Thousands of overseas Chinese came to Taiwan for the October events. Many are remaining for Dr. Sun Yat-sen's 101st anniversary celebration on November 12.
Although the Double Tenth military parade was dispensed with this year, two hundred thousand persons massed in the Presidential square to see and hear President Chiang. Subsequently the chief executive attended the opening ceremonies and events of a three-day armed forces athletic meet.
In addition to his speech to the nation, President Chiang addressed a message to Communist Party cadres on the mainland. Both documents are of great importance at a moment when the Peiping regime is sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire of the "great proletarian cultural revolution" and the barbaric Red Guards movement.
The National Day address recalled that nearly a year ago, President Chiang warned of the new Chinese Communist reign of terror which now has come to pass.
"The changes in the fortune of any nation are determined by its cultural tradition," the President said. "Once its pre-eminent culture is destroyed, the whole national spirit will perish. By then, the independent existence of the nation will become only a nominal one. The reasons behind our nation's ability to endure and grow in the past 5,000 years is to be found in the continuation of its fine culture from generation to generation."
Intelligent, thinking Chinese are anti-Mao Tse-tung and anti-Communist, the President said. Thus Mao has been compelled to resort to the madness of organizing ignorant and innocent high school and grade school pupils into the Red Guards, who now are pitted against the 700 million people and 5,000-year-old history of China.
President Chiang said the Guards "are opposed to all human rights, all religious and scientific knowledge. They are hostile to culture, be it spiritual or material. They are trying to turn the Chinese mainland into shambles of heresy and a bedlam of beasts and birds of prey."
China's Generalissimo said Mao's supposed dedication to Marxism-Leninism is only a cover, and that his thinking is rooted in the ideology of Chinese brigands and bandits of olden times, including the Boxers of China's last dynasty. Mao has not dared to use his military forces, but has instigated the Red Guards to fight his battles.
President Chiang said this gives indication that the "People's Liberation Army" is plagued by internal conflict and shaken to its foundations. He continued:
"Mao Tse-tung has closed schools on various levels, confined college students to their campus, and deprived them of their right to seek knowledge, but has not dared use them as Red Guards for fear that the students may 'arouse other students to struggle' against him. Furthermore, 'anti-party, anti-Mao, and anti-socialist elements' have by now spread far and wide. They are found on every university campus, in every newspaper or magazine publishing house, and in every play and novel. This means there is an all-out opposition of intellectuals in the cultural and educational fields."
Addressing himself to some of "those who are internationally known as experts on Chinese problems", the President made these points:
1. Emergence of the Red Guards demonstrates the fallacy of hoping that the next generation of Chinese Communist leaders will be more lenient and reasonable. This new generation already has declared that they will "blow up all traditions into smithereens", and have proclaimed themselves the "demolishers of the Old World" and the "executioners of U.S. imperialism".
2. Events of recent months have shown that Mao does not have effective control of the mainland. President Chiang called attention to the clashes between peasants and Red Guards, conflict between intellectuals and students on the one hand and Red Guards on the other, and the organized resistance to the Guards by provincial chiefs, mayors, party commissars, and party secretaries in many provinces and cities.
3. Mao's supposed adherence to Confucianism is belied by the outrages of the Red Guards. These have included the burning of churches, attacks on embassies and legations, assaults on nuns and reporters, and the reviling of women.
4. Economic bankruptcy of the mainland is implied in the Chinese Communist assertion that from now on the people need only one bowl of rice, a pair of chopsticks, and a pair of pants.
Works now under attack in the cultural revolution give indication that the people of the mainland have remained true to Dr. Sun's Three Principles of the People, the President said. Mao is fearful that his cadres will oppose and dethrone him, and that "when his regime disintegrates, our National Revolutionary Forces will launch a counteroffensive, land on the mainland and deal a fatal, final blow to his tottering regime".
"We are confident that the 5,000-year-old history and culture of our nation are in the long run indestructible," the President continued, "that the great truth of the San Min Chu I is invincible. Moreover, our 700 million compatriots today are not treading the path of the so-called 'revisionism' or 'capitalism', but are approaching the road of national revolution in the 'Century of San Min Chu I'. Today our compatriots have grown increasingly appreciative of the values of the history, culture, ethics, and morality of the Chinese people. This is an indication that the success of San Min Chu I is hastening the total collapse and extinction of traitor Mao Tse-tung and his crime-ridden brand of Communism.
"Today all our people - both military and civilian alike - living now in bastions of freedom at home and abroad must fight Mao Tse-tung with a 'great San Min Chu I cultural revolution' which embodies morality, democracy, and science. We must fight him with the national spirit of righteousness as exemplified in our history and culture and the wisdom and courage as inherent in that spirit. Under the banners of 'the nation above all' and 'the country above all', we must battle Mao Tse-tung with resolute actions of righteousness.
"Only by achieving total victory in our war—a war dedicated to the defense of our history and culture, to the defense of human rights and freedoms, and to the restoration or our nation—can we assure international peace and security in collaboration with other nations of the world. This is our immutable belief. This is the responsibility we have inherited from the 1911 Revolution—the responsibility to preserve our history and culture from destruction. This is also the great significance of our observing the Double Tenth today.
President Chiang told mainland cadres that Mao is "afraid that you will voice your genuine feelings and carry out your plans. That is why he has started his so-called 'great cultural revolution' which is nothing but a fanatic struggle."
"Mao dares not trust members of your generation," the President said, "ranging from the leading cadres in party, political, and military sectors all the way down to ordinary party and youth corps members, and the so-called working, farming, and military masses. He believes he no longer can depend on you.
"That is why he has chosen to rely on those younger than you are, on the nescient teenagers. He has organized and trained them as Red Guards to protect himself and to continue his one-man tyranny. I know how terribly bitter your sufferings must have been. Your agony, anguish, and anxiety must have been even more excruciating than bodily inflictions. I know, too, what you have been thinking and planning deep down in your hearts."
Free China's leader said Mao has clung to his "thinking" as a panacea in the effort to save himself from destruction. In reality, Mao-think "is being used as a talisman to rectify the unorthodox on the part of the Communist Party, political and military personnel. Frankly speaking, Mao is trying to do away with all of you CCP cadres and members who know better and can think for themselves, who have rendered him meritorious services, and made great contributions to the Peiping regime. His real objective is to pave a way for the Red Guards to replace you as successors to Mao's Communist Party."
President Chiang accused Mao of "trying to destroy Chinese culture altogether, wipe out all intellectuals, batter down modern civilization, and control the peoples of Asia and of the whole world by means of his secret weapon, the 'people's war'. Mao is trying to outdo what Adolf Hitler did two decades ago."
Expressing special concern for mainland intellectuals and retired servicemen, the President posed a series of questions that Communist cadres must be asking themselves. The first three concerned former comrades against whom Mao has turned his purge apparatus. Then the President asked why Mao has launched the cultural revolution and what constitutes Maoism, especially as the latter differs from Marxism-Leninism.
Why, the chief executive inquired, has Mao declined to call a national party congress for more than 10 years? Why has he loosed the Red Guards against cadres as well as people? How is nuclear war to be avoided? Why is Mao isolated from the rest of the Communist movement? What is his connection with the attempted coup in Indonesia and aggression against India and other countries? If North Vietnam is a "brotherly country", as Mao has insisted, why doesn't he either take action in Vietnam or permit Hanoi to come to terms?
"I believe that Mao Tse-tung himself is at a loss as to what to do," the President said. "No one knows whether what appears to be Mao Tse-tung today is really the man himself or merely a stand-in, a mute or live puppet. Perhaps not even Mao himself knows the truth. Do you? With your party in such bad shape and with Mao Tse-tung himself in such a state of confusion, can you as cadres carryon much longer without resolving the problems in time and continue to run the risk and indefinitely bear the unbearable?"
The chief executive held out these "solemn declarations" to the Chinese Communist Party military and political cadres:
"First, if you are not hostile to the National Armed Forces, and receive and respond to them during the counterattack, you will be rewarded according to merits, incorporated into the National Armed Forces, and accorded the same treatment as the National Armed Forces.
"Secondly, your military and political status will be recognized immediately if you can defect from the Communist ranks and abide by the laws and orders of the Government of the Republic of China and the Ten Pledges I made to the officers and men now in Communist uniform, CCP cadres and members of the party, and the Youth Corps. You will be commissioned accordingly as platoon, company, battalion, regiment, division or army commanders, and you will be promoted according to merit. At the same time, you will be appointed administrative chiefs of the recovered districts. If you are stationed in the coastal area and ask for our help, our armed forces will be able to reach you within six hours and fight shoulder to shoulder with you.
"Thirdly, I think all the military and civilians of the nation are sailing a stormy sea in the same boat of destiny today in quest of continued existence for the life of the race, welfare of the people, and individual freedom. We have only one heart, and that is to overthrow the arch-enemy of the nation, the rogue of the people, and the sinister despot - Mao Tse-tung. We have only one goal and that is to rebuild a new China of freedom, equality, and fraternity, as envisaged in San Min Chu I, conceived by the Republic's Founding Father - Dr. Sun Yat-sen. I have often said that 'all who are not our enemies are our comrades'.
"As long as you are sincere and are not hostile to the National Revolutionary Forces, all of you, members of the Communist Party or Youth Corps, are our comrades. You will be treated as our comrades-in-arms just like you were in the past and you will not be discriminated against.
"As soon as Mao Tse-tung is toppled, we shall propose and convene the Second National Assembly to amend the Constitution by representatives elected by the people of the whole nation, and to rebuild and reunify your country on the basis of San Min Chu I as a nation whose people enjoy freedom, equality, and independence. This is the goal of our National Revolution. Every Chinese citizen is entitled to vote and/or to be voted into office irrespective of his class or party affiliation."
The President expressed hope that all of the anti-Mao forces on the mainland will join hands with patriotic compatriots at home and abroad to deal a lethal blow to Mao Tse-tung. In that moment, he added, the Republic of China will join with other righteous nations in guaranteeing international peace and in moving ahead "toward the great commonwealth of universal brotherhood".
When Boy Scouts of the Far East assembled in Taipei for their fifth conference, President Chiang dramatically and correctly contrasted their constructive record with that of the destructive brutality of the Communist Red Guards.
A Boy Scout, said the President, acts in accordance with principles of benevolence, mutual assistance, and social justice. But the conduct of a Red Guard is characterized by hatred, terror, and troublemaking.
Boy Scouts are prohibited on the mainland, and can be considered the arch-enemy of the Red Guards. The Boy Scout movement is devoted to the service of nation and people and has grown steadily in the Republic of China and the other free countries of Asia.
Taiwan also has one of the most active, constructive Youth Corps movements in Asia. However, membership is entirely voluntary and the program is not political.
At a reception honoring Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) members of the Legislative Yuan, President Chiang urged adequate preparations for the return to the mainland and for reconstruction and repair of the damage done by the Communists. He said sufficient preparation could have prevented loss of the mainland in 1949.
A United Press International dispatch from Taipei said two divisions of the Chinese army—about 36,000 men—are on continuous ready-alert, and could launch a counterattack against the mainland on notice of only a few hours.
In the event of any sizable uprising of mainland people, the United States would give serious consideration to logistical and other support to the free Chinese forces, UPI said. The dispatch added that both the United States and the Republic of China are watching the unstable mainland situation closely.
UPI reported that President Chiang had presided at a high-level military conference at which the mainland situation was reviewed in detail. The Generalissimo and his chief aides were said to have reached the conclusion that the downfall of Mao Tse-tung is imminent and that the order for counterattack can be given soon.
Good news continued to come from the economic front. For the first time in history, industrial exports are leading the combined total of agricultural and processed agricultural products.
P.Y. Hsu, chairman of the Foreign Exchange and Trade Commission, reported that for the January-August period, industrial exports made up 51 per cent of the total, or US$187 million out of US$370 million worth. The industrial segment was up US$44 million over the US$143 figure for the same period last year. By contrast, agricultural exports were down by US$12 million.
For January-August, a favorable trade balance of US$4.9 million was recorded. Imports were US$365 million for the eight months, of which US$308 worth were financed by government exchange holdings and only US$24 million by U.S. aid. The other US$32 million came from private exchange holdings.
Four-fifths of imports was made up of machinery, equipment, and raw materials. Japan was the top trade partner (US$246 million), followed by the United States (US$190 million).
Economic Affairs Minister K. T. Li predicted that Taiwan may soon be earning US$90 million a year from the export of electronic products alone. Since the General Instrument Corporation of the United States established a Taiwan plant to make electronic components, 10 other foreign investments have been approved, 9 are pending, and 20 others are under consideration by foreign companies.
Total investment exceeds US$30 million. When companies already established reach full production, they will employ more than 4,500 persons.
S.Y. Dao, secretary general of the Council for International Economic Cooperation, said the Republic of China has attracted US$300 million in foreign investment during the last two years and should be able to do as well in the two years to come.
U.S. Ambassador Walter McConaughy agreed that the Taiwan investment climate is highly favorable, and urged the industrialists of his country to take advantage of the opportunity and at the same time help free China develop its trade and economy. He described Taiwan's economic progress as a "constant marvel".
McConaughy served in Taipei as a vice consul in 1934-35, when Taiwan was Japanese-occupied. "I am struck anew every day with the incredible contrast between the conditions and the stage of development of Taiwan in those days and what we see today," the ambassador told the American Chamber of Commerce.
Another aspect of commerce will receive a boost this month with the convening in Taipei of the fifth Asian Advertising Congress. About 400 delegates are expected from 14 countries. Taiwan itself will have about 150 delegates.
Diplomatic note of the month was the appointment of James Shen as ambassador to Australia. He left for Canberra October 15.
For the last five years Shen has been director of the Government Information Office and has directed a huge expansion of the Republic of China's information activities throughout the world.
He also has been one of the principal secretaries to President Chiang Kai-shek and formerly was information director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was graduated from Yenching University in 1932 and holds a master of arts degree from the University of Missouri.
As ambassador to Australia, which is reopening its embassy in the Republic of China, he succeeds Chen Chih-mai, the new Chinese ambassador to Japan.