January 16. Final elections returns of the local councilmen of Taiwan show that Kuomintang won 747 out of 929 seats in the 21 city and county councils. Of this total, 839 are natives of Taiwan and 90 are mainlanders, 832 are men and 97 are women.
17. The Government accepted Ambassador to Korea Wang Tung-yuan's resignation and appointed Liu Yu-wan, former ambassador to Cuba, to be his successor.
18. General Chen Chia-shang, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Air Force, announced that CAF units have completed combat training for the F-86D all-weather jet interceptors.
Yap Kie-han, director of the Research Institute for Management Science of the Netherlands, arrived in Taipei for a three-week visit at the invitation of the Council for United States Aid.
19. The foreign ministers of China, the Philippines, Korea and Vietnam concluded a two-day conference in Manila and declared in a communique that the friendly consultations have helped to strengthen considerably the bonds of friendship and cooperation among the nations they represent. The conference was attended by Chinese Foreign Minister Shen Chang-huan, Korean Foreign Minister Chyung Yil Hyung, Philippine Foreign Secretary Felixberto Serrano, and Vietnamese Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Vu Van Mau.
23. A mass rally was held in Taipei to celebrate the seventh Freedom Day—a day for commemorating the choice of freedom of 14,303 Chinese former prisoners of war in Korea. The rally was presided over by Ku Cheng-kang, president of the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League, Republic of China. He read messages from President Chiang Kai-shek, Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, Korean Premier John M. Chang, Pope John XXIII, the Assembly of Captive European Nations and other free world leaders.
25. Vice President and Madame Juan Lechin Oquendo of Bolivia arrived in Taipei for a week-long visit at the invitation of the Chinese government.
26. The Executive Yuan finalized the draft cultural convention between the Republic of China and Uruguay and named Minister to Uruguay Sheng Yueh as plenipotentiary for the signing of the convention.
30. In view of the seriousness of the current mainland famine, President Chiang Kai-shek declared that the Government is ready to give 100,000 tons of rice for emergency relief of famine on the Chinese mainland. Noting that an estimated 6,000,000 tons of food has been exported from the mainland for political reasons by the Communists during 1960, President Chiang appealed to the transportation enterprises of all free countries not to participate in this food export business "out of humanitarian considerations."
In response to appeals by UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, the Chinese Government sent 100,000 tons of rice to the Congo (Leopoldville) to help ease the famine there.
31. Vice President and Madam Juan Lechin Oquendo of Bolivia concluded their week-long visit to free China. In a press conference, Vice President Lechin lauded the Chinese Government's achievements in the agricultural and industrial fields.
President and Madame Chiang Kai-shek were honored at a banquet given by the diplomatic corps representing 24 free nations maintaining diplomatic missions in Taipei.
February 1. Dr. Dionisio Gonzalex Torres, minister of health for Paraguay, arrived in Taipei for a four-day visit to observe health facilities and medical education on the island.
2. The Executive Yuan approved relief measures for the starving compatriots on the Chinese mainland. These include: (1) To make appeals to the United Nations, the Vatican and international relief agencies to support the relief work; (2) To seek open ports on the mainland to enable relief goods to reach the starving people: (3) To designate the Free China Relief Association as the agency responsible for receiving donations as well procurement and distribution of relief supplies.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Chinese Government has extended formal recognition to the new government of El Salvador.
The Taiwan Provincial Government has set its rice production target for 1961 at 2,050,000 metric tons, a record high in the history of the island. Aside from rice, the TPG also set goals for other agricultural products: sugar cane, 2,890,800 M. T., pineapple, 137,000 M. T., peanuts, 112,320 M. T. and banana, 120,000 M. T.
An exhibition of 253 pieces of Chinese art treasures, which will be shipped to the United States for exhibition, was open to the public in Taipei. A Committee for Exhibition of Chinese Art in the United States, which has Wang Yun-wu, vice premier of the Executive Yuan, Wang Shih-chieh, minister-without-portfolio; and Mei Yi-chi, minister of education as its managing directors has already been set up. The Committee was invited by American museums to exhibit the art treasures in Washington, New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco for a period of one year, after which all the collections will be shipped back to Taipei for another public showing.
4. Chinese Ambassador to Jordan Pao Chun-jien arrived at Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, to attend the third session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa as observer.
5. Chinese naval patrol vessel seriously damaged one Chinese Communist gunboat in an encounter northwest of the offshore island of Matsu.
7. The Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League, China Chapter, called upon its sister chapters abroad and other anti-Communist bodies the world over to make generous contributions to the famine relief drive for the hungry people on the Chinese mainland. It appealed to the free world to boycott food export from the Communists in order to ease the mainland famine, and to give assistance to Chinese escapees on humanitarian grounds.
9. The Republic of China exchanged notes with the United States to complete an agreement on additional purchases of US agricultural commodities. The exchanges of notes were signed by Shen Chang-huan, Chinese foreign minister, and Everett F. Drumright, American ambassador in Taipei, on behalf of their respective governments. Under this supplementary agreement, the Chinese Government will purchase some US$3,000,000 worth of wheat and/or flour from the United States. The United States undertakes to finance the purchases, as well as ocean transportation to the estimated amount of US$600,000.
The Executive Yuan named Hu Ching-yu, former ambassador to Argentina, as chief delegate to the UN Conference on Diplomatic Intercourse and Immunities scheduled to be held in Vienna on March 2. The Executive Yuan also appointed Chen Tai-chu, former minister to Canberra as delegate.
10. The Committee of One Million, an American civic organization, declared that if the Chinese Communists were admitted into the United Nations, it would "destroy the purpose, betray the letter and violate the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations."
11. The Free China Relief Association is intensifying its airdropping missions to carry some 100,000 food parcels to famine-stricken people on the Chinese mainland, Ku Cheng-kang, president of the FCRA, said that the relief flights were being carried out at night. All airdropping planes are unarmed, and that the one-pound food packages contain dried fish, pork, dehydrated pineapple, candies and biscuits and smoked sausage. Each plastic package has a Chinese national flag and a message from President Chiang Kai-shek expressing his concern over the mainland population.
Dr. Tingfu F. Tsiang, Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, in an address to the Security Council, opposed Soviet Russia's proposal to dismiss UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold. He branded the Soviet accusations against Mr. Hammarskjold as fantastic and unjust. Moreover, Dr. Tsiang strongly opposed the Soviet request to conclude the United Nations operation in the Congo within one month.