Africa and China are not exactly strangers. Their first meetings of record go back in history nearly 600 years. Emperor Yung-lo, third in the line of Ming, sat the imperial throne. He reached out not only to Japan but also into the Southern Ocean (South China Sea) and thence to India, the Middle East and the east coast of Africa.
The first fleet of Yung-lo, who reigned from 1403 to 1424, set sail in 1405 under command of Cheng Ho, a Moslem eunuch from Yunnan. The first fleet of 62 vessels carried 28,000 men as far as India, returning in 1407. Subsequent voyages touched at Aden, Hormuz on the Persian Gulf and at African ports.
These were remarkable voyages. The Chinese armadas included large junks with four decks and watertight compartments. They had the compass, a Chinese invention, and made six knots in a favorable wind. Some mariners abandoned the headland to headland manner of sailing and moved out into the open sea. The fleets of Cheng Ho returned with such curiosities as ostriches, zebras and giraffes.
Ming rulers did not continue the explorations after 1433. They were concerned with the tremendous cost and the need for money at home. Africa had been touched, however, and without resort to any early version of colonialism. That precedent was respected when the Republic of China renewed interest of the Chinese in Africa during the latter part of the 20th century.
Friendly free Chinese hands were outstretched to Africa in the 1950s. Then, in 1961, Liberia expressed interest in sharing the agricultural lessons which had been learned on Taiwan. The dispatch of agricultural demonstration teams to African countries began and has continued ever since. African agriculturalists were brought to Taiwan for a series of five-month seminars on the growing of rice and other crops.
More than 30 African countries have been assisted over the years. Demonstration teams have ranged in size from half a dozen to nearly 200. All carry out their work on a basis of friendship and no participation in politics. Technical cooperation also has extended to medicine, veterinary medicine, engineering, city planning, handicrafts, industry and other endeavors of interest to developing countries.
Several African chief executives have visited the Republic of China at the invitation of President Chiang Kai-shek. The latest to come was President Dawda Kairaba Jawara, president of The Gambia, who arrived October 16 for a stay of eight days. President Jawara was accompanied by his wife and a group of other Gambian leaders.
Gambia is a small country but important in the British Commonwealth and the Organization of African Unity. Lying on both sides of the Gambia River, the country gained self-government in 1963 and became a sovereign nation within the Commonwealth in 1965. In 1970, it was proclaimed a republic. Gambian membership in the United Nations, where it was a consistent supporter of the Republic of China, dates to 1965.
As Britain's first colony in Africa—purchased in 1588-Gambia has British traditions. English is the official language. Bathurst, the capital, has a flavor of the English seaside. Total area is about 4,000 square miles.
At first, Gambia was under rule of the Royal African Company with headquarters in London. The company's Court of Directors appointed a committee to administer the territory. After dissolution of the company in 1821, Gambia came under the British Crown as a dependency of Sierra Leone. Separation from Sierra Leone took place in 1888. Gambia's governor was appointed by the crown. His advisory council of chief secretary and chief justice became the forerunner of the legislative council and the present House of Representatives.
First parliamentary elections were conducted in 1947. By 1960, the House of Representatives had been firmly established and the foundation laid for elective government. P.S. N'Jie was accorded the title of chief minister in 1961 in recognition of his standing as leader of the other ministers and of the majority party.
General elections under universal adult suffrage were held in 1961. The People's Progressive Party's victory brought Sir Dawda Jawara to the premiership.
Economically, The Gambia ("The" is to avoid confusion with Zambia) maintains an open door trade policy and welcomes foreign investment. Incentives offered investors are much like those of the Republic of China, including tax and tariff concessions, repatriation of profits and capital and 100 per cent foreign ownership.
Freedom of the press is guaranteed and there are two daily newspapers. Radio Gambia is organized along the lines of the British Broadcasting Corporation. There is no television. Children between 6 and 12 attend some 70 primary schools. There is a public high school in Bathurst and several private secondary schools. A normal college is training teachers.
Gambia is one of the most progressive countries of Africa. President Jawara was educated at Achimota College in Ghana and Glasgow University in Scotland. He became a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1953 and earned a Diploma in Tropical Veterinary Medicine at Edinburgh in 1957. His political career as leader of the People's Progressive Party began in 1960. He has served as a member of the House of Representatives, minister of education, premier and prime minister in addition to president.
In the difficult days of the Chinese Communist assault on the Republic of China's seat at the U.N., The Gambia and President Jawara stood firm with so many other African friends of the free Chinese cause. Gambia has not followed its mentor, Great Britain in this respect. It is significant that President Jawara made his trip to Taiwan just after the Japanese had recognized the Chinese Communists and almost exactly a year after Peiping was admitted to the U.N.
President Jawara's faith in the free Chinese future was expressed in Gambia's two-year renewal of the technical cooperation agreement with the ROC government. Signing were Minister of Agriculture Alhaji Badara N'Jie for Gambia and Economic Affairs Minister Y.S. Sun for the Republic of China. This was the third extension of an accord originally signed in August of 1966.
Ten additional agricultural specialists will be sent to Gambia, where a team of 35 Chinese is already working. The group has helped Gambians develop 1,245 hectares of land and has trained 5,818 farmers and specialists. Twelve Gambians have come to Taiwan to participate in the agricultural seminars for Africans.
President Jawara showed his respect and admiration for the Chinese agriculturalists with posthumous decoration of Frank Lee, who died of illness in Gambia while leading the Taiwan team there. Mrs. Lee received from President Jawara the Order of Officer of the Republic of Gambia at a Taipei ceremony. The Lees' daughter, Wei-min, and the father of Frank Lee, Lee Tien-hsiung, were present. President Jawara said that overwork was a contributing factor in the death of Frank Lee. A bronze statue has been erected in Bathurst to mark Lee's contributions to The Gambia.
Toast to Gambian-ROC friendship. From left, Mrs. C. K. Yen, President Jawara, Vice President Yen, Lady Jawara. (File photo)
President and Lady Jawara landed at the Sungshan Military Airport in Taipei, and was greeted by Vice President Yen Chia-kan. With the Jawaras were Vice President and Minister of External Affairs Andrew Camara, Minister of Agriculture and National Resources N'Jie, Presidential Secretary-General Eric Herbert Christensen, Deputy Permanent Secretary of External Affairs Omada Ansouman Diarra and Assistant Commander of Gambia Police S.Y. Samba. President Jawara was not coming to Taiwan for the first time. He had visited the island province in November of 1968, when he was prime minister.
Acting on behalf of President Chiang Kai-shek to greet the distinguished guests, Vice President Yen read a message of welcome from the Chinese chief of state. President Chiang said leaders of the Republic of China had been looking forward to exchanges of views with President Jawara. These would not only contribute to closer relations between the two countries, he said, but also would serve the cause of international peace and justice.
President Jawara responded that "This happy occasion will afford our two countries a further opportunity to consolidate and expand the fraternal and harmonious relations which have developed between us as well as to strengthen the fruitful cooperation which has characterized these relations in the past." He went on to cite the influence of Chinese history, traditions and achievements throughout the world.
Mayor Chang Feng-hsu presented the golden key to Taipei to President Jawara. Full military honors were accorded and President Jawara reviewed the guard of honor. The African visitors were accompanied to the Presidential Suite at the Grand Hotel by Vice President and Mrs. Yen. Crowds waving Gambian flags lined the boulevards leading from the airport to the hotel overlooking the city. Decorations were exchanged by the Jawaras and Yens in the afternoon. President Jawara also decorated Foreign Minister Shen Chang-huan and sent decorations to Premier Chiang Ching-kuo, Deputy Foreign Minister Yang Hsi-kun and Presidential Secretary-General Cheng Yin-fun.
President and Lady Jawara then called upon Madame Chiang Kai-shek at the Shihlin presidential residence. The Chinese First Lady received Gambia's highest decoration and presented President and Lady Jawara with the Special Grand Cordon of the Order of Propitious Clouds. In the evening, the visitors were the guests of Vice President and Mrs. Yen at a state dinner. The scene was the Chungshan Hall atop Yangmingshan in suburban Taipei. Ranking government officials and members of the foreign diplomatic corps attended.
The Gambia presidential couple had a busy second day in the Taipei area. President Jawara went to the Yuanshan Martyrs Shrine in the morning to lay a wreath in memory of the nation's war dead. Lady Jawara was visiting the Chinese Women's Anti-Aggression League at the same time. They then went together to the headquarters of the Sino-African Technical Cooperation Association and participated in the opening of an African Exhibition Hall. After that came stops at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, the National Palace Museum and the Chinese Display Center. The visitors took an active interest in everything they saw and asked many questions.
On the morning of the third day, Wednesday, October 18, President and Lady Jawara went to the Cheng Hsing Rehabilitation Center at Shihpai in suburban Taipei. The Gambian leader commented on the modern equipment for the treatment of crippled children. Cheng Hsing was established by Madame Chiang Kai-shek, who continues to take a deep interest in its work. In the afternoon, President Jawara, who is an ardent golfer, played a round at the picturesque Tamsui Country Club overlooking the river of the same name and the Taiwan Straits. His partners were Ministry of Communications Henry Kao, Taipei Mayor Chang Feng-hsu and other government and business leaders. Scores of the friendly match remained a state secret.
The Chinese government is always eager to see that visitors get out of Taipei and see something of the island province. On the morning of the fourth day, the Jawaras flew to Hualien on the east coast. Waiting at Hualien airport to greet the friends from Africa were Governor and Mrs. Hsieh Tung-ming. They inspected a marble quarry and processing plant of the Retired Servicemen's Engineering Agency, admired the scenery at Taroko Gorge, where they had luncheon, and saw Ami aborigine dancing. In the afternoon they flew on to Kaohsiung on the southwest coast for two days of visits to economic and military establishments.
Friday, October 20, was Lady Jawara's birthday. She cut a cake given her by General Lai Ming tang, chief of the general staff, and received a Maitreya statue and coral screen from Mayor and Mrs. Yang Chin-hu of Kaohsiung. President Jawara got in a round of golf at the Cheng Ching Lake course in the morning. General Lai was host at a birthday luncheon. Afternoon visits were paid to the Military Academy at Fengshan, an airborne infantry training center and the Pingtung refinery of the Taiwan Sugar Corporation.
On their third day in the south, the Gambian First Couple toured the big Kaohsiung Refinery of the Chinese Petroleum Corporation, basic installation in Taiwan's fast-growing petrochemical industry. They flew back to Taipei Saturday afternoon in the special Boeing 707 placed at their disposal by President Chiang Kai-shek.
President and Lady Jawara were host and hostess at a gala banquet at the Grand Hotel the evening of Sunday, October 22. The guests of honor were Vice President and Mrs. Yen. More than 100 Chinese government officials and members of the Taipei diplomatic corps also attended. President Jawara toasted the health of President and Madame Chiang Kai-shek and said that The Gambia would strengthen already cordial relations with the Republic of China.
Responding, Vice President Yen said that friendly ties had already been reinforced. He said the two countries "will continue to render each other support and encouragement in order to enable us to take up our responsibilities of upholding justice and of maintaining peace and freedom both in Asia and Africa." Vice President and Mrs. Yen then toasted the health of President and Lady Jawara.
At a press conference held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President Jawara told of his impressions of the Republic of China. He said that he had found much industrial and agricultural progress since his visit in 1968. He said that Gambia looks forward to further cooperation with the Republic of China in agriculture, industry and fishery. He expressed admiration for the "high fighting spirit" of the free Chinese people in their efforts of national reconstruction. More cultural interflow between the Republic of China and Africa is welcome, he said. The African Cultural Hall in Taipei is a step in this direction, he added, and could become the basis for a neo-Sino-African culture.
President and Lady Jawara went to the presidential residence the morning of Monday, October 23, to say their farewells to President and Madame Chiang Kai-shek. At Sungshan Military Airport, President Jawara again received military honors. Waiting to see him and his party off were Vice President Yen, government leaders and the diplomatic corps.
In retrospect, the press judged the visit as one of the most successful in the history of Afro Chinese relations. This reflected a feeling on the part of the Chinese people that Africans had not lost their sense of equilibrium on the subject of China, and that many African peoples and governments understand and support the aspirations of the Republic of China for national recovery. One editorial writer summed up the visit of the Gambian leaders in this way:
President Dawda Kairaba Jawara is one of a number of African chiefs of state who have paid official visits to Taiwan. He was here in 1968 as prime minister. Now he comes as his country's chief executive and will stay eight days. That will give him time to see something of central and southern Taiwan.
President Jawara is a man after our own hearts. In his small country (4,361 square miles and fewer than 400,000 people) he has avoided prestige products and pursued a policy of thriftiness, austerity and steady growth.
Gambia has prospered modestly on a basis of peanut cultivation and tourism. Swedes decided that the golden Atlantic beaches of Gambia would be an ideal place to escape the bleak and biting winters of the northland. Other Scandinavians have followed. The hotel business is booming. Tourism is a perfect industry for Gambia, which can be become one of the principal wintering places for sun-seeking Europeans.
Gambia is unique geographically. It stretches to a distance of some 200 miles on either side of the Gambia River but is no wider than 30 miles, narrowing to 7 miles in some places. Except for the coastline, the country is an enclave within Senegal, whose capital of Dakar serves as the taking off place from Africa to South America only 1,900 miles away. English is the official language. Bathurst, the capital, is a tropical replica of an English coastal town. The broad mouth of the Gambia River provides one of West Africa's best anchorages.
Here in Taiwan we have some experience with both peanuts and tourism. We have had an agricultural demonstration team in Gambia and presumably are prepared to expand that assistance and to include tourism consultation, if President Jawara is interested.
Gambia is free, independent and democratic. It is representative of those African countries which have firmly rejected Communism and have no slightest interest in the blandishments of Peiping.
African friendship is thicker than water. The countries of Africa are newly independent and their relationships with the Republic of China go back only a few years. Nevertheless, not many of the African lands which took our hand in friendship have rejected it and embraced the Chinese Communists in the wake of last year's United Nations fiasco. Our aid program on the African continent is modest but sincere and there is no accompaniment of infiltration and subversion.
President Jawara is one of his continent's most respected leaders. He is, like Dr. Hastings Banda of Malawi, a scientist. His field is veterinary medicine. The free Chinese people are proud and happy that President Jawara has chosen to come here at a time when the Republic of China is finding that not all old friends are the best ones.
His voice is much bigger than his country in the councils of Africa. Having seen that the Republic of China is thriving and wholly unperturbed by the libels and slanders of its enemies, he will have realistic and helpful opinions regarding Chinese Communist endeavors to move into Africa under pretense of representing the Chinese people.