A new President - the Republic of China's sixth and the third person to hold the office - will be sworn in this spring after his March election by the National Assembly. If the recommendation of President Yen Chia-kan is heeded, he will be Chiang Ching-kuo, the elder son of the late President Chiang Kai-shek, who will mark his 68th birthday (by Western count) on March 18. President Yen Chia-kan, who stepped into the nation's highest office upon the death of President Chiang Kai-shek on April 5, 1975, has expressed his wish that Premier Chiang succeed him.
Thunderous approval came from the nearly 17 million people of Taiwan and from overseas Chinese communities all over the world when President Yen proposed that the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) nominate Premier Chiang Ching-kuo for President. Premier Chiang is much admired for his administrative skills. He is also respected and loved by the rank and file of the free Chinese citizenry. Few statesmen in China's long history have been so at ease with fanners and workers. Nearly every weekend finds Chiang Ching-kuo visiting the people in fields, in factories and in their homes. The food he likes best is that he shares with the people, always making a point to provide his own contribution so that he will not add to the burden of those who are less well off.
Chiang Ching-kuo was appointed Premier of the Republic of China in May of 1972. He had been Vice Premier for nearly three years. He was elected Chairman of the Kuomintang after the death of President Chiang Kai-shek.
In December of 1977, President Yen Chia-kan wrote the Central Standing Committee of the Kuomintang asking that it recommend Premier Chiang as the Party's presidential candidate in the National Assembly election of March, 1978. On January 7, 1978, the Central Standing Committee did so and was joined in the recommendation by the Presidium of the Kuomintang Central Advisory Council. Kuomintang nomination procedures continued after that. Other parties proposed no nominees.
President Yen said Chiang Ching-kuo was uniquely qualified to lead the nation through difficult times and complete the tasks of anti-Communism and national recovery. He said Premier Chiang had followed the example and teachings of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and President Chiang and had shown "dedication, integrity and loyalty."
In agreeing to President Yen's proposal, the Central Standing Committee said "This is the fervent expectation of all comrades of the Party and all compatriots of the country." The Committee expressed its "highest respect" for the dedication and sincerity of President Yen in setting a virtuous example for the nation.
The Central Advisory Council Presidium said that as Premier and Party Chairman, Chiang Ching kuo has "demonstrated superb leadership, worked diligently in administration and painstakingly cherished the people."
As Premier, Chiang Ching-kuo was the principal architect of the Ten Major Construction Projects. The program to usher the Republic of China into the ranks of the developed countries will be essentially completed by the start of the 1980s. The Premier has supported ongoing construction in a series of Twelve Projects that are getting under way this year.
Although buffeted by the recession of 1973-74, the Republic of China recovered quickly and regained an economic growth rate averaging 10 per cent annually. Inflation has been modest and there is virtually full employment. Premier Chiang based his economic policy on "growth with stability and stability with growth." He encouraged revision of the investment law to provide more incentives and kept a tight rein on government expenditures. The budget is in balance and currency is sound.
Chiang Ching-kuo has presided over a government of probity and competence. He tolerates neither waste nor corruption. Scientific management is his watchword - but management which always accentuates the human element. To assure sound economic projections under a new six-year plan, he established the Economic Development and Planning Council at the cabinet level and staffed it with top administrators and economists To assure that he is following the wishes of the people, he goes into the countryside and to public and private construction projects to see for him self. After talking to farmers and workers, he has the feel of public opinion and a better idea of what government is doing right or wrong.
Premier Chiang has followed the conviction of his father, President Chiang Kai-shek, that those who are not the Republic of China's enemies are its friends. He has gone beyond government recognitions in the international sector and developed constructive relationships with many other countries. Regardless of the number of states recognizing the Chinese Communists, the Republic of China has more friends. He also believes that the peace of Asia depends on the friendship and alliance of the Republic of China and the United States.
Chiang Ching-kuo is a determined advocate of strong defenses. He served as Minister of National Defense from 1965 to 1969 before moving to the Executive Yuan as Vice Premier.
It was during his tenure at MND that the Chinese Army, Navy and Air Force were given "new look" training and up-to-date weapons. He continues to take a close interest in the armed forces and the welfare of the nation's fighting men.
Premier Chiang assisted C.K. Yen in organizing the Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen and was its chief commissioner from 1957 to 1964. VACRS has resettled hundreds of thousands of retired servicemen and operates nearly 100 productive enterprises, including engineering companies engaged in overseas projects. The VACRS success has made it possible to reduce the average age of the armed forces without imposing hardships on those who have spent many years in the service of the country.
The China Youth Corps was founded by President Chiang in 1952 and grew to a membership of more than 250,000 under the directorship of Chiang Ching-kuo. This organization provides constructive training and wholesome recreation for more than a million young people, especially during school vacation periods. The Premier still takes a personal interest in CYC activities and frequently attends meetings and visits camps to find out what young people are thinking. He also travels to the offshore islands and other remote posts to talk to young soldiers serving in the frontlines.
Chiang Ching-kuo was born in Chekiang province, as was his father. He has one brother, Chiang Wei-kuo, 60. He is married and has three sons and a daughter. His father sent him to Moscow to school when he was 16 years old. Young Chiang attended Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow.
His career in government administration began in 1939 during the War of Resistance Against Japan. He was appointed Administrative Commissioner of southern Kiangsi province and held that post until 1945. As the war with Japan ended, he became Foreign Affairs Commissioner of the Military and Political Administration for Northeast China (1945-1947). The Communist rebellion was mounting in tempo when he was made Deputy Economic Control Supervisor in 1948. He tried to stabilize the economy and cracked down on profiteers and black marketing.
The first Taiwan assignment of Chiang Ching-kuo was as chairman of the Kuomintang Provincial Headquarters in 1949-50. From 1950 to 1954 he was director of the General Political Department of the Ministry of National Defense. He served concurrently as a member of the Kuomintang Reform Committee from 1950 to 1952. He was chief commissioner of the Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen from 1957 to 1964 and then as Deputy Minister of National Defense in 1964 and 1965. He was deputy secretary general of the National Defense Council from 1954 to 1967. He was minister without portfolio for a time and is a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang.
Chiang Ching-kuo has traveled abroad as a representative of the President, the government and the people of the Republic of China. He visited the United States in 1953, 1963, 1965, 1969 and 1970. He met with President John F. Kennedy in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 and President Richard Nixon in 1970. In 1969, he attended the funeral services for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, whom he had known both in the United States and Taiwan. Premier Chiang has many close friends in the American Congress and armed forces.
Other travels have taken Chiang Ching-kuo to Japan, South Korea and Thailand. Since becoming Premier, the heavy pressure of his duties has ruled out foreign- travel. However, he has seen many statesmen and other foreign leaders who visited the Republic of China.
After the death of his father, Chiang Ching-kuo stayed alone at President Chiang's Tzuhu retreat for a month of mourning and meditation. These are a few insights into his character as revealed in the diary that he kept during this period in the spring of 1975 :
- "Suppressing my own grief, I decided to yield to the Central Standing Committee's instruction to carry on as a servant of the Party and the nation even as I performed my duties as a filial son."
- "The history of mankind is full of twists and turns. If we can summon our courage and dedication and march forward earnestly and eagerly, we shall surely overcome all difficulties and achieve the ultimate victory."
"From now on I must make greater contributions to the Party and the nation to atone for the inadequacy of my filial piety and my other insufficiencies in the past. In making this effort, I should exert myself to the utmost without regard to health or life."
- (Upon learning of his election as Chairman of the Kuomintang): "I was uneasy upon hearing this news. With my limited intellectual attainments and virtues, how can I shoulder such important responsibilities? "
- "From now on, I must be responsible to myself and see that I make no more mistakes. It would matter little if I made mistakes harmful only to myself, but it would be a matter of great consequence if these mistakes were made to the detriment of the nation and the people. I must be very careful."
- "If a man can sacrifice himself without fear or worry, he shows the nobleness of his character and depths of his morality. A man possessed of a consistent view of life and death will not be concerned whether he lives or dies, so long as he considers that his sacrifice has served a proper cause."
When confirmed as Premier by the Legislative Yuan in 1972, Chiang Ching-kuo said: "I accepted the position and duties of President of the Executive Yuan with feelings of extreme concern deep in my heart. This is the crucial moment of our life-or-death struggle against the Chinese Communists for the freedom of our people and the rebuilding of our nation. From now on, all of us will face no peaceful journey, but surging waves and pouring rains. Yet I am supremely confident that as long as the government and people share their fate in the same boat, confront ordeals together, join with each other in ultimate sincerity and with one heart, follow the leadership of the President (Chiang Kai-shek), thoroughly implement our national policy of anti-Communism and persist in achieving our goal of national recovery, we shall overcome all difficulties, triumph over all dangers and accomplish the final victory of anti-Communism and national recovery.
"Aware of my limited knowledge and experience, I had not thought of assuming such heavy administrative responsibilities. However, I am confident that in utmost sincerity I shall be able to join with my fellow countrymen at home and abroad to uphold our common convictions and bring together all our efforts in order to serve our country with practical actions and painstaking dedication. Under such conditions, I am ready to sacrifice all that I am and have to reach our objectives. What can never be yielded is the existence of our people and the survival of our nation.
Regardless of what difficulties the future may hold, and no matter how arduous the trials ahead, I swear that I shall do my best to overcome all obstacles, carry out my duty and fulfill my obligations in my sacrifice and struggle for upholding the dignity of the Republic of China, eliminating the tyranny of the rebellious Chinese Communists and realizing the ideals of the Three Principles of the People (of Dr. Sun Yat-sen).
"Since our government established a base for national restoration on Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, my predecessors have, under the leadership of our President, laid a solid and firm foundation for national recovery and reconstruction. With these accomplishments as the base, I shall do my best to work for the nation and serve the people on the principle that 'national interest is above all other interests and the interest of the people should always be given the first priority.' We must enhance our national defense forces through mobilization and combat; improve the livelihood of the people through stability and prosperity; promote social morality through renovation and action; and raise administrative efficiency by streamlining and simplifying the procedures of government. Additionally, we shall actively cultivate youth in all our government departments so as to promote the metabolism of the political sphere. To attain these goals, government and people must be agreed on concepts and views and work together toward common objectives.
"HOW difficult is the situation we are facing! How miserable is the life of our compatriots on the mainland! How frantic is the adverse current of appeasement! How arrogant and rampant the Chinese Communists are! But more important than these, how earnest is the wish of our President for the completion of our mission of national recovery! If we do not do our best to do what we must do at this time and in this place, then I must ask: When and where shall we do it? I shall abide by the law, take up my responsibilities and do my best to see that our government is honest and competent. I trust that all members of the administration will work together with me for these objectives and encourage each other.
"National administration is an undertaking which concerns every citizen of the country and therefore requires every citizen to give the best of his wisdom and his ability. On the other hand, administrative reform is a complicated matter which requires careful deliberation and planning in order to determine the order of importance and priority. I earnestly hope, therefore, that in consideration of my limitations you will permit me to speak less so I can spend my time facing up to reality and getting things done. I hope that all of our countrymen will point out my short-comings from time to time and help me correct my mistakes. If you have suggestions regarding administrative reform, please bring them forward without hesitation. Our President has told us: 'Government is a machine for serving the people.' I am convinced that only that government which works for the people will be supported by the people and can bring into play the full force of its strength. With the great motivating force afforded by the common aspiration of our people, we shall surely be able to carry out the mission of our time. In the words of our President, this is another Northward Expedition of our National Revolution and another reunification of the Republic of China."
Although he has a number of specialties, Chiang Ching-kuo can be regarded as a generalist of government and administration rather than a specialist. He is skilled and informed in civil government and military affairs. He has proved himself in economics by guiding the Republic of China in large-scale infrastructure construction and through the rough seas of a major recession. He is a good Confucian in the sense of being a moderate. He seeks the middle way if it is attainable - but never with any thought that what is right can be compromised. He refuses to coexist with evil, whether it is the wrong of the Communists or of corruption.
Friends of the Republic of China will find that Chiang Ching-kuo has catholic knowledge of the world and has kept up with the international affairs of the 20th century. His semi-annual reports to the Legislative Yuan are not only state-of-the-nation summaries but also provide pointed analyses of the state of the world. In September of 1977, he told legislators:
"The world is still lost in a maze of treacherous changes and instabilities. In the overall perspective, it appears that unless the basic knot can be untied, there is a long way to go before the world situation emerges from confusion to clarity.
"First, the contradiction between the free world and the Communist bloc is unresolved despite the strident clamor for 'detente.' No progress has been made in arms control and the limitation of nuclear weapons. The abuse of human rights behind the Iron Curtain is continuing and even growing worse. There is no way to mitigate the confrontation between the two camps. The so-called substitution of negotiation for confrontation leads only to another form of confrontation.
"Second, local and regional wars are continuing to signal danger for world peace. In Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, one upheaval and sanguine conflict has succeeded another. Nearly all of these entangled conflicts have been complicated by the involvement of Communist influences. True peace and stability are obviously unattainable as long as the Communists survive.
"Third, contrasts between freedom and slavery and between the haves and have-nots remain as sharp as ever. Without any doubt, poverty-stricken areas become hotbeds of evil Communist influences; starving people are prone to become the victims of Communist enslavement. If the democratic camp does not firm up its position, eliminate the source of troubles and set higher sights in its planning, the unfortunate present state of a world that is half free and half slave will be perpetuated indefinitely. Nor will it be easy for the free world to survive.
"What lies at the heart of this murky world situation? It is the fact that the Communists have set a final goal of conquering the world and burying the free democracies. The Communists have clearly made known that incessant struggle is be their means and that they are determined to rebel against the world, but people of the world have not taken cognizance of what is going on. They have clung to the illusion that they can 'peacefully coexist' with the Communists. This is like sustaining and nourishing a cancer that eventually will poison one's body."
Free China, he said, has suffered the most at the hands of the Communists and therefore is uniquely qualified to predict their intentions and combat them. "There is no doubt," he said, "that the Chinese Communists intend to undermine the United States by wooing the United States. This is the most sinister of Communist designs.
"First, to the Chinese Communists the determined anti-Communist stand of the Republic of China is like a thorn in the back that makes them uneasy all the time. Consequently, the Communists clamor to seize Taiwan by military force and at the same time seek to undermine the relationship between the United States and the Republic of China in order to deprive the U.S. of a vitally important stronghold in the Western Pacific.
"Second, the Chinese Communists have always regarded 'burial of the U.S. imperialists' as one of the chief goals of their world revolution. Since they are not strong enough to do this, they are compelled to find other tactics. They seek to lead the United States into diplomatic blunders that will cost America credibility among its allies and destroy its leadership of the free world.
"Third, they try to make use of all united front tactics with the United States in opposing Russia. By pretending to unite with the United States, they can increase their bluffing and bargaining power with Russia and deprive the United States of its position as a counterweight. The Chinese and Russian Communists are really jackals roaming the same range and both seek to conquer the world. The hostility between them is an expression of power struggle within the Communist bloc; their alliance or schism cannot be swayed by U.S. policy."
The American people are showing signs of waking to the danger, he said. They "have expressed their universal opposition against yielding to the preposterous Communist blackmail seeking abandonment of one of their allies. The voice of justice has been raised in the U.S. Congress and in the press. The legislators of various states and cities have passed resolutions pledging moral support to the Republic of China. All of these developments reflect the fact that the broad masses of the American people have come to understand that the continuation of relations between the United States and the Republic of China is crucial to Asian and world peace and that maintenance of the alliance between the two countries is in the best interest of the United States."
As Chiang Ching-kuo views modem history, "The fall of the Chinese mainland to the Communists resulted from an accumulation of historical mistakes and was the greatest human tragedy of this century. The huge territory and the teeming population of China are certain to be influential in world affairs. The question is whether the people of the world want to see China as a member of the free world, contributing to human happiness, or would prefer to connive in the tyrannical rule of the Chinese Communists, thus giving them a free hand to enslave the Chinese people and injure the world. Intelligent people clearly understand that the question is not the so-called 'Taiwan issue' of merging Taiwan in the present constituency of mainland China but of the appropriate form of China itself- whether it is to be a democratic China or a Communist China."
Reiterating the national policy of the Republic of China, Chiang Ching-kuo said.
- "There is only one China, which is the Republic of China personally founded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and there is only one lawful government, which is the government of the Republic of China created in an election based on the Constitution formulated by the National Assembly. We will never tolerate any change in the governmental system and legitimacy of the Republic of China. We are determined to ensure our national independence and freedom and meet every form of challenge."
- "The Republic of China will never change its basic policy of respecting democracy, enforcing the rule of law and protecting human rights. We are determined to safeguard our constitutional system and implement it throughout China."
- "Based on a spirit of independence and initiative and the principles of equality and reciprocity, the Republic of China follows a consistent foreign policy of good neighborliness with other nations, respect for treaties, the promotion of international cooperation, the advancement of international justice and the assurance of world peace. We shall never change our position of adhering to the democratic camp. We shall continue our close and sincere communications with all freedom-loving nations and peoples. We shall not, however, accept any arrangement that might jeopardize our national interest and our national dignity."
- "The Republic of China will never waver from its determined anti-Communist position. We shall never change our established policy of refusing to negotiate with the Chinese Communists. We have pledged ourselves to struggle to the end in recovering the mainland, wiping out Communist tyranny and establishing a new China based on the Three Principles of the People."
The free Chinese people are calling for Chiang Ching-kuo as their next President. They are confident he can lead the nation in implementing this policy and carrying out this program.