More than 770 Chinese overseas students, the largest number m a single year, have applied for admission into schools in Free China this fall, according to t he Overseas Affairs Commission.
Already some 5,000 Chinese overseas students have been studying in Free China.
According to official figures, the some 770 student applicants are coming from 13 areas and regions. Singapore and Malaya ranked first with 209 applicants.
Of the 770 overseas students, more than 400 have applied for admission to colleges for undergraduate studies while the rest intend to enter middle schools.
Meanwhile, statistics released by the Ministry of Education show an increasing number of Chinese college graduates returning from abroad. The Ministry disclosed that the number of Chinese students who returned to Taiwan was 61 in 1956 as compared with only six in 1950 and 35 in 1955. The figures show a steady increase and the Ministry predicts further increase of the number of students returning in the current year.
Cultural Relations Confab
A one-day conference on Sino-American cultural relations jointly sponsored by the China Institute, the China Club of Seattle and the Far Eastern and Russian Institute of the University of Washington was held ,on the University campus on May 18.
Ambassador Hollington Tong flew there and addressed the gathering on the subject "What Chinese and American Cultures Can Give to Each Other."
After hearing key speeches in the morning, the conference broke into three discussion groups in the afternoon dealing with the following subjects: (1) teaching of Chinese culture; (2) preservation of Chinese heritage; and (3) training of Chinese leadership.
The conference, presided over by Dr. Hellmut Willmut Wilhelm, Chinese history and literature professor at the University of Washington, was attended by more than 100 Chinese and American professors, scholars and students.
In his speech at the luncheon meeting, Ambassador Tong dwelt on the differences of the Chinese and American cultural backgrounds and said that although the Chinese people have much to learn from the United States, China has something to offer in return. Tong stressed the importance of Chinese cultural virtues such as the philosophy of the golden mean, the family system, filial piety for parents and respect for teachers and the aged, which have exerted a compelling influence in shaping the conduct of the young people in China and which might serve as one of the remedies for the serious juvenile delinquency situation in the United States. The State of Washington sponsored a "China Night" to salute Free China at a brief ceremony held at the International Trade Fair that evening.
Tacoma, one of the largest cities of the State of Washington, was chosen to represent the State to pay a tribute to the Chinese people. The mayor of the city presented a key of the City of Tacoma to Ambassador Tong and expressed the hope that that key might unlock the door to Freedom so that the Chinese people now under the Communist rule would regain their freedom in the near future.
Accepting the key with thanks, Tong expressed the belief that the move undoubtedly symbolized an early liberation of the Chinese people on the mainland. "In fact", Tong said, "the Chinese people may have lost the treasure but still hold the key to the treasure".
Another Conference
The third annual round-table conference on Sino-American cultural relations, sponsored by the University of Maryland and the China Institute of New York, was held at Park College in Maryland on May 31 with about 100 American and Chinese educators and professional leaders in attendance.
This year's conference centered its attention and discussions on the general theme concerning new approaches to the cultural relations between the United States and China. Deliberations were divided into three broad problems: first, how to revitalize the teaching of Chinese culture in American schools; secondly, methods and measures for propagating and preserving Chinese cultural heritage, and thirdly, problems of training Chinese leadership in relation to a re-examination of the long-range policy of sending Chinese students abroad for training.
The round-table conference was a one-day affair lasting from 9:30 o'clock in the morning to 9:30 o'clock in the evening. The conference was presided over by Dr. A. E. Zucker, Chairman of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Maryland, and a welcoming speech was delivered by University President Dr. Wilson Elkins, who stressed the necessity for a deeper understanding between the Chinese and American peoples as a result of the recent un fortunate Taipei incident.
Overstaying Chinese In PI
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Chen Chih-mai said on June 5 that he was confident that a solution would be found soon to the problem posed by some 2,000 overstaying Chinese visitors in the Philippines.
"I am confident the problem would be resolved to the satisfaction of both the Philippines and China by negotiations between the representatives of the two governments," Chen said.
Chen pledged that his government would facilitate the departure of any Chinese who on his own volition elected to leave the Philippines for Taiwan or any other destination.
Prior to the Chinese Ambassador's declaration, a Philippine attorney had urged the Philippine government to classify some 2,000 Chinese who overstayed their visas as "political refugees."
Oscar Uy, counsellor of the Federation of Chinese Chambers of Commerce, said the transients would have the right to remain in the Philippines until the liberation of the China mainland from Communist rule.
Appearing on the radio program "Meet the Press," Uy also appealed to the Filipino authorities to "view with compassion and understanding rather than hatred, suspicion and mistrust" the Chinese problem.
Vietnam's Citizenship Issue
Against the arbitrary decision of Vietnam to impose citizenship on all local-born Chinese, the Chinese government has repeatedly protested. The Chinese government has demanded and obtained the right to repatriate to Free China those who refuse to become Vietnamese citizens.
The Vietnamese ordinance announced on August 21, 1956 says: "An infant born of Chinese parents in Vietnam is Vietnamese. Children born in Vietnam of Chinese parents previous to the promulgation of this ordinance are equally of Vietnamese nationality with the exclusion of criminals and those arrested for expulsion."
Of course, the large Chinese community in Vietnam were stunned. Wherever he goes, a Chinese considers himself Chinese to the end. Living all their lives in Vietnam, the Chinese there have wanted to hang on to their identity as Chinese.
The Chinese migrated to Indo-China during the French occupation under strict control. They paid a heavy poll tax, but they could leave the country whenever they wished. They retained their Chinese nationality.
The first Sino-French agreement prescribing the position of Chinese in Vietnam was the Treaty of Tientsin of 1886. It granted the Chinese free entry and the right to open shops and engage in commercial activities throughout the country.
The Treaty of Tientsin was followed by several similar agreements giving more and more privileges to the Chinese right down to the Chungking Agreement of 1946. This agreement provided that the Chinese in Vietnam could continue with the rights, privileges, exemptions which they had traditionally possessed in Indochina, notably exits and entries, tax regulations, acquisition and possession of property, keeping of commercial accounts. It also stipulated that farming, fishing, maritime and coastal navigation were open to them.
These treaties were abrogated when the Vietnamese took over in 1954.
Another move of the Vietnamese government at the expense of the Chinese was the decree banning 11 sorts of business for local born Chinese. Among the victims are butchers; small grocers, pawn shop owners, textile merchants, rice-mill owners and those engaged in transportation. Seven of the occupations are no longer in Chinese hands and the rest will go in four months. About 6,000 shops have closed and 2,000 employees have been dismissed, a Vietnamese newspaper reported.
The Chinese Government has offered to render all possible assistance to Chinese nationals born in Vietnam who may choose to return to Taiwan. It is now also negotiating with the Saigon administration to seek an agreement on the transfer of their properties.
Sources here said that unless the returnees from Vietnam could bring back their properties, the vast number of home-comers would greatly add to the outlay of this country. At present, diplomatic negotiation to settle the property transfer problem was going on with Saigon, according to the same sources.
For those Vietnam-born Chinese who will not return to Taiwan, the Chinese Government is still standing firm on its demand for free choice of nationality. They should be permitted to decide for themselves their own citizenship, the Chinese Government has repeatedly declared.
If they should choose to keep their Chinese citizenship, they should be permitted to continue residing in Vietnam as aliens, and enjoy all rights to which other foreigners in Vietnam are entitled, the sources said.
As for the repatriation and resettlements programs, the trip from Saigon to Taiwan will be free of charge. Vietnam-born school age youths will be given priority for their passage to Taiwan. These younger people are scheduled to arrive here before the beginning of the next school year.
All Chinese youths of conscription age returning from Vietnam will be exempted from military service within one year after their arrival in Taiwan. This will be in accordance with ordinary government rules on conscription for overseas Chinese, and is not a special privilege for the returnees from Vietnam, the reliable sources recently said.
Word came from Saigon that the Vietnamese authorities in an agreement with the Chinese Legation in Saigon had promised to facilitate the repatriation of the Chinese to Taiwan and to treat them as aliens before their departure. This agreement serves to show that the Vietnamese government has abandoned its previous stand that; the issue should be regarded as a "purely internal problem" and recognized the principle of "free choice" to the degree that not all local-born Chinese should be naturalized. The softening of the Vietnamese attitude seems a turn for the better.
It goes without saying that the local-born Chinese who have settled down in Vietnam for generations would not be willing to return to their home country unless it is absolutely necessary. The Chinese Government is ready to help bring them to Taiwan simply because of the need to respect their free wishes of retaining their Chinese nationality. Should the Vietnamese government allow them to stay there as aliens, they do not have to come to Taiwan.