Although my topic this evening is "The Importance of a Free China," it could well be "The Importance of a Free Asia," or "The Importance of a Free World." The reason is that unless we have a free Asia, the chances are that freedom will not long survive in other parts of the world. And unless China is free, the loss of all Asia to the free world may be a matter of time.
It is a fact known to all of you that China, by virtue of its pivotal position in Asia and its highly developed culture, has exerted an influence on its neighbors comparable to that of the Roman Empire on Europe and the Mediterranean. Unlike the Roman Empire, however, China had enriched the cultural stream of its Asian neighbors not through military conquest, but by the mutually beneficial exchange of goods and ideas. This influence may be seen in various degrees in the language, architecture, customs and philosophy in such countries as Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and even Burma. At the same time, all these countries have also contributed greatly towards the enrichment of Chinese culture.
The fall of the mainland into Communist hand was not only a tragic event to China herself, but also to its neighboring countries. As early as 1916, Lenin said: "The road to London and Paris is through Peking and Calcutta." In plain language, what Lenin meant was that for Soviet Russia to conquer the world, it must first conquer Asia and the best place to begin is China. Today, the free world is plagued with problems that seem to defy solution, and one of the most pressing problems is how to keep Asia from the clutches of the international Communists. I have no desire to talk like a prophet of doom, but I believe that so long as the Chinese mainland continues to serve the purposes of Communism, no effort to preserve freedom in Asia is likely to prevail.
The history of the past decade proves the point which I have just made. In 1950, less than a year after the establishment of the Communist regime in Peiping, the Chinese Communists poured hundreds of thousands of troops across the Yalu River in an attempt to overrun the Republic of Korea. They inflicted 133,000 casualties on American troops alone. The ink on the Korean Armistice was hardly dry when the Chinese Communists rushed in to support the Communists in Indo-China against France and Vietnam. In addition to their open declaration to seize Taiwan, the Chinese Communists are also seeking to take over the Asian countries one by one through an intensive program of infiltration and subversion. According to the 1956 report of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, Communist subversion presents the greatest threat to the entire region of Southeast Asia.
To understand the real meaning of Communist totalitarianism, it would be useful to review, however briefly, what has taken place on the Chinese mainland since 1949. You have no doubt heard of the series of crimes committed by the Chinese Communists, crimes ranging from the murder of 20 million so-called "counter-revolutionary" elements, the herding of 30 million innocent people into slave labor camps, the mental torture of brainwashing practiced on men and women, young and old, the suppression of the freedom of worship, the imprisonment of foreign missionaries and the organized smuggling of narcotics to this and other countries. Let us turn our attention for a few minutes to the Chinese farmers, whose protector and champion Mao Tse-tung claimed to be before he came into power.
During the first two years or Communist rule, an all-out effort was made to woo the farmers. Communist agents swarmed the countryside, teaching the farmers the meaning of class warfare. Each village had to have its "accusation meetings" or public trials where landowners were accused and executed and their lands divided among the peasants. All landlords, big and small, were made to play the role of the "people's enemies."
What is the real nature of Mao Tse-tung's so-called land reform? According to a study made by Dr. Wittfogel, an expert on China, the "beneficiaries" of "land reform" received less land than was occupied by the average farmer before the Communists came to power. Citing figures, he estimated that whereas the average farm with 5.3 persons formerly comprised 2.5 acres, it had shrunk to 1.3 acres after the Communist "land reform."
Even then, the farmers who had benefited from the land reform were given hardly any time to enjoy their new possessions. True, there was some reduction in tax rate on the land, but the farmers were made to pay numerous levies in the form of "voluntary contributions" to the Korean War and other movements. When it came to crops, the farmers were forced to sell to the state practically all that they produced at ridiculously low prices. Soon the farmers found themselves in a trap; they had become in fact mere cogs in a huge slave labor machine.
Now, the postage-stamp plots of land that were given the farmers during those years have all been taken away. According to a report published by an official Communist news agency on April 29, 1958, all of the 500 million farmers on the Chinese mainland had been "collectivized." Stripped of its Communist double-talk, it means that the farmers have become part of a gigantic labor machine and have been deprived of all identity as individual farmers.
Some well-meaning but misguided people in this country and other parts of the free world, while looking askance at what is happening on the Chinese mainland, have allowed themselves to be dazzled by the material progress made by the Peiping regime. Many visitors to the mainland have come away with the conviction that, good or bad, the Peiping regime is in firm control. But let us look at the facts as officially released by the Communists themselves.
As recently as January, 1958, Lo Jui-ching, chief of the Communist secret police, admitted that in the preceding two years, his men had investigated 18 million workers for "counter-revolutionary thoughts," had smashed 3,000 "revolutionary cliques" and uncovered 100,000 active counter-revolutionaries, 5,000 of them in the Communist Party itself.
In similar vein, Liu Shao-chi, probably the most powerful figure next to Mao Tse-tung, told the National Congress of the Communist Party in May, 1958, that for the next "ten thousand years," anti-Communist sentiments may persist and that opposition to Communism cannot be crushed in the "distant future."
The degree of hostility to the Communist regime may also be gauged from the violent repercussions that followed Mao Tse-tung's famous speech of February, 1957, in which he announced that he would like to see "a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend." At the time, Mao's assurance not to take punitive action against critics of the regime was widely interpreted as the beginning of a liberal movement or even the development of differences between Peiping and Moscow.
Subsequent events have shown that Mao's speech was not a declaration of freedom but was mainly intended to smoke out the dissident elements from their foxholes. There had been mounting discontent and demonstration against the Mao regime, particularly after the Hungarian uprising. It was thought safe to provide some safety valve for the opposition to let off its steam. What Mao did not expect was the storm of protest and denunciation that followed which threatened to topple him and his regime.
Mao took immediate steps to halt the trend. There were no reports of mass executions, no spectacular public trials in the crackdown against the critics of the regime. It was all being done in a new style, with downgradings, loss of jobs or transfers to labor projects on the outer fringes of the mainland.
Seven months ago, the Chinese mainland was the scene of a development which even George Orwell did not foresee. I refer to the establishment of the "people's communes," the desperate device imposed by the Communists to achieve greater control than had hitherto been possible.
Each commune is a militarized economic unit sustained by slave labor. The first commune was set up in Honan Province in May. The Communists, plagued by revolts and massive resistance, went about their business with such speed that by October, they were able to claim that 90.4 per cent of China's 500 million farmers had been organized into 23,383 people's communes.
The life facing these farmers is one of complete regimentation. Each commune, averaging 21,000 members, is ruled by a committee which controls everything from food to funerals. Organized into work brigades, the farmers can be shunted from farm work to industrial or military duty without notice. Thus, they have lost all identification as farmers, or, indeed, as free human beings.
Some communes are already tearing down the houses of the peasants and using the salvaged brick, tile and timber to build communal barracks. In Honan alone, over six million children are being raised in communal nurseries. The Communists claim with pride that in some communes, "people's mess halls" have become the only places to eat. Instead of turning to his wife when his trousers need mending, a commune member now takes h is problem to the "sewing brigade." The result, Peiping declares, is that 20 million women in seven provinces alone are now "freed" to contribute their family pots and pans to a scrap-metal drive and turn their energies from humdrum housework to such "progressive tasks" as "road-building, tree-planting and ditch-digging!'
As may be expected, these developments have led to the complete breakup of the family system, which has been the basis of Chinese society, for several thousand years. Let me quote you the words of a Dr. Wang Chi-hsiang, a chemical engineer educated in the United States who had recently escaped to Taiwan from the mainland, concerning the people's communes. He said: "The whole system is built on the suffering of the people. It is hell"
This communalization process, virtually completed in organization in the rural areas, is being introduced to the cities. It is obvious that this system is an attempt to mobilize manpower to step up production and to do away with free professional labor service. In order to divert the attention of the people from their plight, Mao Tse-tung is resorting to any and every means to sustain the tension in the Taiwan Straits, to intensify the hate America campaign and to keep every man and woman in a state of readiness for any military emergency.
The results so far have not been entirely to the liking of the Communists. For one thing, the idea that the regimentation of the peasants would provide a cheap and inexhaustible source of labor has received a rude shock. Towards the end of September, the Communist press was boasting about the tremendous increase in industrial production. Hordes of laborers had marched into the mountains to dig for iron ore and coal. They had built over 300,000 backyard furnaces for smelting iron and making low-grade steel. They had been assigned to other tasks calculated to boost steel production for the Current year to 10,700,000 tons. Like all Communist plans, the target figure is usually more idealistic than real. It is almost certain that the implementation of this inhuman system will involve the Communist authorities in difficulties which will greatly increase dissidence and sabotage.
In October, less than a month later, the Peiping radio lamented the fact that "grain was being lost in the fields because of a manpower shortage brought about by transfers to iron and steel production!' At about the same time, the Peiping People's Daily revealed that the shortage of labor, "more serious than in the past was being felt everywhere in the rural areas."
The communes have gone far beyond anything attempted by Stalin and Khrushchev. It may be recalled that Stalin's forced collectivization of Russian agriculture in the 1930's - a program far less radical than the people's communes - was achieved at the cost of more than 10,000,000 lives. It is highly doubtful whether Mao Tse-tung will succeed where Stalin has failed. One advantage, however, is on his side. If 300 million peasants have to be wiped out, his conscience is not likely to hold him back.
Fortunately for the cause of freedom in Asia, my Government in Taiwan continues to function as a rallying point to the Chinese people outside the Iron Curtain. It also serves as a beacon of hope to the voiceless millions of our compatriots who in their hearts continue to live as free people.
What does my Government in Taiwan stand for and what has it done to justify the hope of the captive Chinese people for deliverance? I can say, without qualification, that my Government stands four square for freedom in the present world crisis. In saying this. I do not suggest that my Government is not without its shortcomings. I admit that if my Government had not made some serious mistakes in the 1940's, the mainland would not have been lost to the Communists. But defeat has taught us many lessons, one of which is that we cannot afford to co-exist with Communists in Our midst. We have tried more than once and failed. But mere intransigence to Communism is not enough. It is necessary that while we tighten up internal security against Communist infiltration, we continue to develop a form of government based on the principles of nationalism, democracy and social well-being.
Politically the people on Taiwan enjoy a larger measure of self-government than they had ever known before. Today, the provincial and municipal council members, magistrates and mayors are elected by universal suffrage and secret ballot through free campaigns. In most elections, over 80 per cent of the eligible voters exercise their political rights by going to the polls.
In the field of education, primary education is free and compulsory. Even textbooks are provided by the Government so that no family is so poor that it cannot send its children to school. With a literacy rate of nearly 90 per cent, Taiwan stands now far ahead of most areas in Asia in this respect.
In the social field, the land reform program has enabled 315,000 farm families to buy from the Government on easy terms the land they till. This program, together with the reduction of land tax, has increased the income of farmers by 30 per cent. It has been so successful that it is regarded as a blueprint for similar programs in many other free Asian countries. We are not only self-sufficient in food but are exporting rice, sugar and many other agricultural products.
Progress in industry has been steady if not astounding. While the population on Taiwan has doubled since 1938, power production is now 3.74 times and cement production 4.6 times the 1938 figures. The textile industry, practically non-existent in 1938, now employs 33,000 workers and turns out textiles valued at US$110 million annually.
Despite the progress achieved by my Government, there remains a supreme mission which it has yet to fulfill. I refer to the mission of restoring freedom to the captive people on the mainland who remain unreconciled to Communist rule.
The determination of my Government to stand up to the Communist threat was put to a severe test in recent months. The Communists, without the slightest provocation, unleashed a heavy artillery bombardment against the island of Quemoy on August 23. With the exception of a few interruptions, they have kept up the attack to this day. At the beginning of the so-called Taiwan crisis. there were those in this and other free world countries who feared that the artillery duel might lead to a disastrous war. Consequently, they were loud in clamoring for the demilitarization or even the evacuation of the islands under Communist attack. Apparently, they were not impressed by the Communist statements that the attack on the islands was but part of a program to conquer Taiwan and to liquidate all free world positions in the Western Pacific area. Subsequent events have proved that the firm stand taken jointly by the Republic of China and the United States in the face of aggression has again paid off. Unable to subdue the islands by the force of arms, the Communists first announced a one-week cease-fire and then an extension of the cease-fire. Now they have turned humanitarian three times a week and refrain from bombarding the islands on even days. Since I am not privy to the Communist mind, I do not know what the Communists will do tomorrow. It is obvious, however, that by standing up against aggression, we have won the first round in the Taiwan area. I would shudder to think what might have happened if, instead of holding our ground, we had listened to the counsel of the faint-hearted who advocated a course of action in favor of the Communists.
In this connection, I am not even now convinced that the free world is sufficiently aware of the fact that world conquest remains the unalterable policy of the Communists. I suspect that there are still people at this late stage who fail to appreciate that the cause of freedom is one and indivisible and that the surrender of any free territory, however small, would surely lead to our own destruction. This was true with Quemoy as it is true with Berlin today.
My Government has taken upon itself the mission of restoring freedom to its captive people. It is sustained by the conviction that unless and until the Chinese mainland is freed from Communist domination, there can be no peace and stability in Asia and the world. It is also sustained by the fact that opposition against the Communist rule continues to gather momentum. We do not overlook the fact that the Chinese Communists, with a standing army of 3,000,000 troops, enjoy a numerical superiority over the 600,000 troops on Taiwan. History shows that it is the spirit of dedication rather than the size of the army that spells final victory or defeat.
Viewing the developments on the mainland to which I have referred and the contagious spirit of resistance, one just cannot draw the conclusion that the Communists are in firm control. No election of the kind familiar to the democracies has ever been held on the mainland, and none probably will be. However, there have been two separate occasions when a substantial section of the Chinese people have voted, so to speak, with their feet. In Korea in 1953, when offered the opportunity, 14,000 Chinese Communist prisoners-of-war, constituting over 80 per cent of the total, refused to return to their homes and families on the mainland but chose instead to go to Taiwan. Two years later, when the Tachen Islands off the coast of Chekiang province were evacuated, the civilian population was given the choice of evacuation to Taiwan or acceptance of Communist rule. Of the island's 18,500 inhabitants, exactly 19, or one tenth of one per cent, chose to remain.
It is my belief that a popular revolt, similar to that in Hungary two years ago, is a certain if not imminent possibility. When that day comes, my Government will answer the call of duty and come to the aid of its own people. We do not ask our friends to fight for us. But we do ask that they refrain from giving aid and comfort to our common enemies and thus help to seal the fate of one quarter of the world's population.
In fighting Communism, let us have no illusions of the magnitude of the task involved. We must not think that we can defeat Communism overnight or even in a matter of a few years. It is going to be a long uphill fight for all of us. Above all, the free world still lacks the unity of purpose and action while the Communist bloc of nations move as one force with a unitary aim. Some people, when they think of the Chinese Communist regime, are frightened by the gigantic war machine it has built up and the momentum of the vast population on the mainland. These people tell us that we should accept the reality of the existence of a Communist China and try to co-exist with it. They point out that it is not possible for us to go back to the mainland in the near future. This is a most dangerous line of thinking. It also represents an ignorance which is not uncommon even amongst Asians. The important thing to grasp is that you cannot defeat and uproot Communism, as I said, overnight, and that if you want to fight it you just have to develop enough strength and determination to hold your own ground first. If each free country can stand firm and deny the Communists any further gain in territory and in manpower, that would be a fair beginning in the right direction.
It is so easy, when we are confronted with a hostile situation, to slip into a ready expediency. I have heard honest good Christians say that the United States should recognize Red China so that the Protestant missions on the Chinese mainland may yet be saved.
These compromisers from the Church are no doubt under the same illusion that if we cannot defeat the Communists on the mainland immediately, we should find some way of living with them. And living with them may even give us some opportunity of converting them. I shall let Khrushchev answer these people. Khrushchev said: "Those who expect the Communists to give up their objective would have to wait until the shrimp learns to whistle."
The truth is that international Communism is like a plague with which you simply cannot afford to co-exist. Whether you be a churchman or not, I am sure that you are wise enough to realize that you cannot compromise with Evil.
In the final analysis, any appeasement of the Communists would jeopardize our own chances of survival—yours and mine—because if Asia should be lost to the Communists, the front-line of anti-Communist defense would be moved back to the very shores of the United States itself.
Editor's Note — This is an address delivered by H. E. Dr. George K. C. Yeh. Chinese Ambassador to the United States, before the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles on December 10, 1958.