''To safeguard human freedom and resist Communist slavery" is the brightly shining banner of the movement supporting Captive Nations Week and also the mainstream of the 20th century. This great movement was initiated by the U.S. Congress. Various circles in this country were the first to respond in 1961, and the movement subsequently received strong support from member countries of the World Anti-Communist League. This has promoted the solidarity of anti-Communist forces throughout the world and has inspired in Communist-enslaved peoples the courage and the confidence to seek freedom and survival.
To resist slavery is to regain freedom. Freedom is one of man's fundamental rights and the goal of our common endeavors. This is so because freedom is made up of these lofty essentials:
- Freedom is the signpost of justice. This is to say that freedom can be reached only by upholding justice. If we retreat from the principle of justice and bow to the forces of evil, we shall not only fail to win freedom, but also deny hope of survival to the enslaved, thus further whetting the cupidity of the aggressors and their tyrannical regimes.
- Freedom symbolizes kindness and love, which express the universal truth and significance of life. These values are to be defined in an altruistic and not a selfish sense and also in a philanthropic rather than a misanthropic sense. So it may be said that kindness and love constitute the basis for world salvation and the fountainhead of freedom. Only by developing the spirit of kindness and love can we unite the forces of freedom. To obliterate hatred with kindness and love is to defeat slavery with freedom.
- Freedom is the key to peace. True peace must be based on freedom. We have no slightest doubt that permanent peace for the world depends on the victory of human freedom. In other words, the universal realization of freedom depends upon the liberation of the enslaved people; only when the Captive Nations have broken the hold of totalitarian rule can true world peace be attained.
The history of evolving human civilization is to be equated with humanity's overcoming of violence and with freedom's victory over slavery. Those people who struggle for freedom have always won the final victory with the greatness and resolution of their will and dauntlessness of their spirit. This means that in all history there has never been an enslaving tyranny which was not destroyed by anti-tyrannical people, and there has never been a freedom-depriving totalitarianism which was not swept away by those striving for freedom. Today, the evil forces of Communism are rampant and the adverse current of international appeasement is running high. Yet this is a mere transitional period of darkness before the dawn. I believe implicitly that man's conscience is intact and that the torch of freedom continues to bum brightly and, fully in keeping with the trend of history, is straightforwardly marching toward victory.
In the last more than two decades, all of the turmoils and troubles facing Asian and other peoples of the world may be considered a prolongation of the tragedy that befell the Chinese mainland in the Communist usurpation. The complex and chaotic world situation of today results from the devilish Communists' ex port of violence and their sup porting terrorist activities and instigation of subversion and dissension everywhere.
Internally, the Maoist Communists face increasingly serious divisions, turmoil and violent power struggle. As they seek survival and freedom, our mainland compatriots are engaged in continuous and increasingly furious struggles against the handful of their suppressors. This affords positive proof that Mao thought and the Communist system are totally bankrupt and abhorred by the freedom-loving people.
This is the crucial moment in which we must extinguish Communist slavery and safeguard democracy and freedom. We must consolidate ourselves in this anti-Communist bastion, unite the forces of freedom, inspire moral courage and reinforce our faith in the final victory. "Distinguish Friends From Foes! Strengthen the Anti-Communist Camp!" and "Down With International Communist Tyranny! Liberation of Mainland Chinese Foremost!" are this year's leading themes in support of the Captive Nations Week movement. These are guideposts pointing out the correct direction of our path. Our goal is not only to assist the enslaved people in regaining their freedom, but also to bring to a halt the Communists' continuing expansion and aggression against the free countries - to safeguard free peoples from further Communist slavery and persecution.
As we gather here to mark this great movement, we shall bear in mind that it was a movement initiated by the U.S. Congress, whose call for justice, motivation of kindness and love, and aspiration for peace are highly esteemable. We know that man's search for freedom is in accord with the traditional American spirit. In the year of the American Bicentennial, it is especially important for us, standing here within the democratic camp and under the beacon light of freedom, to express our determination to struggle to the end in support of the Captive Nations.
The people of the Republic of China are the vanguard of anti-Communist freedom fighters. We heed the last testaments of our Founding Father Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the late President Chiang Kai-shek in taking our stand for benevolence and righteousness and in seeking the salvation of our country and the world. No matter how the world situation may change, our will to struggle forward will never waver and our anti-Communist undertakings will never cease. We shall not just wait to see the Chinese Communist collapse, but shall take the initiative and defeat the enemy before he knows it. We are supremely confident that "success rests in our hands." We shall close ranks with all the freedom and democracy-loving and anti-Communist and anti-slavery peoples of the world in this common struggle. In so doing, we shall add a glorious page to our history and assure a brilliant tomorrow for the world.