Spurning Chinese Communist political chicanery, President Chiang Ching-kuo says the Three Principles of the People have penetrated the hearts of mainland compatriots and will assure the Republic of China's victory
President Chiang Ching-kuo answered the united front propaganda offensive of the Chinese Communists in one sentence October 7. Addressing the Central Standing Committee of the Kuomintang of China in his capacity as Chairman of the majority party, President Chiang said: "I want to state clearly and resolutely once again: We shall never 'negotiate' with the Chinese Communists."
The President's statement was the definitive answer to a Chinese Communist "unification" statement made September 30 by Yeh Chien-ying (see "No unification the Communist way" on Page 20 of this issue of the Free China Review). President Chiang entitled his remarks "Bitter Lessons and a Solemn Mission" — the lessons referring to long experience with the Chinese Communists and the mission to unification of China under the Three Principles of the People and the Republic of China.
This was no expression of negativism. The President made clear that unification remains the unceasing responsibility and greatest goal of the government and people of the Republic of China. But it must be unification based on freedom, democracy and the mainstream of China and not on Communist tyranny. Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People "have reached deep into the hearts of the people at home and abroad," the President said. "The success of benevolent rule based on the Three Principles of the People has created the greatest era in the 70 years of the Republic of China. This success is our best assurance of unifying China under the Three Principles of the People. We have the increasing confidence of victory here in this prospering bastion of national revival (referring to Taiwan). We have the determination to win the struggle against Communism and for national recovery."
President Chiang opened his exposure of the Communist machinations with the recounting of two efforts of the Communists "to make their way into the ranks of the National Revolution in gestures of surrender twice during the last 60 years." The first was the entry of Communist party members into the Kuomintang beginning in 1923. Dr. Sun Yat-sen had hoped to transform what President Chiang described as "left-leaning intellectual zealots" into supporters of the Northward Expedition to defeat the warlords and unify China. The Communists entered the Kuomintang, all right, but only to carry out their own conspiracies. They hid behind the KMT while engaging in proletarian class struggle intended to destroy the majority party and pave the way for totalitarian tyranny. In the end, President Chiang Kai-shek had to order a purification of the Kuomintang. The Communists were unable to prevent national unification but staged a series of uprisings in their own bid for power. Domestic turmoil was stirred up at home and the way paved for the aggressions of the Japanese.
China's Communists tried again during the War of Resistance Against Japan. They said they would join the National Forces in fighting against the invaders but rarely did so. Mao Tse-tung himself admitted to devoting only 10 percent of Communist efforts to resisting the Japanese, 20 percent to temporizing with the National Government and 70 percent to building up strength for the postwar bid for power. This, the President said, revealed the true heart of Communism.
Such lessons provide definitive evidence that the Chinese Communists raise the cry of cooperation only in time of weakness, when the Kuomintang's strength may help them survive. Once over the crisis, the Communists show their true colors once again. President Chiang said the Communists made four commitments during the war: to accept the Three Principles of the People, to scrap their own army, to get rid of the soviet and to abandon violence. They falsely pledged themselves to join with the Kuomintang in meeting the national crisis.
Both Dr. Sun and President Chiang Kai-shek took the Communists at their word, hoping for reformation. Every promise was a lie. The ultimate Communist treachery came in the rebellion that usurped continental China. The National Government, which fought the war against the Japanese while the Communists reinforced themselves, was compelled to withdraw to the province of Taiwan to fight another day. President Chiang said: "The untold agony of our compatriots on the mainland and the endless turmoil in Asia today are without exception the continuation of this catastrophe."
Now the Chinese Communists have reached a point of no return. They are "frightened by the proliferating crisis of faith within their party and the military," the President said. They are further alarmed by the great success of the Republic of China on Taiwan and the yearning of mainland compatriots for the political and economic progress and the prosperity of Free China. Acting out of panic, they have fallen back on the hope of promoting a "third cooperation" with the Kuomintang. They also pursue such other goals as the confusing of the international community and the spreading of discord in the Republic of China on Taiwan. When the new united front endeavor fails, they will go on to another slogan and a further attempt at deception.
President Chiang said there can be no confusion between the benevolent government under the Three Principles of the People and the tyranny of Communism. The good life of the people of Taiwan speaks for itself and is to be contrasted with the misery that pervades the mainland, he added.
The Peiping regime is trying to blacken the Republic of China and use peace talks as another form of warfare. The world is told that the Republic of China does not want peace. But the record speaks for itself. The Republic of China has taken up arms only in self-defense, whereas the Chinese Communists stand accused by the United States for aggression in Korea. Red China supported the North Vietnamese against South Vietnam and then turned on its allies. India was attacked. Southeast Asia and Latin America have been targets of Chinese Communist infiltration and subversion.
Communist peace trickery is also intended to deceive the people of the mainland, President Chiang said. When the Republic of China declines "peace talks," the Communists will tell those on the mainland that they have been deserted and are bereft of hope. "We must tell our mainland compatriots of our confidence and determination to deliver them and assure them that we shall never talk with the Communists they hate so deeply," the President said. The Republic of China will "never pause for even an instant until the mission (of national recovery) is completed."
The text of President Chiang Ching-kuo's October 7 remarks follows:
Alarmed by our movement of "Unifying China Under the Three Principles of the People," the Chinese Communists have recently engaged in one united front propaganda move after another. They have even proposed the so-called talks to be held "on a reciprocal basis" between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist party to "cooperate for the third time." Rather than "cooperating," the Chinese Communists have actually tried to make their way into the ranks of the National Revolution in gestures of surrender twice during the last 60 years.
The first occasion was when the Tsungli (Dr. Sun Yat-sen as President of the Kuomintang) sought to guide left-leaning intellectual zealots onto the right track before the launching of the Northward Expedition. He permitted Communists to apply for Kuomintang membership as individuals but clearly stipulated they could not engage in factional activities to "topple the party." Subsequently, the Communists flew the Kuomintang banner while engaged in proletarian class struggle characterized by killing and arson. Accusations by senior party members led the Tsungtsai (president Chiang Kai-shek as Director General of the Kuomintang) to courageously carry out a party purification. Although the revolutionary ranks were purified and the Northward Expedition was successfully completed, the Chinese Communists took advantage of the situation to stage a series of incidents, including the Nanchang, Hunan-Hupeh Autumn Harvest, Haifeng-Lufeng and Canton uprisings. These set the stage for years of turmoil at home and externally stirred up Japan's aggressive ambitions toward China. Such was the so-called "first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist party" so often trumpeted by the Chinese Communists.
The second occasion arose at a time when the Tsungtsai hoped to move the Chinese Communists to take up the righteous responsibility of the people during the War of Resistance Against Japan. As a result of his great spirit of all-encompassing tolerance, he incorporated the remnant Communist troops into national forces and terminated their notorious soviet regime even though they were on the verge of being wiped out after their escape to northern Shensi. For a time this measure inhibited the wartime open insurgency of the Chinese Communists, but unfortunately it also facilitated their treacherous maneuvers of applying "10 percent of effort to the fight against Japan, 20 percent to temporizing with the National Government and 70 percent to self-strengthening." The Chinese Communists thus had an opportunity to accelerate their own reinforcement, and this plunged all China into a holocaust of Communist destruction. This was how the Communist applied their hearts to the "second KMT -CCP cooperation."
These bitter lessons have convinced us that the Communists raise the slogan of "cooperation" as part of their demand to be accepted only when they are weak and need to strengthen themselves by clinging to the Kuomintang. When they have become stronger, they lash out once again. At our party's first national congress, held at the time the Chinese Communists were admitted to the Kuomintang, Li Ta-chao said: "Our joining the Kuomintang is to accept its platform, not to impose the Communist party's platform on the Kuomintang. As we have joined this party, we shall carry out its platform and abide by its regulations and discipline as long as we remain members." In a show of repentance and sincerity, the Chinese Communists made four commitments during the war. They said they regarded Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People as essential to China at that time and they expressed their willingness to work for thoroughgoing implementation. They said they were abrogating the "red army," "soviet" and "line of violence" and "meeting the national crisis together." The Communists always use sweet words to conceal their conspiracies.
The Tsungli accepted the Communists and the Tsungtsai incorporated the Communist troops into the National Forces on the basis of choosing the lesser of two evils. The Tsungli and Tsungtsai were motivated by their generosity as gentlemen and their willingness to cooperate with others. But from beginning to end, they found not a single word of the Communists that was not a lie and not a single move that was not political chicanery. Consequently, the nation and people had no way to escape the clutches of agonizing and bloodstained Communist treachery. The untold agony of our compatriots on the mainland and the endless turmoil in Asia today are without exception the continuation of this catastrophe.
The Chinese Communists are now frightened by the proliferating crisis of faith within their party and the military. They are unnerved by our mainland compatriots' repudiation of Communism, the Communist system and Communist rule, and by our compatriots' yearning for the political and economic progress and the prosperity found in our bastion of national recovery. They are panicking under the shock wave generated by our determination to "unify China under the Three Principles of the People." They are therefore falling back on their old trickery and attempting to promote the "third cooperation" between our party and the Communist party. They try to cause international confusion about our adamancy in sticking to principle. They are resorting to the ruse of "stirring up discord in our ranks and isolating us abroad." In fact, the Chinese Communists have never ceased to manufacture their rumors of "peace talks," but we never paid any attention. At one time they clamored for "washing Taiwan in blood." Then they shifted to the call for "return and identification." Now they shout their demands for talks "on a reciprocal basis" and joint "leadership." Tomorrow they will coin another slogan and try to effect another deception.
I therefore must point out:
- There is a watershed between benevolent government based on the Three Principles of the People and the tyrannical rule of Communism. No confusion can be allowed between these two. The happy and peaceful life of our compatriots in this bastion of national recovery has for more than 30 years provided a striking contrast to the unparalleled misery of our compatriots on the main land across the Taiwan Straits. This illumines the basic difference between the two political philosophies, two systems and two ways of life, and shows which is good and which is evil. But the Communists distort this as "partisan intransigence," "partisan rivalry" and "powers and privileges" to be enjoyed by the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist party.
- To the Communists, peace talks are another form of warfare. Although the two look different, the aim is identical. So I often say: "To talk peace with the Chinese Communists is to invite death." This is an agonizing, bloodstained lesson that we and many other Asian countries have learned.
- Although the Chinese Communists know that we will not talk peace with them, they still shout their slogan at the top of their lungs. Their stratagem is to create in the world the false image that we do not want peace. Anyone who bothers to look into history will find that the government of the Republic of China has taken up arms only in self-defense and has never been militaristic. The Chinese Communist regime has been officially branded by the United Nations as an aggressor. It sent troops to help the aggressors in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. India assisted the Chinese Communist regime and was suddenly stabbed in the back by its supposed friend. The Chinese Communists backed the Vietnamese Communists in seizing South Vietnam but before long turned on those they had helped. They have supported Communist infiltration and subversion in Southeast Asia and Latin America with money, weapons and guerrilla warfare tactics. Aren't these facts sufficient to make all people aware of the belligerent nature of the Chinese Communists? It is obvious that the "peace talk" advocated by the Chinese Communists does not mean peace but is mere political chicanery.
- I want to state clearly and resolutely once again: We shall never "negotiate" with the Chinese Communists. In solemnly expressing this view, I want to tell our compatriots on the Chinese main land that we are resolved to remove the yoke that the Communists have imposed upon them. In their clamor for "peace talks," the Chinese Communists are intending to deceive our compatriots on the mainland by saying: "The government for which you yearn is about to talk peace with us, so you have lost all hope! " We must tell our mainland compatriots of our confidence and determination to deliver them and assure them that we shall never talk with the Communists they hate so deeply. Our solemn mission is to carry out the Three Principles of the People and unify China. We must courageously carryon the struggle to its victorious end. From the Tsungli and the Tsungtsai and on down, all dedicated revolutionaries have known only that their responsibility is to "wage the revolution for the cause of benevolence." They have never thought of life or death or of such selfish goals as fame, rank or power.
The Three Principles of the People have reached deep into the hearts of the people at home and abroad. The success of benevolent rule based on the Three Principles of the People has created the greatest era in the 70 years of the Republic of China. This success is our best assurance of unifying China under the Three Principles of the People. We have increasing confidence of victory here in this prospering bastion of national revival. We have the determination to win the struggle against Communism and for national recovery.
Finally, I should like to quote a few passages from the Tsungtsai's diary for our common introspection:
"A devil may suddenly grow 100 feet tall, but before long it will be overwhelmed and obliterated by the spirit of righteousness."
"Persistence leads to victory and endeavor assures success. But persistence to the last does not mean waiting endlessly, whereas endeavor means the hardening of determination without relaxation."
"This is the darkest period, but I have never wavered at all in confidence the mainland will be recovered. To the contrary, my confidence is always growing. I am sure that the truth is always on my side."
These passages imply the solemn mission in which our comrades and compatriots are engaged. We shall never pause for even an instant until the mission has been completed.