Entry and Exit Rules
The Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission hopes for simplification of procedures governing the entry and exit of overseas Chinese.
Kao Hsin, new chairman of OCAC, said he will recommend such changes to the government.
The former vice minister of education pointed out that foreigners can stay in Taiwan for three days without a visa, while overseas Chinese have to go through complicated procedures to remain in their mother country only one day.
Kao took exception to the view that these complicated procedures are necessary to prevent infiltration of Chinese Communists. If the Reds can hire overseas Chinese as agents, they also could employ foreigners, he suggested.
"If we want to win the support of our overseas brethren, we should trust them and at least treat them in the same way as we treat foreign friends," he said.
The new chairman said there will be no change in the basic program to improve the welfare of overseas Chinese communities. The government has come to realize that the only way to do this is to ask overseas Chinese to observe the laws of their countries of residence and cooperate with the local governments.
The welfare of the overseas Chinese communities, he said, ultimately will depend on the prosperity of their countries of domicile.
Educational Policy
There will be a shift of emphasis in the educational program for overseas Chinese.
Since 1951, more than 16,000 overseas Chinese youths have received education in Taiwan, and 4,350 have been graduated from college. Most of them chose humanities and social sciences as subjects of study.
Kao Hsin, OCAC chairman, said that in the future, vocational training will be stressed.
He disclosed that OCAC will recruit overseas Chinese youths this year to learn basic know-how in agriculture and industry. This will enable them to participate in the economic development of their countries of residence. It also will help in transformation of the traditional commercial role of overseas Chinese into that of a producer, he said.
Overseas Population
Chinese population abroad exceeds that of Taiwan by more than five million.
Government statistics show that on June 30 there were 16,336,924 Chinese living abroad. Taiwan's population was 11,149,139 at the close of 1961.
The tabulation indicates Asia has 15,792,060 overseas Chinese, or more than 90 per cent. The rest are scattered throughout America, 438,214; Oceania, 43,252; Africa, 42,892; and Europe, 20,505.
In Asia, Thailand has 3,799,000 and Hongkong is second with 3,197,000. The rest of the Chinese reside in Indonesia, 2,545,000; Malaya, 2,461,000; Singapore, 1,253,000; the Philippines, 151,000; Macao, 150,000; and North Borneo, 104,000. Japan, India, and Korea put together have fewer than 50,000 Chinese.
Most of the Chinese in America take up residence in the United States—237,000. Canada has 52,000, Cuba 31,000, Peru 30,000, Jamaica 18,000, Trinidad 12,000 and Mexico 10,000.
In Europe, the United Kingdom has 12,000, Holland 2,400 and France 2,000.
Other European figures are Russia 1,200, Denmark 900, Germany 800, Italy 313, Spain 198 and Portugal 161.
Overseas Chinese in Africa are concentrated in Mauritania with more than 23,000. Madagascar has the second largest group, 8,900.
The statistics were compiled by the Chinese government with the assistance of its diplomatic and consular missions abroad and overseas Chinese organizations.
Investment Statistics
A total of 403 overseas Chinese companies has been approved in Taiwan since 1951, the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported.
MOEA said the investment amounts to US$82,500,000, of which 7.9 per cent is in the form of cash remittances, 18.2 per cent in imported equipment, 17.1 per cent in raw materials and 56.8 per cent in consumer goods destined for sale in Taiwan.
The 403 companies break down as follows: 77 in chemicals, 41 in food, 40 in textiles, 25 in transportation, 17 in housing, 16 in production of daily necessities, 15 in mining, 15 in knitting and weaving, 14 in animal husbandry, 13 in fisheries, 13 in herb medicine, 13 in machinery manufacturing, 11 in agriculture and forestry, 11 in hotel operation, 11 in manufacture of electric appliances, 10 in handicrafts, nine in metal products, eight in printing, seven in tea processing, six in paper and pulp manufacturing, three in ceramics, two in motion pictures, one in banking, one in insurance and 24 in miscellaneous undertakings.
Not all projects have materialized. MOEA said 165 of companies that started operation, 61 later were shut down. One hundred and nine have taken steps to set up businesses and 67 have called off their plans.
United States
Citizenship Issue
"Once a Chinese, always a Chinese, dead or alive." So goes an old saying.
For centuries this has been true of most overseas Chinese communities especially those of Southeast Asia.
The concept has been the root of many of the problems encountered by overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia during postwar years, according to Ambassador to the United States Dr. T. F. Tingfu Tsiang.
"Prejudice will gradually disappear as they (overseas Chinese) take citizenship and interest in local institutions and enterprises," Dr. Tsiang said in Washington.
The ambassador said overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia have "suffered a great deal" from the movement to exclude them from certain businesses. He pointed out that Chinese in the Philippines are not allowed to engage in retail trade.
Dr. Tsiang said overseas Chinese have changed their attitude toward the citizenship issue. They have found that they can acquire certain rights and privileges when they accept local citizenship and that this does not prevent them from expressions of sympathy for the mother country.
He noted that many Americans born and reared in the United States still have deep affection for the countries of their ancestors. The same is true for the Chinese of Southeast Asia, he said.
Dr. Tsiang said another change in overseas Chinese areas concerns the Chinese language. He used the United States as an example but said the same thing was taking place in Southeast Asia.
Chinese residents in the United States formerly sent their children to Chinese schools after regular school hours. But as the years went by, it became more and more difficult to persuade children to attend the special Chinese schools. As a result, children born in the United States became Americanized and could not read or speak Chinese.
Tsiang said the status of overseas Chinese in the United States can provide a pattern for Chinese programs in Southeast Asian countries.
The ambassador said there has been a change in the thinking of the Chinese government regarding the citizenship of Chinese living abroad. The government does not oppose those who choose to become citizens of the country of domicile.
More recently, he said, there is informal recognition by diplomatic and consular representatives of the Chinese government that they should encourage overseas Chinese to adopt local citizenship and take an interest in the problems of the countries in which they reside.
"That is the evolution," Dr. Tsiang said, "and it is hard to draw a particular date for the change. In the government itself, there are individuals who look in different ways on this question."
He said it is his opinion that the present view that overseas Chinese should adopt local citizenship represents an improvement over the older attitude.
India
Anti-Communist Resolution
Overseas Chinese in Calcutta have let India know they are not agents of Peiping.
A resolution adopted recently by the city's Overseas Chinese Association called the Communist truce offer a "sordid plot" designed to soften and paralyze India's determination to resist.
The resolution also pointed out the truce offer was made to consolidate the Red gains in Indian pending a new thrust.
The chairman of the association sent a copy of the resolution to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and presented 20,229 rupees to the governor of West Bengal as a contribution to India's national defense chest. The money was collected from Chinese residents in Calcutta.
The resolution was published in an Indian embassy bulletin in Peiping. This was described by the Communist People's Daily as an act unfriendly to India.
The daily said, "This is tantamount to making the Indian embassy in (Red) China a propaganda medium of the special agents of the Chiang Kai-shek group."
"Does the Indian government intend to turn the embassy in (Red) China into an agent of Chiang Kai-shek's group for subversive activities on the Chinese mainland?" the paper asked.
In another development, the Indian government told the Peiping regime that it is "prepared to give the necessary facilities to Chinese nationals in India who wish to return to (Red) China of their own free will."
The Indian note answering the Red regime's protest regarding the internment of Chinese nationals said "'only those who constitute a serious risk to national security will continue under detention. The cases of Chinese internees are being reviewed from time to time."
The note went on to say, "India has no quarrel with the people of China and objects only to the aggressive and imperialist activities of the government of (Red) China."
Philippines
Out of Business
All alien rice and corn retailers and wholesalers-most of them Chinese-must dispose of their businesses this year in accordance with the rice and corn nationalization law.
According to announcement of the rice and corn board, there are now 6,200 Filipino rice millers and warehouse operators and 40,280 Filipino retailers and wholesalers. Alien rice and corn millers and warehousers may continue to operate until the end of this year.
Meanwhile, Immigration Commissioner Martiniano T. Vivo told reporters in Taipei that the Philippine government is doing its best to help overcome difficulties encountered by overseas Chinese in his country.
The commissioner, who visited Taipei at the turn of the year, said he had talked the matter over with responsible Chinese officials. He said his Taipei visit would contribute to the solution of the problem.
Vivo praised the Chinese in the Philippines as public-minded, law-abiding people.
Hongkong
Barred from Entry
Hundreds of overseas Chinese students were stranded in a Chinese town on the Hongkong border and not permitted to enter the British colony.
Most of the students were reported to have families in Hongkong, Singapore and other Southeast Asian cities. They wanted to spend their Christmas holidays in Hongkong.
Previously the Hongkong government did not impose restrictions on overseas Chinese students seeking entry for the holidays. They were allowed to stay in the colony for a month.
But last year the Hongkong government imposed a new set of regulations requiring overseas Chinese students to obtain entry visas. The new ruling presumably resulted from the fact that many students refused to return to Communism.
The new restrictions, reports said, resulted in "student smuggling" operations along the China-Hongkong border.