Twenty-two years ago today in Korea 22,000 Chinese and Korean soldiers who had been taken prisoners of war successfully resisted Communist coercion and chose freedom en masse. This magnificent renunciation of violence and upholding of benevolence is a brilliant hallmark of man's quest for freedom. The convening of this rally in the Republic of China and the attendance of anti-Communist friends of high repute from all over the world are matters of great to the distinguished guests who have come from faraway lands significance. I must first of all extend the warmest of welcomes
The wise and correct choice of the anti-Communist POWs and their dauntless spirit have inspired the people of the world in many ways. First, the love of freedom is an element of human conscience and rooted in human nature. Man cannot be enticed into altering this fundamental truth; nor will he be frightened into abandoning it. The harsher the suppression of freedom, the stronger the resistance against tyranny. Second, negated. Whenever they have the behind the Communist Iron Curtain is a totalitarian and slave society in which human rights are destroyed and human nature is slightest chance, the people living under tyrannical Communist rule will seek freedom even at the risk of their lives. The POWs ate the most persuasive witnesses of that. Third, freedom's triumph over slavery, justice's defeat of violence and the dawn's termination of the night are ordained and inescapable. World Freedom Day brings this truth into fullest effulgence.
Man is facing an unprecedented challenge. Freedom is threatened by slavery and justice by violence. Whether the free nations have the prescience and courage to meet this challenge will decide the course of man's destiny, the security or insecurity of the world and the weal or woe of humankind. Although we are convinced that freedom and justice will triumph in the end, we still need to curb expansion of the force of evil as soon as possible. We must end the world status quo of "half slave and half free" before we can alleviate the suffering of the enslaved and shorten the distance to freedom and real peace.
The Communists are covering up their war with "peace talks" to demoralize and even disarm their opponents. This is a bitter free world experience exemplified in the tragic disaster of Indochina's fall. In the last year, South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were successively lost to the Communists. Tens of millions of innocent people have been murdered, persecuted or starved. This tragedy proves that illusions of detente and appeasement can never improve the world situation. To the contrary, detente and appeasement will encourage the Communists and make new catastrophes inevitable.
I want to point out that Communism on the Chinese mainland is the root source of world turmoil. In the last more than 20 years, several Asian countries have been the victims of Chinese Communist aggression. This shows
that we must restore the human rights of the 700 million mainland people, extinguish the rule of force and eradicate Communism from the Chinese mainland before we can ensure the freedom and peace of Asia. Unfortunately, some democratic countries still lack an understanding of what is required. Their policies and actions do not contribute to Asian security. To the contrary, these policies and measures have abetted Communist infiltration and subversion and added to world turmoil.
The unstable structure and sharpening internal struggle of the Maoist regime have led to a crisis situation. The Chinese Communists have clamored that "there is a great disorder under heaven and the situation is excellent" in an attempt to profit from the world's distress. In the midst of this chaos the Chinese Communists are doing their utmost to exploit, persecute, liquidate and struggle against the people of the mainland. Yet the masses of peasants and workers, the intellectual youths and all the people who long for democracy and freedom have dared to sound the call to resistance at the risk of their lives. They are engaged in a life-or-death struggle against the Chinese Communists, directly or indirectly and by different means and at different places. When one freedom fighter falls, another takes his place. This powerful anti-Communist current is relentlessly sweeping the Maoist regime over its last brink and to ruin and collapse.
We are firm in our belief that the history of human civilization is also the story of the development of human nature and of man's struggle against violence and for freedom. In his World Freedom Day message last year, President Chiang Kai-shek said: "As of today, all peoples are firming up their hearts in support of the free world; the current of the times is flowing toward the side of liberty. In the struggle against the Communists and in the cause of freedom, we are morally strong and the enemy is weak, we are benevolent and the enemy is despotic, we are the majority and the enemy is the minority in terms of public acceptance." This counsel firmed up confidence in the success of our struggle against the Communists. The vigorous growth of the World Freedom Day movement is a natural result of this irresistible current of the times.
Our continuing struggle in this bastion of national recovery and revival is intended to kindle the torch of hope for freedom that is being held high by our compatriots on the mainland and to wipe out the source of turmoil and the scourge of humankind. We will remain firmly in the democratic camp. We will unite ourselves strongly with the forces of freedom in the free world and attain our objective of "struggling against Communism for freedom" and "uniting for the struggle against Communism." This will enable us to promote the well-being of the world and add a brilliant new page to the history of peace.