The President was speaking in his capacity as Chairman of the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) after listening to a report on the chaotic Chinese mainland situation at a meeting of the party's Central Standing Committee on November 29.
President Chiang spoke out to express the sincere feelings of the millions of Chinese people on Taiwan, the bastion of national recovery, and to demonstrate his own deepest concern. He said:
"In these days, we and other peoples of the world have been closely watching the internal strife on the Chinese mainland. These developments are not surprising. They amount to another cycle of cause and effect arising from the evil nature of the Chinese Communist regime. But the chaotic situation provides the free world with convincing proof that the struggle within the regime is expanding and intensifying. In fact, the regime has further enlarged its worldwide united front activities and those directed against our bastion of national recovery in order to cover up and deflect its crisis. Apparently these ongoing struggles involve the life or death of a handful of people in the regime; the outcome will decide who is to be master and who is to be slave. These struggles are of no help to the people. To the contrary, struggle has aggravated the suffering of the people and filled their lives with excruciating pain. The people continue to feel insecure in spirit and to suffer from lives of hunger and poverty; they remain shackled against action and their families are still scattered and broken.
"The Chinese Communists are trying to perpetuate themselves by fanatically engaging in the impossible 'four modernizations.' We must ask: How can a regime that affords no freedom to live, no political freedom and no economic freedom 'modernize' itself? How can it put forth a 'prospect of Communism?'
"Our compatriots on the mainland, especially the younger generation and including members of the Communist armed forces, Communist cadres and students, have never had a day of freedom and stability, have never had a day in which they had enough to eat and sufficient clothing. To the contrary, they have lived in the mainland crucible of suffering for nearly 30 years. Other countries have come to recognize the truth of charges that human rights have always been violated by the Chinese Communists. People have come to see that in the last 30 years the Chinese Communist regime has become increasingly retrogressive and backward, and that the people have become steadily poorer and society ever shabbier. This has led them to doubt that the people have gained anything whatsoever from the Communist regime. Chou En-lai and Mao Tse-tung are dead and the 'gang of four' has been toppled, but the people on the mainland are no better off and they still are without freedom and human rights. We can see now that the chieftains of the regime will go on to discredit Mao, 'reverse the verdicts' and engage in a new round of struggle. The current situation on the mainland actually marks the beginning of a more extensive and intensive upheaval. As the political cancer of Chinese Communism grows and approaches the terminal stage, the regime will become increasingly rabid and fierce. Our compatriots on the mainland should rise up now for their self-salvation. They should speedily overthrow the Communist regime by emulating our revolutionary martyrs who overthrew the Manchu court. We in our bastion of national recovery - Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu - will coordinate our efforts and cooperate with the people of the mainland to eradicate the tyrannical rule of the Chinese Communist regime.
"In the last 30 years, we in this bastion of national recovery have implemented the Three Principles of the People, carried out national construction, strengthened freedom, protected human rights and attained a life of prosperity. In other words, all of the people have freedom of existence, political freedom and economic free dom. We have been continuously intent upon our efforts to assure freedom, human rights and the good life. All of our efforts are aimed at both the construction of Taiwan and the recovery of the mainland and, in sum, the reconstruction of China and the restoration of its greatness through common struggle with our compatriots on the mainland.
"The situation today is completely clear. Because of the shining light of the Three Principles of the People and the disenchantment of our compatriots on the mainland, the Chinese Communist regime can no longer exploit the natural resources of the land area of 11 million square kilometers nor control the population of 800 million people. We must tell our compatriots on the mainland, who are linked to us by blood and who have responded to the beat of our pulse, that the Communist regime is our common and only enemy and that no matter how the world situation may change, we shall adhere to our consistent position and policy that there is absolutely no possibility of accommodation and negotiation with the Chinese Communist regime, that there is no possibility of our dealing or talking with any Communist state, that we shall never harbor the thought of seeking self-protection through independence, and that we shall never deviate from our course of sincere and all-out solidarity and the continuation of determined struggle for national recovery and revival.
"President Chiang Kai-shek made the National Revolution his life's career by following in the footsteps of our national founding father, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and led us for more than 60 years in the strenuous struggle. In his last will and testament, President Chiang told us to 'recover the mainland.' The last words of his counsel to us mean that 'So long as we in the bastion of national revival on Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu carryon our struggle and augment our strength, we can surely carry out our task of national recovery.' In the light of the current changes taking place on the mainland, we shall watch closely for the signs of another round of convulsive upheaval and prepare to deal with the overall development of the internal chaos and the disruptive struggle of the Chinese Communist regime. We shall fulfill the instructions of the late President Chiang Kai-shek through the co ordination of our efforts, the concentration of our minds and the continuation of our renovation, mobilization and struggle."
President Chiang Ching-kuo asked the China Steel Corporation to begin training personnel to meet the demands of the second stage in construction of the integrated steel mill.
Accompanied by Tsiang Yien-si, secretary general of the Presidential Office, and Chang Feng-shu, minister without portfolio of the Executive Yuan, the President went to Kaohsiung for briefings by executives of the China Shipbuilding Corporation and the Taiwan Machinery Manufacturing Corporation.
The President had breakfast with Kaohsiung Mayor Wang Yu-yun.
Wang reported that all construction projects in the city have been expedited and will be completed in time for Kaohsiung's elevation to special municipality status next July.
The President visited the training center of the Republic of China's Athletic Promotion Association at Tsoying. Seventy-six athletes aged from 10 to 17 are in training.
President Chiang praised Asia's "Iron Man," Yang Chuan-kuang, the chief instructor, for his dedication.
Vice President Shieh Tung-min attributed Taiwan's economic progress, democracy and cultural development to implementation of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People.
The Vice President made the remarks at a Central Government rally commemorating the 113th birthday anniversary of Dr. Sun, the founding father of the Republic of China.
Vice President Shieh said the Republic of China will reach a new stage in its efforts to become a developed nation when the new 12 construction projects are completed in keeping with precepts of the Three Principles of the people.
The Three Principles assure that every citizen will share in the nation's wealth, he said.
Vice President Shieh said the government had managed land and capital problems so as to give more wealth to farmers and city dwellers.
Per capita income reached US$1,300 last year and the gap between the richest and poorest has been narrowed to 4.21 to 1.
The number of poor has been cut from the 391,463 of 1972 to 11,584, the Vice President said.
In politics, Shieh said, the goal of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles is a system of democracy.
Elections have brought out a minimum voting rate of 67.19 per cent and a maximum of 78.4 per cent.
Museums, libraries and concert halls have been built in large numbers, and a program to establish at least one cultural center in every county is being carried out, Vice President Shieh said.
President Chiang Ching-kuo meets U.S. Representative Melvin Price, leader of a 41-member Congressional delegation which visited Taiwan. (File photo)
Free China has always opposed and will continue to oppose any move the United States may take toward "normalization of relations" with the Peiping regime, Foreign Minister Shen Chang-huan said.
Such U.S. moves will not only harm the Republic of China and the United States, but imperil the security of the free world, Shen told the Legislative Yuan.
Answering a question about speculation that the U.S. government has agreed to Peiping's "three conditions for normalization of relations" the foreign minister said:
"The government has made clear that it has never received a notification from Washington that the U.S. has decided to accept the three conditions set by the Peiping regime for normalization."
The U.S. government has denied conducting formal negotiations with the Peiping regime on "normalization," Minister Shen said.
The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty will remain in force, said U.S. Representative Melvin Price (D-I11.), leader of a 41-member Congressional mission which recently visited the Republic of China.
Representative Bob Wilson (R-Calif) of the Armed Services Committee cited the importance of Taiwan's strategic position in the defense of Northeast Asia.
General Wego Chiang, president of the Armed Forces University, attributed the chaotic international situation to the lack of farsighted overall world strategy and consolidated world strength against subversive forces.
He said that because of the prevailing trend of pragmatic concepts in the world arena, democratic countries have been divided and lacking in a common objective.
People cannot distinguish right from wrong and tend to seek gains for their own benefit. The Republic of China is feeling the impact, he said.
General Chiang advocated a sound national strategic command to deal with defense and reconstruction.
In defense, General Chiang urged:
- Strengthening the functions of the National Security Council.
- Establishing a command organization for mainland recovery.
- Setting up an anti-united front command office.
- Augmenting the civil defense system.
Civil defense, he said, should suppress subversion, smuggling and Communist schemes of blockade.
U.S. Ambassador Leonard Unger told American businessmen the U.S. government values their stake in the Republic of China.
Addressing the American Chamber of Commerce, Unger said: "I can assure you that the United States Government greatly values those economic ties (with the ROC), as well as vigorous and constructive commercial, industrial and financial relations which all of you strongly represent.
"It intends that, whatever the future may bring, the essential institutional infrastructure, i.e., the underpinnings of agreements and arrangements between the U.S. and the Republic of China will not be disturbed."
He said "the president and other administration officials have at the same time made clear that this normalization (of ties between Washington and Peiping) must be carried through in a way which does not jeopardize the well-being and prosperity of the people of the Republic of China."
He noted that the international business and financial community continues to show confidence in the ROC.
"Bilateral trade and further economic development is stimulated by the loan and guarantee activities of the U.S. Eximbank, which has made commitments of US$2.2 billion to the ROC," he said.
The chairman of Eximbank has expressed the bank's intention "to continue long-term lending for future projects here to support U.S. exports of goods and services," he said.
"The ROC's international competitive position has remained strong," he said, citing Taiwan's advance from an agricultural economy to one that is basically industrialized.
He cited the narrowing disparities in income.
"Income earned by the top 20 percent of the population is only 4.2 times higher than the lowest 20 percent, a dramatic real improvement from the ratio of 15:1 that applied 25 years ago," he declared.
There are problems, however. He cited the rising money supply, shortage of industrial workers and soaring wages.
The biggest danger is the unbalanced and too highly concentrated structure of the ROC's trade position, which relies on Japan as a supplier and the United States as a market. He urged the ROC to lift import barriers.
"The massive imbalance in ROC-U.S. trade, which is still growing, must be redressed and promptly, or the pressures for protection will be irresistible," he said.
Per capita income in the Republic of China will rise to NT$72,547 (US$2,015) by 1981, the Council for Economic Planning and Development predicted.
Reporting to the Legislative Yuan's Committee on Economic Affairs, CEPD chairman Yu Kuo-hua said the projection is based on assumption that the population increase will be held to 1.8 per cent annually during the next three years, the second half of the current six-year economic development plan.
The growth target for the next three years has been raised from 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent annually.
Inflation will be held to 5 percent annually and unemployment kept below 2.7 percent during the 1979-81 period.
Foreign trade will continue to grow briskly during the next three years. The target for export growth is 15.4 percent annually, while that for imports is 19.5 percent.
Two-way trade volume is expected to reach US$38.12 billion (1977 $s) in 1981 with a favorable balance of US$300 million.
Taiwan is known for its wide variety of fruit. Grapes are grown for table use and processing into wine. (File photo)
Other major goals for the remaining three years of the six-year plan:
- Population growth will be reduced from 1978's 1.8 percent to 1.7 percent in 1981 with labor supply increasing from 6,390,000 to 6,900,000.
- Manpower requirement will increase from 6,210,000 to 6,710,000.
- Agricultural population will shrink at the rate of 23,000 persons annually - falling from 1,590,000 to 1,520,000.
- Industrial workers will increase from 2,430,000 to 2,770,000, averaging 110,000 persons a year.
- Workers in service industries will rise from 2,190,000 to 2,420,000, averaging 77,000 persons a year.
- The employment structure will undergo the following changes:
- Agricultural workers will account for 22.6 percent of the work force in 1981, down from 25.6 percent in 1978.
- Industrial workers will constitute 41.3 percent of the work force, up from 39.2 percent.
- Service personnel will account for 36.1 percent of the work force, up from 35.2 percent.
Revised targets for the last half of the six-year plan have been approved by the Cabinet.
Insured persons under the government's compulsory system have exceeded 2 million and insured units have surpassed 25,200.
The Labor Insurance Bureau said the program was started in March, 1950, with 128,625 persons covered.
For the fully employed, employers contribute 80 percent of the premiums, representing 8 per cent of wages, and the remainder is paid by the insured. Part-time workers pay 70 percent and the government pays 30 percent.
Government and private enterprises and commercial companies with 10 or more employees must join the program.
Insurance covers child welfare, injury, sickness, disability, old age and death. In cases of sickness and injury, free medical treatment and hospitalization is provided in lieu of cash payments. Child birth is included.
The bureau has paid NT$18.3 billion (US$508.3 million) in benefits. Contracts with hospitals numbered 1,528 at the end of October.
Import of crude oil exceeded 120 million barrels in 1978 worth about US$1.6 billion. This was an increase of 2 million barrels in quantity and US$200 million in value over 1977.
T.H. Lee, president of the Chinese Petroleum Corporation, predicted an increase of about 10 percent in 1977.
Lee said CPC has signed a contract with Ecuador for regular delivery of oil in 1979.
M.L. Chang, CPC vice president, reported he had received a promise from a French oil company in Abu Dhabi to increase shipments from 10,000 barrels to 150,000 barrels in 1979.
CPC refining capacity will be increased by 100,000 barrels daily in 1979, raising the total to 560,000 barrels.
Biggest suppliers of CPC are Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, each providing about 40 percent of the requirement. Oil also comes from Indonesia and Borneo.
Taipower is not contemplating a rate increase, said David Chu Shu-lin, president of the stage-owned utility.
The investment return at the end of June, 1978, was 9.8 percent compared with the minimum of 9.5 percent set by the government.
By the World Bank formula, the return was 11 percent compared with a standard of 10 percent.
Taipower charges the equivalent of US$3.54 per KWH, less than in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Average power consumption was 1,810 KWH in 1977, about 10 times the level on the Chinese mainland. The Korean figure is about 800 KWH.
Nearly all the people (99.7 percent) have power. The use of home appliances is extensive. At the end of January, 1977, of 100 households in Taiwan, 88 had TV sets, 74.8 had refrigerators, 38.8 had washing machines, 5.9 had air-conditioners, 91.6 had electric fans and 86.2 had electric rice cookers.
Chu said Taipower is expanding facilities to meet the estimated 12.4 percent annual increase in power consumption. By the end of 1981, installed capacity will be 9,920,000 KW. Power consumption per household will be 2,514 KWH.
Factories will have as much power as they need. Chu estimates that industrial power consumption will reach 32,100,000,000 KWH in 1981. Two nuclear plants will be in full operation. As of 1981, hydroelectric power will account for 9.7 per cent of the output, nuclear generation 17.7 percent and thermal generation 72.6 percent.
Two years after the start of operations, Taichung Harbor is a paying concern.
The international port in west central Taiwan was opened October 31, 1976. By October 31, 1978, the port had handled 946 ships, unloading 3,786,344 metric tons of cargo and loading 340,944 metric tons.
Taichung Harbor is 11 to 13 meters deep at low tide. A 70,000-ton ship was able to berth for unloading maize and other grains, although it wasn't able to enter Keelung or Kaohsiung Harbors.
Taichung has lessened the distance for inland transportation. Goods destined for or shipped from six central Taiwan cities and counties had to move an average of 198.19 kilometers before the port was opened. This has been cut to 60.24 kilometers with savings of NT$1, 309,520,000 (US$34,987,000) in two years.
The Taichung Harbor Bureau has reclaimed 850 hectares of tidal land worth about NT$19 billion and collected NT$272 million in harbor dues, NT$6,850,000 in supplementary levies and NT$30,240,000 in commodity taxes.
The top beneficiary is Wuchi, site of Taichung Harbor. The sleepy, windswept fishing village had a population of 20,000 in 1972 and 30,000 in 1978. Companies increased from 218 to 431 and tax revenues rose from NT$2,496,000 to NT$ 19,000,000.
Agricultural growth of Taiwan was estimated at minus 2.04 percent in 1978, far below the targeted 1.7 percent, the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction said.
JCRR chairman Robert C.T. Lee noted growth of 10.7 percent in 1977, and said it was difficult to continue the trend.
Two devastating typhoons in 1977 reduced 1978 sugar cane and banana yields. The government was forced to reduce 1978 rice output after years of bumper crops had produced a large surplus.
Despite the decline, output of such major food items as rice, vegetables, fruits, fishery products and meat has been more than sufficient for domestic consumption.
This was a preliminary 1978 breakdown:
- Farm crops: down by 3.71 percent.
- Animal products: down by 0.56 percent.
- Fishery products: up by 3 percent.
- Forestry: down by 3 percent.
Lee said per capita income of agricultural workers in 1977 dropped to 63.57 percent of that for non-agricultural workers compared with the 67-68 percent of previous years.
The government has appropriated NT$l3 billion for agricultural rejuvenation since 1973. This has helped to boost the income of the farm population, Lee said.
Between 1972 and 1976, farmers' income registered an increase of 34 per cent compared with 32 per cent for non-agricultural workers.
Rapid development of Kaohsiung after it becomes a special municipality next July is anticipated. The port city will be able to keep most of its tax revenues.
Kaohsiung revenues exceed NT$9.6 billion a year. But the city has kept only NT$3 billion of this.
Kaohsiung has had to spend the lion's share of income on culture, education and payment of salaries, leaving only NT$800 million for consolidation.
As a city under the Taiwan Provincial Government, Kaohsiung has turned over NT$5.3 billion to the Central Government and NT$2.3 billion to the Provincial Government. Status of the harbor is in doubt.
There will be a wide-ranging organizational overhaul. Mayor Wang Yu-yun, who is serving his second four-year term, is expected to stay on.
Taiwan Province will set aside NT$800 million for the construction of a reservoir at Chiayi, Chen Wen-hsiang, director of the Water Conservancy Bureau, reported. Construction will take four years.
The reservoir will provide water for households and industries in Chiayi and neighboring cities and towns.
The existing Lan Tan reservoir is too small.
The new Jen Yi Tang reservoir will hold 243 hectares of water and have capacity of 28.64 million cubic meters. It will also be a scenic attraction.
The Provincial Government will spend nearly NTS5 billion to develop 14,275 hectares of tidal land throughout Taiwan, Chen said.
Cost of developing a hectare of tidal land will be about NTS350,000. Total cost will exceed NTS 4,996 million.
This is the breakdown:
- Northern Taiwan: 941 hectares in the central and southern parts of Hsinchu county and Tunghsiao in Miaoli county.
- Taichung: Kaomei and Lungching, 843 hectares.
- Changhua: Development at Shengkang, Lunwei, Lukang, Fuhsing, Hanpao and Yunghsing with total area of 6,180 hectares.
- Chiayi: Locations at Tungszu, Hsinwen and Putai in an area of 2,041 hectares.
- Tainan: Locations at Peimen and Chikou with area of 1,485 hectares.
- Southern Taiwan: Tuchengtze, Szuchao Lake and Ssukunsheng areas of 530 hectares.
- Penghu: Development at Makung with an area of 92 hectares.
Tidal areas will be turned over to farmers and fishermen. The Provincial Government will welcome investment by private businessmen.