On August 23 Vietnam ordered all Vietnam-born Chinese to be naturalized as Vietnamese citizens and set a six-month time-limit for them to register for their new citizenship. The deadline is February 22, 1957.
The Chinese in Vietnam were reported to resent the idea of a new nationality being forced on them. Reports from Vietnam indicated that only very few native-born Chinese in Vietnam had so far applied for Vietnamese citizenship. The Saigon government has been asked to reconsider its arbitrary decision on the nationality issue affecting hundreds of thousands of Chinese in Vietnam.
The attitude of the Chinese Government is said to be one in favor of dual nationality for these Chinese. The Government would reportedly raise no objection if any Chinese in Vietnam would voluntarily choose Vietnamese citizenship on the ground that such a step would better protect their rights. It would be in the interest of not only themselves but of the anti-Communist cause as well that these people of Chinese ancestry should cooperate fully with the local government in the country of their domicile.
President Chiang Kai-shek, in his Overseas Chinese Day message, urged all overseas countrymen to seek closer unity among themselves and win sympathy and support from their respective local governments.
Meanwhile, Ton That Hoi, newly appointed Vietnamese minister to China, recently told the press in Saigon that he anticipated closer cooperation between China and Vietnam in foreign affairs. When asked to comment on the Vietnamese naturalization order affecting the Chinese in that country, Minister Ton said that Sino-Vietnamese relations had always been cordial and that both countries would need a closer link in the common anti-Communist cause, a Central News Agency report from Saigon said.
Hu Shih Predicts Revolt
Dr. Hu Shih, who is lecturing at the University of California, told a Chinese-American audience in San Francisco that the Chinese people on the mainland, suffering tremendously under the Peiping regime, would openly revolt against their Communist rulers when the time came.
Dr. Hu said this while he was speaking before the World Affairs Council of Northern California on the night of November 16. He made the above-mentioned statement when he answered a question from the audience after the speech.
In his speech on the subject "The World Importance of a Free China," Dr. Hu expressed gratification over the fact that the strategic and political significance of the existence of a Free China has been gradually realized by the United States and the American people, as has been demonstrated by actions taken by the Administration and Congress toward the Republic of China during the past several years.
He referred to the following major actions taken by the United States: continued recognition of the Republic of China; refusal to recognize Peiping and opposition to its admission to the United Nations; continued military and economic assistance to Taiwan; signing of the mutual defense treaty with the Republic of China; and Congressional resolutions authorizing President Eisenhower to employ American armed forces in defense of Taiwan and related positions and territories. These actions, Dr. Hu said, have indicated that the United States now has a firm, clear-cut China policy based on the clear recognition of the importance of Free China.
As for the China mainland, Dr. Hu said, the free world "could not afford to let the China mainland remain long under Communist control." If the mainland had remained in Chinese Nationalist hands, the Korean war would never have happened, he declared.
Relaxing Entry-Exit Rules
It was expected that the final decision on the simplicification of entry and exit rules in Taiwan would be reached before the end of this year. The Government would attract tourists with a preferential foreign exchange rate which so far had only been made available to personnel with diplomatic status.
The drive to simplify and standardize all entry and exit procedures has the blessing of the highest authorities in the Government. The security authorities and related Government agencies have been instructed to work out a joint plan to give visitors to this island more convenience in their application for passports, visas, and entry and exit permits.
The new plan is reportedly based on a very simple procedure, under which a Chinese national is free to enter and leave the country if he has with him a passport issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The screening and checking for security purposes are to be done before the pass port is issued. There will be no more red tape once the passport is issued.
The new regulations governing this simple procedure are expected to come into force on New Year's Day.
In the meantime, the Government is undertaking the task of building a chain of modern hotels on the island. Right now four new hotels are being constructed in Taiwan to give first-class comfort to travellers from all over the world. This multi-million dollar investment is mostly underwritten by the Government as there are now few private sources to finance big hotels on the island. However, civic bodies and private investors both at home and abroad have been urged to cooperate with the Government in an effort to boost tourism.
The new hotels under construction are located in the cities of Taichung, Changhua and Kaohsiung. In Changhua the hotel will be built near Pakuashan, one of the eight scenic spots of the island. The Pakuashan resort is noted for its sulphur springs and the grandeur of its mountains. So far it has been little explored by the tourist world.
Through official encouragement, more foreign and overseas Chinese groups are visiting Taiwan every year. It was estimated that no fewer than 50,000 travellers visited or stopped over in Taiwan in the course of last year. The number is expected to grow substantially in 1957 as a trade fair is scheduled to be opened in Taipei on October 10.
The military authorities on the island are cooperating closely with the administration in planning to give sightseers more facilities among which are the lifting of a ban on photographing and sketching on the bridges and providing for easier access to the mountainous areas hitherto closed to visitors.
Bangkok Fair
The first group of a 133-member entertainment troupe took off on December 1 for Bangkok to join the Chinese delegation to the International Fair opening on December 7. The group comprised a Chinese operatic troupe, a band, a vocalist, dancers, and movie stars including Misses Li Mei and Mu Hung. A second group left for Bangkok on December 3.
Chinese opera and other musical and dancing programs were to be staged in Bangkok for a period of about three weeks. A new Taiwan-made motion picture entitled "Terminal Bound" and newsreels about conditions and events in Taiwan were to be shown for the duration of the fair. Besides, an exhibition of 1,200 photos showing the various aspects of Chinese life had already begun in Bangkok last November and it would also be held in other major cities in Thailand.
In addition to the entertainment troupe, Free China also sent a large delegation to the Bangkok Fair including representatives of industry and trade and other walks of life. The Sheum Circus which recently performed in Taiwan also went to Bangkok.
The Chinese items for display at the fair which weigh 3,500 tons in all, fall under two major classes: industrial and agricultural products, and historical and cultural objects. It was expected that the Chinese articles would win a unique place at the International Fair in which many other nations in the free world were also to participate.
Singapore-Malaya Press Group
A 14-member visiting press group from Singapore and Malaya left Taipei for Hongkong on November 25, taking home with them a wealth of factual information about Free China's progress which they had learned at first hand during their two-week visit here.
Prior to their departure, members of the group expressed great astonishment at finding Taiwan so modernized and industrialized and the common people on the island so happy and well fed.
The group was most impressed by the land reform in Free China. Mr. Lee Yen-ping, a leading member of the group, who visited England last year, declared: "Farmers in Taiwan are enjoying a more stable and pleas ant life than even the British farmers." He praised the land-to-the-tiller program here as a just, fair, rational and almost perfect system which benefited both the farmers and the landowners. This was the most effective weapon to crush the ruthless "agrarian reform" advocated by the Communists, he added.
Indian newsman Alex Fernandez of the Kuala Lumpur English daily, the Malay Mail, observed that Malaya had a lot to learn from Taiwan. He had no doubt about the ultimate realization of Free China's pledge of recovering the lost mainland. He said that he had never before witnessed such military strength as he did in Free China.
Ariff Baharuddin, reporter for the Malaya-language Utusan Melayu Press, refuted a malicious report circulated among certain people by saying: "Who said Free China is a police state?" He stressed that the atmosphere of freedom was permeating everywhere on this island. The Moslem newsman also expressed gratification to learn that ample religious freedom was being enjoyed in this country.
Meanwhile, the visiting newspapermen suggested that Free China step up its information work abroad, especially in Singapore and Malaya, where the overseas Chinese were described by Chen Cheng-hsia, editor-in-chief of the Nanyang Shang Pao (Commercial Press) as "woefully ignorant of the conditions in Taiwan." Chen suggested that a big-scale exhibit of the industrial products of Taiwan be held in Singapore and Malaya as one of the ways to keep the Chinese there informed of the achievements in their fatherland.
Predicting that after gaining its independence next year, Malaya would emerge as a harmonious Malay-Chinese society of great promise, the press group extended an invitation to newspapermen in Free China for a visit to Singapore and Malaya to promote understanding and cultural interflow between the two countries.