Taiwan Today

It was September 14, the evening after the closing of Expo 70 at Osaka. Two thousand Japanese gathered at a band stand on a Kyoto hillside and braved an hour-long downpour to launch WACL 70.

That same thunderstorm disrupted Osaka-Tokyo rail traffic for nearly three hours and caused several blackouts in the Osaka-Kyoto area. But the WACL eve gathering listened attentively to moving speeches and sang "Let's Join Our Hands, Friends of the World." Judo wrestlers in white practice suits and black belts stood on guard with arms folded and feet firmly planted.

Six days later, 20,000 equally determined people attended a live-hour WACL World Rally at the Nippon Budokan Hall in a Tokyo park. This Sunday afternoon event culminated 10 months of preparation. Most of the 20,000 arrived, lunch boxes in hand, be­fore 9 a.m. They waited quietly while guards outside checked and double-checked late-comers. Many rally workers had arrived before dawn to watch over every minute detail.

In between the Kyoto and Osaka gatherings were the 4th and 16th annual conferences of WACL and APACL—World Anti-Communist League and Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League—with an attendance of 231 persons from 67 member and 29 observer units around the world. Themes of the meetings were "Mobilizing the Forces of World Freedom" and "Promotion of an Asian-Pacific Regional Security Organ­ization."

The opening WACL ceremony drew a throng of 2,500 to the US$10 million Kyoto International Conference Hall. Messages from nine presidents and prime ministers were read. Speeches were heard simultaneous­ly in four or five languages through loudspeakers and earphones. Subsequently adopted were 38 resolutions — 27 by WACL and 11 by APACL — denouncing Communist atrocities and expressing concern over the fate of the 1,000 million persons enslaved behind the Iron Curtain. Additionally, the two leagues released communiques totaling 43 paragraphs.

The World Youth Anti-Communist League, es­tablished only last December, also was represented. Sixty youth delegates from 17 nations and organiza­tions held separate sessions and drafted resolutions which reinforced those of the senior leagues.

Many details of the tightly scheduled conferences may have escaped the attention of foreign delegates and observers· But the image of the rain-drenched men and women singing on that Kyoto hillside and the determined faces of those attending the Tokyo rally are memories never to be forgotten.

That the WACL/APACL/WYACL meetings took place in Japan's ancient and present-day capital cities, both known for rampant leftist activities, was in itself significant. A battle was fought out in the midst of the pro-Communist enemy and the victory was decisive: all the plans of the extremists to wreck the anti-Communist conferences came to naught.

Most of the Japanese hosts, largely in their 20s and 30s, did not speak English and those who did spoke brokenly. But veteran anti-Communist leaders from abroad were moved and inspired by the dedica­tion of the Japanese. Although inexperienced in con­ducting international conferences, the young volunteers of Japan's International Federation for Victory over Communism (IFVC) made WACL 70 an event to be remembered longer than the Osaka fair.

Expo distinguished itself as the biggest, most expensive and most successful exposition in history by attracting nearly 65 million persons in six months. WACL 70 acquired superlatives for striking important new blows for man's freedom.

IFVC—"Kokusai Shokyo Rengo" in Japanese—has more than 50,000 members and some 3,000 full­ time volunteer fighters against Communism. In a na­tionwide fund-raising campaign that began last April, the volunteers held 83 lectures and 651 study meet­ings, displayed 1,200,000 posters, handed out 4,600,000 copies of leaflets and collected 150 million yen (about US$422,000) in addition to the signatures of 2 million persons pledging active support to the anti­-Communist movement. The money included proceeds from the sale of junk collected in door-to-door calls. To cut expenses, the young people often slept in the open. There was a constant threat from the leftists. Clashes were frequent.

Assurance that the WACL meeting in September could be successful came on May 11 when the WACL/ APACL Japan Chapter and IFVC brought together 6,000 volunteers at a National Rally for the Promotion of 4th WACL Conference. Hundreds of baskets of flowers and messages of felicitation were sent to that gathering at Tokyo's Fumonkan, the newly com­pleted largest music hall in Asia. Masajiro Kawajima, vice president of Japan's Liberal-Democratic Party, was there to read a congratulatory message from Eisaku Sato, head of the majority party and prime minister.

The magnitude of the Japanese feat is emphasized by the fact that most IFVC members had never heard of WACL or APACL before the conferences held in Bangkok late last year decided to hold the 1970 meetings in Japan. The Japanese were not present when APACL held its first conference at Chinhae, Korea, in June of 1954. Japan's military history and postwar leftist tendencies led some APACL founders to wonder whether the Japanese presence would contribute to effectiveness of an Asian anti-Communist alliance. The league charter adopted two years later at the 2nd APACL Conference stipulated that general membership meetings be held annually in major Asian countries. But Japan did not join APACL until the 6th conference in Taipei in 1960. The only APACL meeting held in Japan in subsequent years was the 8th in 1962.

Japanese leaders who hosted the 1962 meeting subsequently gave their attention to such other quasi-governmental organizations as the Asian Parliamen­tarians' Union and the Sino-Japanese and South Korea­ Japan Cooperation Committees. Emerging at the cabinet level was the Asian and Pacific Council-ASPAC. These were excellent organizations but left the more than 50 Japanese anti-Communist groups without ties to the world anti-Communist movement. Even when WACL was born in 1967 as an outgrowth of APACL the majority of Japan's 100 million population remained uninformed about anti-Communist progress in the world at large. The Japanese press was busy reporting leftist student riots which compelled 140 universities to shut down for weeks or months.

In the three years after 1967, changes favorable to the anti-Communist cause took place in Japan. Contributing factors were the progressive disunity of the Japanese Communists and Socialists and the mounting public opposition to the militant behavior of leftists.

The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) is also known as the Yoyogi sect because of the name of the Tokyo district where its headquarters is located. JCP's ideological shifts, apparently undertaken to attract followers, resulted in a rift with Moscow in March of 1964 and with Peiping exactly two years later. At its 11th National Congress in July of this year, JCP adopted a seemingly mild platform repudiating both revolu­tion by violence and the dictatorship of the proletariat and at the same time supporting freedom and parliamen­tary democracy. This was merely a gesture in the quest for members. The JCP, which is the second largest Communist party in the free world (next to that of Italy) with 300,000 members, would resort to violence as quickly as any other Communist party if conditions warranted.

The Japan Socialist Party (JSP) is a grotesque collection of left-wing Marxist-Leninists and right-wing democratic socialists. As the main leadership is composed of leftists, the party is essentially Communist. Evidence seems to indicate that JSP has been more loyal to Communist doctrine than the Yoyogi Reds.

Other Japanese Communists are loosely classified as the anti-Yoyogi sect. This category includes the Zengakuren (Federation of University Student Organizations) which has been mainly responsible for Japan's campus turmoil. There are anarchists and radical liberals, too, but the majority of anti-Yoyogis are ex­treme Marxist-Leninists who openly advocate violence. JSP supported this unpopular group as an anti-JCP tactic in the 1970 elections and lost a number of parliamentary seats.

Considering that Japan that has been constantly exposed to leftist rallies and violence in recent years, the emergence of the International Federation for Victory over Communism was not without difficulty. IFVC founders decided that mere opposition to the Communists would not be enough. They chose the word "victory" instead of "anti" because they hoped their organization would be more powerful than other anti­-Communist groups. They are aware that to oppose Communists is not enough; the ideology must be defeated and eradicated.

IFVC's counterattack against Communism is uniquely religious. The federation emphasizes that military, political and economic cooperation among free nations is necessary but suggests that the joining of hearts is more crucial. Books written for IFVC followers speak of unity among men who love freedom, truth, beauty and goodness, of inspiring anti-Com­munist warriors to die for their "holy purpose" and of ways to reform the Communists.

"Communism Is Wrong" is the major slogan. Almost every IFVC lecture opens with this statement. In sharp contrast to the arrogant hippie-type Com­munist and Socialist campaigners the Japanese are accustomed to, the IFVC workers are clean, neat and full of evangelistic fervor. Dedicated preachers they truly are. Until the day of final victory over Communism, smoking and drinking will be taboo for IFVC members. The personal sacrifice, they say, is more than compensated for in the rewards of working for the happiness and well-being of mankind.

This devotion to an ideal comes easily to the Japanese, who renounced feudalism and militarism only recently and who do not yet wholly understand individual liberty and similar Western values. Japanese are still reared in an atmosphere of obedience.

The politico-religious dedication to victory over Communism was introduced to Japan by Koreans about a decade ago and perfected by the Society for the Study of Anti-Communist Theories sponsored by the Christian Unification Church of Japan. When IFVC was established in the spring of 1968 following a number of seminars and conferences, Osami Kuboki, the head of the church, became federation president.

Kuboki, now 39, is the son of a Japanese bank clerk and was born in northeastern China. He was a seventh-grader in Peiping when World War II ended. Returning to Japan in the spring of 1946, Kuboki was appalled by the coolness of people's hearts. As he continued his schooling, he came to see that peace and happiness could be brought about only through the perfection of human nature. Following graduation from Tokyo's Keio University, Kuboki formulated his theory of unification through value, belief, love and spiritual power.

He went to Bangkok in 1969 as a member of the Japanese delegation to the 3rd WACL Conference. Already a determined anti-Communist, he was convinced that his religious ideals could not be realized without the destruction of Communism. He proposed that Japan host the 4th WACL Conference so that the masses of his countrymen, ignorant of the serious­ness of Communist threats, could be awakened to join in the free world struggle against tyranny and aggres­sion.

The Japan Chapter of WACL and APACL is the international department of the Free Asia Association established in 1955 by Dr. Tetsuzo Watanabe anti other distinguished party and civic leaders. This chapter publishes a monthly periodical and has worked for the outlawing of the Communist party in Japan. But the strength of the chapter was not sufficient to sponsor anti-Communist meetings of worldwide scope.

As it turned out, IFVC's contribution was so large that Kuboki was chosen chairman of the WACL/APACL Councils and presided over the league conferences in Kyoto. He also was chairman of the WACL World Rally Executive Committee.

President of the committee was Ryoichi Sasakawa, who heads national foundations and associations promoting shipbuilding, maritime science, civil aviation, veterans' welfare, Japan's traditional arts and the karate skills of self-defense. Sasakawa is said to be over 70 years old but does not look it. He is a karate expert with the highest rank of 10th dan. Spectators cheered his demonstration at the Kyoto dinner party he gave for WACL/APACL delegates. He then intro­duced some 30 members of his Federation of All-Japan Karate-do Organizations. Their half-hour dem­onstration of body-building methods, karate chops and self-defense skills was an eye-opener for foreign guests. Piles of thick roof tiles were broken one after another with different parts of body—fist, forearm, elbow, foot and head. Sasakawa said his federation has 3 million karate wrestlers ready to oppose the Communists.

Assisting Sasakawa's executive committee was the WACL World Rally Promotion Committee headed by Nobusuke Kishi, former prime minister of Japan and still active as a member of the House of Representatives. Under Kishi were 18 advisers and 77 com­mittee members, all of them nationally known figures from political, industrial, business, educational, cultural and other fields. A list of their names and those of other promoters filled a 93-page book. Listed as promoters and co-sponsors of the WACL World Rally were 101 organizations, half of them in the religious field.

As the rally opened, the master of ceremonies presented messages received from 30 overseas sources and more than 400 Japanese organizations and individuals. None of the 20,000 participants that packed Budokan Hall was there for selfish reasons. Each had paid his own transportation and other expenses.

Sasakawa addressed the gathering, then remained on his feet for nearly five hours as one speaker after another went to the rostrum.

No fewer than half a million words in verbal or printed form were presented to the participants in the week-long WACL 70. The following excerpts total less than 1,000 words but give some idea of what WACL 70 was all about:

—Prime Minister John Gorton of Australia (message): "Australia and Japan have a common in­terest in countering Communist expansion."

—President Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China (message): "Courage and dedicated service will be needed as we move along the road toward victory. I am confident that millions of men of goodwill will be marching with WACL."

—Prime Minister George Papadopoulos of Greece (message): "Today more than ever peoples need to struggle and undertake serious efforts in order that mankind may achieve progress and prosperity in peace."

—President Park Chung Hee of the Republic of Korea (message): "We know through our bitter ex­periences that their (Communists') peace offensive aims only at slackening and ultimately disintegrating the free world. Let us pledge anew to make victory ours."

—President Ferdinand E. Marcos of the Philip­pines (message): "I am convinced that free peoples everywhere can successfully vanquish Communism only through the full exercise of democratic alternatives and through the improvement of economic and social con­ditions."

—Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn of Thailand (message): "Where naked lies and deceit fail to produce results, it (the international Communist move­ment) normally recourses to threat and the use of force to subdue resistance."

—Vice President Spiro T. Agnew of the United States (message): "Your theme, 'Mobilizing the Forces of World Freedom,' is indeed very timely and appropriate today and will continue to be of great significance for years to come."

—President Nguyen Van Thieu of the Republic of Vietnam (message): "The Japan Chapter (of WACL and APACL) has successfully implemented a moral rearmament of the Japanese youths to counter Communist influences."

—Prime Minister Eisaku Sato of Japan in his capacity as president of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Japan (message): "The most important problem in the 1970s is to assure eternal peace of the world and to establish a truly wealthy human society."

—Secretary-General Jesus Vargas of the South­east Asia Treaty Organization (message): "It is well that the anti-Communist movement is global in scope and unwavering in character. This is consonant with the well-recognized dictum that the Communist threat of peace and freedom anywhere in the world imperils peace and freedom everywhere else."

—WACL Council Chairman Osami Kuboki of Japan (speech): "My country has often been criticized as being 'an economic animal.' But the Japanese youths have now been awakened from their long winter sleep to welcome the spring and to put forth their young green leaves of national-scale anti-Communist activities. "

—WACL Honorary President Ku Cheng-kang of China (speech): "The United States must not speak or act in any way to dampen the fighting spirit of its friends and benefit the enemies. Threatened by Com­munist aggressors, Asians must help each other, hit back together and establish a strong unity of deterrent forces."

—Okinori Kaya, former finance minister of Japan (speech): "Liberalism and capitalism are not without faults, but it is not right to choose Communism just because of these faults. Japan is like a virgin who does not know the danger of Communism. This can make the nation an easy prey."

—WACL Secretary-General Jose Ma. Hernandez (report): "International Communism is a world body. It requires another world body to fight it. WACL is that body."

—Dr. Whang Sung Soo of Korea (report): "The Communists have shown that they are wolves in the disguise of sheep. Our activities must now advance from mere protection of freedom to positive expansion of freedom."

—Mme. Suzanne Labin of France (report): "In the time of Hitler and Stalin, the freedom or slavery of mankind was decided in Europe. Today it is decided in Asia. Because freedom is indivisible: should it die in Saigon or in Tokyo, it will die in Paris and Washington."

—Stefan J. Possony of the American Council for World Freedom (report): "The United States is the main bastion of global freedom. The principal defense responsibility of the United States is with the U.S. itself."

—Miss Juanita Castro, younger sister of Fidel Castro, who has been living in Miami since defecting from Cuba in 1964 (speech): "The Communists are traitors to their homelands. The Communists arc fanatic followers of an ideology that rejects and proscribes every noble human feeling. The Communists want to enslave mankind by imposing Marxism-Lenin­ism, a system that is nothing more than a totalitarian dictatorship that sustains itself in power by means of military force, terror, repression and mass murder."

—Dr. Pham Huy Quat, former prime minister of Vietnam (speech): "The free world must take advantage of the Moscow-Peiping conflict and take positive steps against Communist aggressors in spite of A­merica's withdrawal policy."

—Ryoichi Sasakawa, president of the WACL World Rally Executive Committee (speech): "Com­munism is a kind of germ and Communists are germ-­carriers. We should cure the patients of their disease. I understand a group of radical leftists have sneaked into this hall. To them I gladly offer my therapy. If the patients won't listen, my treatment can be rough."

—Senator Strom Thurmond of the United States (speech): "Japan is presently spending only less than one per cent of its gross national product on self­-defense. But Japan's economic development cannot continue unless its free neighbors share in the development, support it and in turn are supported in the defense of the common interest."

As the communique of the 4th WACL Conference pointed out, searching examination of the many phases of the world situation had produced the following unanimous observations:

1. Confrontation is by no means ended. Com­munist forces, unless they are wiped out completely, will never give up their insidious attempts to enslave the whole of mankind.

2. Peace is what all peoples long for. But freedom is just as important a goal. WACL must con­tinue to oppose peace through appeasement at the cost of freedom, for peace gained through compromise and capitulation cannot endure.

3. Free nations must recognize the futility of non-alignment, be under no delusion that national unification may be attained through negotiations and desist from flirtations with the Communists.

As further elaboration of the main conference theme, important resolutions of the WACL Conference specifically called for:

1. Unification of the masses of all countries in joint efforts for the victory of freedom.

2. Rising of young people as a main force against Communist enslavement and for participation in the fight to protect freedom.

3. Smashing of all Communist attempts at infiltration and subversion.

4. Victorious resolution of the crisis in Southeast Asia, preserving the freedom and independence of the Republic of Vietnam and of Laos and Cambodia, and rejection of any suggestion of coalition governments in that area.

5. Appeal to the United States to implement fully the constructive side of its new Asian policy.

6. Promotion of peace in the Middle East and a heightened vigilance against Communist Chinese at­tempts to incite new wars in that area.

7. Support for the efforts of the Latin American nations against Communism and Castroism.

8. Whole-hearted participation of the African nations in the fight for freedom and against Commu­nist tyranny.

9. Encouragement of freedom movements among the enslaved peoples of Eastern Europe, their struggles for national independence and self-determination, and revolutions by the peoples enslaved in the Soviet Russian empire. (Included are such liberation movements as those in the Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkes­tan, Armenia, North Caucasia, Byelorussia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Rumania and Croatia.)

10. Call for support of the Republic of China's political offensive against the Chinese Communists, and concrete measures to liberate the oppressed masses on the Chinese mainland, as well as implacable opposition to U.N., admission of the Peiping regime.

11. Call for support of the Republic of Korea's unification program for Korea, and liberation of the enslaved people of North Korea in accordance with U.N. resolutions. "

12. Establishment of regional security organiza­tions to prevent further Communist aggression.

13. Mobilization of freedom forces and the est­ablishment of a global anti-Communist united front.

Other important business of WACL included:

—Amendment of the league charter to give life-long tenure to the honorary presidency of WACL, a post held by Dr., Ku Cheng-kang of China since the league's 1968 conference in Saigon.

—Amendment of the charter to facilitate expansion of the WACL Executive Board from 9 to 13 members so as to include representatives of youths, enslaved peoples and new regions. To be represented on the board for the next three years are the Republics of China and, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, WYACL and Captive Nations of Europe.

—Decision to hold the 5th WACL Conference in Manila, in July of 1971.

As subsequently decided, the 17th conference of APACL will take place in Manila immediately after the WACL meeting. This will be in keeping with the solidarity and ideological conformity of the two international anti-Communist organizations.

The APACL Conference in Kyoto wrote these passages into its communique:

"As an important regional body and component of WACL, this Asian league solemnly resolved to accept unreservedly all the resolutions adopted at the 4th WACL Conference and endeavor unremittingly for their first-priority execution and fulfillment....

"Further developments in this region will strikingly influence the rest of the world. Evidence today points to an impending major change for the whole of Asia, and the emergence of a new situation favorable to the free world or the worsening of the present, critical condition depends fully on the free nations' efforts toward a system of collective defense against Communism.

"For these reasons, the APACL Conference de­cided to call upon free Asian government leaders to work for the immediate convocation of an Asian Secu­rity Conference so that all the nations in the region can join forces for the strenuous task of defending their own freedom and security and for the early establish­ment of an Asian and Pacific Regional Security Organ­ization. The conference earnestly hopes that the Asian and Pacific Council can actively promote this plan, expand its own scope of operation and persuade all the concerned nations to join the formation of free Asian defense.... "

The need of a regional security organization for Asia and the Pacific has been recognized for years. When APACL met in Saigon in 1968, appeals were made for such a defense arrangement. This was repeated in Bangkok last December and again at Kyoto.

No one aware of the danger of Communism would doubt the wisdom of the APACL calls. But an im­mediate realization of the plan presents difficulties. For example, most people believe that APSO, as the proposed Asian and Pacific security organization might be called, could not be effective without Japan's par­ticipation. There is some opposition to this idea for fear that the Japanese may return to the militarism of the Pacific War days.

This fear may be overcome. The large majority of Japanese feel that their nation will never again invade or attempt to dominate other countries. There arc also capitulationist Japanese who want peace at any price, optimists who think Japan can stay aloof from Communist aggressions in neighboring countries and leftists who want the communization of Japan. For Japan to take part in a military alliance like ASPO, the nation's constitution would have to be amended. This is possible but not easy.

Security arrangements in the Asian and Pacific region presently include ANZUS, a 1951 pact involving Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and SEATO, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. Additionally the United States has individual treaties with the Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Japan, Philippines and other countries.

Nations normally considered as possible members of APSO and pertinent data—(A) population in millions, (B) present internal Communist threat and (C) present threat of Communist conquest-are as follows:

Country                        A                   B                  C
Cambodia                       7                 yes                yes
Rep. of China                14                  no             slight
Indonesia                    115                 yes                 no
Japan                          105              slight                 no
Rep. of Korea                31                  no              slight
Laos                               3                 yes                 yes
Malaysia                        11                 yes                   no
Philippines                     36                 yes                   no
Singapore                       2              slight                   no
Thailand                        34              slight                  yes
Rep. of Vietnam             17                  yes                 yes
United States               205              slight                   no
Australia                        12               slight                  no
New Zealand                    3                   no                  no

Population of the 14 nations totals nearly 600 million, including 375 million in Asian countries and 220 in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The overall productivity is much larger than that of Communist Asia and the capacity for the scientific use of resources, of communication and organization is in­finitely greater.

However, in the words of Douglas Darby, an Australian and a member of the Parliament of New South Wales since 1945, the Asian APSO nations have not yet recognized that they all face the same problem and should have a joint purpose.

Writing in the September issue of Asian Outlook, a publication of the WACL/APACL China Chapter, Darby warned: "With so much to lose and so much to gain, they (the Asian APSO nations) must con­centrate upon a practical approach and mutual under­standing. Nevertheless, a premature attempt may well result in failure. Those still suspicious of their neighbors need the healing forces of time and mutual res­pect."

Despite the obstacles that still must be surmount­ed, free Asians can be optimistic about a united anti­-Communist vista for the region. This hope was en­hanced in Japan during WACL 70 and is being strengthened further throughout the world.

Part of the new energy is coming from the music boxes that the anti-Communist leaders took home as gifts from their Japanese hosts. The tune is that of WACL. Records of the song in both Japanese and English have been made available so that others may learn and sing together. Owners of the music boxes will cherish memories of a significant week in Japan. The seedlings they and their new Japanese friends planted together will grow as their song—"Let's Join Our Hands, Friends of the World"—spreads far and wide.