My fellow countrymen:
The establishment of the Republic of China laid the foundation for the democratic political system of our nation and heralded the emergence of independence for Asian countries. As we jubilantly celebrate our National Day, the brilliance of the occasion fills the en tire universe.
Imbued with our traditional culture, guided by the Three Principles of the People and inspired by the calls of the Founding Father, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and the late President Chiang Kai-shek, the Chinese people - military and civilian alike - have resisted imperialists externally and have subjugated warlords and bandits internally. Our people had to assure the internal security of the nation before mounting their effort of resistance against the external aggressor. Since then, the people have grown in power and vigor. We have always remained in the democratic camp while marching toward our goal of building a modern nation in accordance with the Three Principles of the People. Today, here on this bastion of freedom, we have constructed our model of prosperity and progress, and have provided our mainland compatriots with hope of a better life. We are contributing to the high ideal of human peace by adhering to our sacred goal of national recovery and reconstruction.
In the last more than 20 years, the Chinese Communist regime has resorted to brute force and deception in carrying out liquidation and struggle, and in slaughtering tens of millions of people in order to control the lives and suppress the freedom of several hundred million people. With its pretense of smiles, this regime exported violence, carried out infiltration and subversion, abetted terrorism and sought to divide and conquer the democratic camp in the effort to fulfill its dream of "world revolution." All of this serves to show that the Peiping regime not only has aligned itself against the morality, history and culture of the Chinese people but has also dared to defy mankind's free way of life. The Tienanmen riot of April 5 exemplified the bitter animosity of the mainland people. After the earthquakes of Tangshan, Tientsin and Peiping in late July, the Chinese Communists covered up the scope of the disasters, refused offers of outside relief and took advantage of the opportunity to enlarge their struggles. These events served to demonstrate the tyrannical nature of Chinese Communist rule and the viciousness of its skills in organized control, propagandistic deception and social suppression.
Mao Tse-tung's death brings to an end the life of a dictator and traitor and marks the beginning of the total collapse of "Mao thought" and the "Mao system."
Today, a handful of Maoist remnants is holding onto the ghost of Mao and engaging in last-ditch struggle. Schism and paralysis at the leadership level, the various schemes of local chieftains and the partition conspiracies of warlords will lead to new complications in the chaotic mainland situation and bring on ever more furious struggles. Mainland compatriots who are being subjected to crueler and more frantic suppression and persecution will surely build up a high tide of anti-Communism and send its surging against the tyrannical regime in a steadily growing movement. We may confidently assert that no new realignment of Chinese Communist personnel and no change or revision or camouflage will make any basic alteration in the inhuman nature of the regime. Nor can the Chinese Communists escape their doom of final collapse. Our mainland compatriots now will be more resolute in resistance to any bloody suppression or cruel persecution by the Chinese Communist party. They will coalesce with the anti-Communist forces on our bastion of freedom, encircle the Communists and win the sacred war of liberation.
Facing these stormy changes in the mainland situation, we cannot for a moment forget the distress of mainland compatriots who are awaiting their salvation. We say to them, after many years of Communist devastation, killing and dislocation: You must have come to realize the Communists' inhumanity. Will you now hesitate to brave all difficulties and risks in escaping from this concentration camp of slavery and this dark hell? The Communist cadres and servicemen are facing a time of incessant struggle and must all be aware of their own danger. This is the moment of a millennium and the time for you to rouse your conscience and rise against this totalitarian and tyrannical regime. Can you afford not to forsake the darkness and come over to us for your own salvation?
People of the Republic of China - military and civilian alike - regard anti-Communism and national salvation as their duty and responsibility. What we want to strike down are the Communist chieftains and their measures; what we want to eradicate are the poisonous remnants of Mao thought and the Mao system. The Peiping regime has reached the end of its road. With firm will and kindly intent, we call upon our mainland compatriots - and especially the Maoist-driven cadres and servicemen of all ranks and classes - to renounce in good time the ways of crime and their dark dungeon and return to the ways of justice and the environment of light. We are carrying out the sincere calls of the late President Chiang Kai-shek to "ally ourselves in spirit and close our ranks in action." We are solemnly committed to his pledge that "Those who are not our enemies are our comrades." We shall provide support and assistance from the air and the sea to all anti-Communist revolutionary actions on the mainland and encourage defectors from behind the enemy's lines to take concurring action. We shall provide immediate help to freedom seekers and assure them of their free livelihood and right to existence. All of us should unite wholeheartedly under the banner of San Min Chu I (The Three Principles of the People) so as to fertilize and plant the soil of our national culture and join in our common endeavors of national independence, equality of rights and the people's well-being.
Our task of anti-Communism and national recovery is in fact a confronting of the Chinese Communists with our substance matched against the enemy's emptiness, with our sincerity opposing his deception, with our mainstream countering his cross-current, with our legitimacy ranged against his usurpation and with our solidarity arrayed against his disintegration. So it is that San Min Chu I shines forth brilliantly while Communism is eclipsed. Today in our bastion of national reconstruction, we are strong and our light is powerful. Our mainland compatriots are longing to come over to us. Furthermore, intelligent people the world over are expressing their distaste for Communism. Mao thought and the Communist system are thus proved bankrupt. This cannot be covered up by the lies of Communist propaganda.
We shall not, however, sit idly on the sidelines and wait for change in the international and Chinese Communist situations. Nor shall we pin our hopes on the enemy's foolishness and confusion. We shall take control of the situation and seize the initiative in the struggle, thereby deciding the destiny of our country with our own blood and strength. In the meantime, we must point out that the Communist bloc feigns friendly gestures to the free world in the hope of bringing about its disintegration and of attacking the free countries one by one. We hope, therefore, that the democratic countries will come to discern the trap of detente, heighten their anti-Communist vigilance and recognize that freedom and peace can never be based on the mirage of appeasement and compromise. With firm, courageous and united action, we may hope to terminate the present tendency of mistaking "right for wrong" and "repeating wrongs in order to be right."
Our government is today continuing to carry out established foreign and domestic policies based on its anti-Communist position. This leaves no room for compromise. Internally, we are carrying out various construction projects, strengthening national defenses and spurring economic development in the interest of the country and for the welfare of the people. Externally, we are seeking true friendship and stronger, more substantial relations with other countries on a basis of good faith and respect. Our diligent and courageous people are of one heart; so it is that society is replete with fresh vigor. The overseas Chinese are dauntless in overcoming all frustrations. No matter where they may be, they adhere to the cause of the free fatherland. Mainland compatriots are loyal and unanimously opposed to the Communists. Consequently, they constitute our biggest and most courageous reserve force. Our armed forces have honed their military skills, are at peak level in morale and are combat-ready. Their mood can best be described in the saying, "Remember being in the city of Chu," and they are "using their weapons as pillows while awaiting the daybreak." Engineers and workers of the Ten Major Projects are serving wholeheartedly in the spirit of "moving mountains and the sea" to "tame the elements." The total devotion of our intelligence and our hearts assures the complete success of our national recovery and reconstruction.
My fellow countrymen: We face today an extraordinary situation and shoulder a unique task. We must pursue the concepts, actions and working attitudes that will enable us to create the conditions and grasp the opportunities. The intelligence and the power of the people must be solidly welded together. Each of us must promote his spirit of service, perform his solemn duty, devote himself to modem construction, firm up his combat will and direct his every action to expediting the complete collapse of the Chinese Communists. We shall not permit material desires to contaminate our mentality, nor vanity and hedonism to poison our purity and simplicity. We shall call upon morality to eliminate our bad habits of old, to enrich and glorify our culture and to assure a society which is tranquil and happy.
We have raised high our banner of righteousness and taken over at the helm of history. I believe with all my heart that our unremitting efforts and actions will bring the dawn of a bright day, lead to steadily expanding achievements in the construction of our bastion and speed the arrival of total victory in the National Revolution!