Lao Tsu, a great philosopher before Confucious, said, "There is no greater calamity than to under-estimate the strength of your enemy." However, in view of the present world situation in which the two opposed forces of freedom and servitude are locked in a life-or death struggle, we may say that it is equally dangerous to under-estimate the strength of your friend.
After the fall of the Chinese mainland into the hands of the Communists in December 1949, the island of Taiwan, which had become the foothold of the National Government, was in a precarious position. It was generally expected that the Communists would be able to invade this island and subjugate it. Some of the democratic nations, either through fear or cowardice, even openly suggested that Taiwan should be handed over to t he Communists as a practical gesture of appeasement. Briefly speaking Taiwan was literally written off. Not until the outbreak of the hostilities in Korea, which was precipitated by the North Korean authorities and later aggravated by the Chinese Communists, did leaders of free nations gradually come to realize the importance of Taiwan in the common struggle against red imperialism. Nevertheless, such a realization is but superficial unless we have a true knowledge of the real situation as found in Taiwan in comparison with the mainland.
From the military point of view we cannot deny the fact that in the vast area extending from the Near East through Southeast Asia, apart from Turkey, Taiwan is the only bastion from which to combat Communism in strength. Judging from its numerical strength alone, Taiwan has more than 600,000 troops that have been undergoing constant and rigid training. Their morale is high, for they are fully aware of the cause for which they must fight. As a matter of fact, in the event or a Communist invasion they would have to fight with their backs to the wall. In other words, this island is their last ditch. There can be no retreat, and retreat means total destruction. To quote Lao Tsu again, "When opposing troops meet in battle, victory belongs to the aggrieved side." We may say that the Nationalist troops in Taiwan must dare or die und in the event of war they would have to fight to the bitter end.
Though we are but laymen in military strategy, we should not fail to realize the importance of Taiwan as a military base in the Western Pacific. A mere glance at the map would suffice to behold a chain of islands which would form a formidable line of defence against the onrush of the red tide. From the Japanese islands southwards, we find Ryukyu, Taiwan, the Pescadores, the Philippine islands, Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. World-wide strategy requires that this chain of islands must be adequately fortified and coordinately linked together by powerful sea and air forces: None of these islands, especially this Island of Taiwan, should be allow to slip from our hands. During World War II, Taiwan was used by the Japanese as a spring-board from which they launched amphibious attacks on the Philippines. It can therefore, be said that if Taiwan were lost, the very existence of the Philippines would be greatly endangered and all islands in the South Seas would be within the grasp of the enemy.
As far as China and her people are concerned, the Communist military conquest of the celestial land of the Far East can never be considered a fait accompli while Taiwan still remains intact. In the eyes of the Communists Taiwan with its 600,000 well trained and well equipped modernized troops is a sharp dagger pointing at their heart. They have to be always in vigilance lest the Nationalist should stage an attack on the mainland. For this reason they must keep considerable forces on strategic points along the coast, and cannot possibly embark upon their ambitious campaign of driving to wards Indo-China and elsewhere. Their military intervention in Korea though making initial gains at the beginning has cost them enormously, both in material resources and manpower. Nevertheless, they cannot afford to pour all they have into the Korean War for fear of attack by the Nationalists. Such being the case, we may say that though the National forces have not actively participated in the punitive military measures against the aggressor in Korea, they have served a very useful military purpose by pinning down a large portion of the enemy forces on the mainland, thus making the Chinese Communist intervention in the Korea War much less dangerous than it would have been.
To sum up, the military importance of Taiwan in the world-wide strategy can be viewed negatively. Let those who have abandoned themselves to appeasement and who have suggested writing off Taiwan imagine just for one moment the consequences, had this island not been in the hands of a friend. What would have been the situation in Korea and Southeast Asia, and what would have been the prospect of those island countries in the South Seas? We may have reason to predict that Ho Chi-minh might have been another Mao Tse-tung of Indo-China, the Philippines might have become a warm bed for Communists, and India might have had to yield to the demands of those agents sent by the Kremlin. We may also say with certainty that had this been the case, all those who had been advocating peaceful negotiation with the Chinese Communists would have to face a situation which they themselves would find most difficult to handle.
From the political point of view, Taiwan is the very place to which the 460,000,100 Chinese on the mainland can look for their last hope of emancipation. After one and a half years of Communist rule, the Chinese people, many of whom might have naively expected a turn of events which would bring forth good government and economic reform have experienced the worst tyranny in Chinese history. The so-called "People's democracy", in reality a totalitarian state of the Soviet pattern, is a government of the people but by the party and for the party, at the apex of which, reign Mao and his henchmen. Democratic rights, which the Chinese people were gradually learning to enjoy under the National Government have been denied to those on the mainland. There is absolutely no freedom whatsoever on the part of the people. Freedom of religion, freedom, of speech, freedom of movement and freedom to seek for work are practically unknown. Even freedom of silence, as Dr. Hu Shih rightly pointed out, is tramped, for intellectuals under Mao's regime must say and write what are entirely repulsive to them. In a word, the iron Curtain which has been lowered on the Soviet Union for over 30 odd years has been extended to the Chinese mainland and brought the great mass of the Chinese to a hopeless state of servitude. Inside this iron curtain the very existence of the people is seriously threatened. The, rich have been reduced to poverty and the poor driven to destitution. The land owners have been deprived of their possessions and the peasants have been made to contribute such a large portion of what they produce to Mao's regime that they can hardly keep body and soul together. Business men have to pay such exorbitant taxes that they are forced to give up their shops, bringing almost all kinds of trade to a standstill. Shanghai, foe instance, was formerly the New York of the Far East but it is a dead metropolice now, for private enterprises are subject to rigid regulations and control, so much so that it would be a blessing to the industrialists to have their plants and factories closed down.
It is a fundamental policy of the Communists to force the people to live on the margin of starvation in order that they may be used as tools and treated as herds. Such a policy would naturally cause resentment and dissention among the ruled, but resentment has been ruthlessly suppressed and dissidents are being mercilessly liquidated. Recent information has it that Mao and his henchmen have begun their purge of "disloyal" and "unfaithful", elements thus bringing death through January of this year to 210,000 persons in three southern provinces alone. Previously, more than one million people had been executed by the Reds through out China. It is reliably reported that the Kremlin had set a goal of 25,000,000 executions for Red China in order to crush the opposition before the outbreak of another world war.
The one-party rule of the Communists will cause still further destruction of the Chinese race. In fact, such destruction knows no end. Mao and his politbureau have adopted the so-called lean-to-one-side diplomacy which is entirely under the thumb of Stalin. Russian, whether it be white or red, has been China's traditional enemy over a century; this fact is known to all Chinese who have even a slight knowledge of diplomatic history. However, contrary to the wish of the Chinese, Mao has thrown China's lot in with the Russians. On the other hand, the United States which has been most friendly and cordial to the Chinese ever since it had any relations with China and her people has by Mao been made national enemy number one. The military intervention in Korea is the result of this servile diplomacy which will unavoidably bring China and her people to the brink of irreparable disaster. In view of these facts the great mass of the Chinese must realize that they have been pitifully betrayed by their new rulers. For emancipation and salvation they are looking forward most anxiously to the time when National troops will return to the mainland and rid them of the Communist yoke.
The National Government in Free China has been endeavoring to live up to this hope cherished by those on the mainland. Although the return to the mainland is still in the state of uncertainty due to military secrecy, measures and projects concerning the social, economic, political and reconstruction matters have been mapped out, in order that once the invasion begins such measures and projects may be geared to military operations. As far as Taiwan is concerned the Government has made improvements in every direction. The project of popular self-government, for instance, has been put into practice in full swing. Mayors, magistrates and members of city councils and district councils have been elected by secret ballot according to the established principles of democratic countries. At the present stage, though we cannot claim that the local self-government as practiced in Taiwan has yet reached perfection, we may rightly say that there is a definite tendency towards democracy.
Though the term democracy has invited various divergent interpretations, the generally accepted definition is that of a form of government in which qualified citizens are entitled, in accordance with law, to some inalienable rights, such as the liberty of person, freedom of speech, of assembly, of association, of domicile, etc., and also the right to participate in the process of government. People in Free Chine are lucky to enjoy, to a large extent, such freedoms as would make their brethren on the mainland envious. Indeed, freedom can be compared to water and air. When such natural elements are bounteously supplied, their value is hardly noticeable. Once deprived of freedom people suddenly realize that, just like lacking water and air, they lose the very essence of life.
From the cultural point of view the importance of Taiwan cannot be exaggerated. At present Mao and his henchmen are undertaking the work or rewriting Chinese history, throwing overboard all the old virtues endeared to the Chinese, poisoning the youth with Communist doctrines, dislocating the family system and breaking the whole set-up of the Chinese social and economic life. Before long, it is sad to say. China and her people will be entirely disfigured beyond recognition. Fortunately, we have here in Taiwan a large number of intellectuals whose faith in Chinese culture has made this Island the beacon not only for the people of Free China but also for those on the mainland. They will revaluate and uphold the goodness which has made China great and her history glorious. The continuing of Chinese culture is indeed a great task resting upon their shoulders.
In view of what have been stated above, all other nations of the Free World, it is hoped, will not fail to realize that the Chinese people in Taiwan are fighting for the same high cause of freedom, democracy and justice as they themselves, and that this island is every day gathering a strength which will keep the enemy at bay. This is a time of great emergency. Free nations must stand together. Under estimation of the strength or Taiwan will cause disunity on the democratic front. For victory's sake the word disunity must be struck out of our vocabulary.