total export for 1965 amounted to 480 million U.S. dollars as compared to 119 million in 1952. Total im­ports for 1965 amounted to 550 million U.S. dollars as compared to 200 million in 1952.

During the initial five years 1951-55 all U.S. aid was an outright grant. Beginning in 1959 development loans and grants were made at low interest rates. U.S. economic aid appropriations were terminated in mid­ 1965 and local currency equivalent to 63.6 million U.S. dollars generated by this aid were paid into a newly established fund ad­ministered by the Chinese Government. Taiwan is the place where United States eco­nomic aid has accomplished such success that it is no longer needed and I should add we are indeed grateful for the generosity and magnanimity of spirit of the American peo­ple.

Within a period of 16 years Taiwan has been changed from an economic dependence subordinated to the Japanese economy to self-sustentation thanks to a combination of the following factors: (1) Political and social stability, (2) the dedication of talent and the industry of the people, (3) the pro­vision of incentives to farmers and to private industry, (4) the application of sound eco­nomic policies and the implementation of timely measures such as the controlling of inflation with emphasis on building of a strong and sturdy infrastructure, (5) a judi­cious use of U.S. aid.

Now a word about education. The educational policy of the Government of the Republic of China as set forth in Articles 158 through 167 of Chapter XIII of the Constitution places special emphasis on national morality, Chinese cultural tradition, scientific knowledge and the ability to work and contribute 10 the community. As a con­sequence less than 10 per cent of the popu­lation is illiterate. By continuing to pursue the intensive campaign of the Government to teach reading and writing, illiteracy should be eliminated by 1974. Beginning with kindergartens, and there are some 600 of them with more being formed when the need arises, taking in children aged 3 to 6, educa­tion on every level is making great strides, and gaining impetus. A six-year course of elementary schooling is compulsory when a child reaches the age of 6. Both tuition and textbooks are free. Plans are now being made to extend free education through the ninth grade. In the 1964-65 school year, the attendance rate of children of school age reached 96.83 per cent, the second highest in Asia, The number of elementary schools totals 2,027 in which 2,189,127 pupils are taught by 51,535 teachers. There are also 521 high schools, normal schools and voca­tional schools with an enrollment of 593,­109 students. The seven normal schools provide free training to the 3,718 prospec­tive teachers whilst the vocational schools provide courses ranging from home eco­nomics and nursing to agronomy and marine engineering.

Overseas Students

In higher education, Taiwan has 11 universities and 34 independent colleges. In addition there are 14 military academies with a total enrollment of 64,010 undergraduates. Forty-six departments offer graduate work leading to the Master's degree, whilst the National Chengchi University and Provincial Normal University give doctor­ates in both political science and literature. Some 7,389 overseas Chinese students are now studying in Taiwan as against 103 overseas students in 1951. Between 1951-56 many Chinese youths in Southeast Asia were lured to the mainland by Communist agents only to find disappointment and frustration with many of them ending up in slave-labor camps.

In the last 10 years, more than 8,000 youths of Chinese origin from some 40 coun­tries after completing their education in Tai­wan have returned to their host countries. At present there are also 391 foreign students studying in Taiwan composed of Americans, Australians, Britons, Belgians, Canadians, French, Italians, Norwegians, Turks, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Ryukuans, Thais. Africans, and Vietnamese.

Following the successful effort in rais­ing the living standard of our people, which is now the second highest in the Far East, the Government of the Republic of China has been more than willing to impart the techniques and share the boon of its agricultural prosperity. At the request of the nascent new nations in Africa farming demon­stration teams have been sent by the Gov­ernment to Liberia, Libya, the Ivory Coast, Gabon, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Upper Volta, Togo, Madagascar, Malawi, and Congo Leopoldville; a veterinarian team has been sent to Ethiopia, a fishing demonstration team to Cameroon, and a handicraft team and ba­nana-wine distillation experts to Rwanda. And further, over 100 medical doctors, nurses, mechanical engineers, meteorologi­cal specialists, port and highway technicians are employed by the Libyan Government, while two of its military hospitals have been put under the charge of Chinese doctors and nurses.

A demonstration team usually consists of a team leader, a deputy and 12 to 16 members. In the case of the Ivory Coast the members of the team however are increased from 18 to 160, and additional agricultural technicians to supplement those already there will be sent to Sierra Leone, Gabon, and Niger. Technical cooperation is also extended to a number of friendly countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Taiwan's political stability is especially significant in Southeast Asia, where there has been so much turmoil and unrest. Its economic success is meaningful not only be­cause its growth came about in spite of the island's limited natural resources but also because it is in such marked contrast to the economic turmoil of the Red-enslaved mainland. Taiwan stands out as a constant reminder in Southeast Asia of planned free enterprise. It stands out as a shining example of American aid put to good use. It stands out in an ominous sea of darkness and peril as a beacon of bright comforting light to encourage and sustain all Asians who desire freedom. It stands out to con­fute those who say that Asia can only live with a semblance of order, under imperialist colonialism or Chinese Communism. And finally Taiwan stands out as living proof in refutation of the great lie—Chinese Communism.

Continuing Threat

Taiwan is also important not only as a factual but as a psychological reality in the face of the cogent Soviet accusation that the Chinese Communists are guilty of "splitism", "Trotskyism", "dogmatism", and "chauvinism". There is no denying that the Chi­nese Reds sought leadership and failed on the three continents of Asia, Africa, and South America as shown in their major setbacks in Indonesia, Algeria, Burundi, Central African Republic, Dahomey, Ghana, Kenya, Tunisia, and Cuba, all in a period of some 15 months. Their "adventurism" cer­tainly fits to a T the Soviet indictment of their using "ultra-revolutionary phrase-mon­gering and petty revolutionary activities to implement a chauvinistic hegemonic course". However, it should be well to bear in mind three convenient quicksand assumptions which, I venture to say, will give unending trouble to the free world, particularly the United States, as well as Soviet Russia.

One, the assumption that Peiping's hopes of world power are fading fast and that they will continue to decline until ex­tinguished. This mistaken assumption would have slighted, nay, neglected the essence of Mao Tse-tung's "scientific prediction of victory". The Chinese Communist Party regards the present reverses on the three continents not only as mere temporary setbacks, but blessings in disguise and as good subjective and objective lessons for the cadre to heighten its sense of qui-vive as evidenced by the fact that Mao and the Chinese Com­munist leaders stated that they wished to thank the American troops in Vietnam in giving them experience and practice which they needed for their tasks ahead.

Two, the assumption that with the "reverses and retreats" the Chinese Communists will not redouble their efforts to retrieve lost ground. To be sure, their techniques will henceforth be more sub rosa and more be­guilingly divided in holding to the strict separation of the overt organization from the covert apparat, but their goal will remain unaltered. They are counting on the score that in the last resort they have everything to win and very little to lose by comparison.

Three, the assumption that as the af­termath of the convocation of March 29 in Moscow, Russia is now far ahead as the world's No. 1 Red and will remain so. This is a misguided premise which the free world as well as Russia can ill afford to contem­plate with certainty or complacency. For in all too many ways the Red China regime is only too well equipped to upset the Kremlin's established order in the latter's front and back yards, as it is always ir­responsibly easier to stir up discontent, jealousies, and antagonisms than it is to beget and maintain contentment, cooperation, and harmony. And from a long-term point of view the Red Chinese will have always a tremendous base of operation to aggress from should they be permitted to continue unchecked as in the past years.

More Than One Egg

An Associated Press report of March 15 from Paris states that General Andre Beaufre, former assistant chief of staff at NATO's European Military Headquarters and former French member of NATO's permanent military committee in Washing­ton, writing in the independent newspaper Figaro said that Communist China…should be able to explode a thermo-nuclear weapon sometime in the next three or four years." He was not certain when the Chinese Com­munists would be able to miniaturize the hydrogen bombs sufficiently for ballistic missiles but he added that the Red Chinese have about 10 nuclear devices and are capable of producing 10 a year for the next several years, and that Peiping's 100 factories, laboratories, and test centers for nuclear weapons are dispersed all over the mainland. The clincher to his report because of its momentous import is sobering. Here I solemnly quote him verbatim: "Those who imagine that the United States could crush Red China's nuclear industry in the egg have not taken into account this capital factor."

The explicit implication of the above quote is clear. The Red Chinese with urgency are conditioning and preparing themselves for a confrontation with Russia and the United States. For those who doubt their worldwide ambitions, let us just pause to think of Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan. Looking back, would any sane per­son believe that the Nazis and Japanese militarists would have taken on the combined might of England and the United States? It seemed incredible yet they did just that. Af­ter the confrontation, the Red Chinese aim to subjugate what will be left of peoples and nations and cast them in their own image. There is no denying their wish and will to crush Russia's modern-day "relapsed heresy" which they accuse as succumbing to the Lorelei song of capitalism under her present Kremlin leaders. It is also their wish and will to extinguish the spirit of free enterprise which they regard as a noisome contagion coming from the fount—the United States. It is only too clear that appeasement and accommodation will not deflect them from their avowed destiny; neither will reason nor restraint abate their consuming hate for the United States and mollify their acrimo­nious contempt for Soviet Russia. Facing us is this problem: Are we to wait until the Red Chinese leadership is ready to embark on its world conquest and hope to slug it out blow by thermo-nuclear blow at such time; or should we eliminate the linchpins of its attack mechanism before it wounds us mortally?

Fighting for our survival I should think that the preservation of freedom, of the dignity of man and of our way of life should be more constructively appropriate topics for discussion for "teach-ins", "sit-ins", and Vietniks rather than discussions on how to surrender human dignity and give away our freedom without really trying. Covering up the maneuvers with finesse and gymnastic double talk wrapped in a veneer of intellectual casuistry will not and cannot deceive the discerning and the sane.