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Documents: President's Chiang's New Year's Message

February 01, 1964
President Chiang's New Year's Message

January 1, 1964

My fellow countrymen:

Today is the fifty-third anniversary of the glorious founding of the Republic of China. It is a day of special significance to our country and people, civilian and military alike, because it heralds a shining and triumphant era of national recovery and reconstruction!

The revolutionary spirit and national sense of righteousness as demonstrated by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, father of our Republic, and by our revolutionary martyrs, cannot but live forever in the hearts of the Chinese people, in their noble aspirations, and in their moral integrity expressed in deeds. It is this spirit that has given hope and courage to every one of our compatriots now suffering from cold, hunger, destitution, repression, and slavery under the Chinese Communists. It is also this spirit that will provide impetus and encouragement to the people and armed forces of the nation in their grim determination to pit their combined strength against the hellish world created by the evil Communists and to rebuild a new nation in its stead on the basis of the Three Principles of the People.

Fellow countrymen! With the victory of our counter-offensive and national recovery steadily drawing nearer, and in view of the duty and responsibility of revolution and national reconstruction which we all must shoulder, I hereby call for the formation of a nation-wide Anti-Communist League for National Reconstruction as a rallying center for all anti-Communist elements on Taiwan, on the Chinese mainland, and in overseas areas. This League will represent the thinking and will of all ethnological groups, all organizations and individuals in the country and will also unite all our right-thinking individuals and talented youths, including the freedom-fighters operating in the enemy's rear and such Communist Party members and cadres as are assisting in the mainland uprisings. Let this be a grand merger of all our physical strength and spiritual and moral power, for a single purpose—to arise and throw in their lot to the sacred war of counter-offensive for national recovery today and to tackle the grand task of rebuilding a new China tomorrow.

Obviously, this nation-wide League will not be an organization for advancing the political interests of any group, nor will it be a short-term union of a formal nature. It will be a strong and solid organization based on the utmost sincerity of its components and dedicated to the common mission of fighting the Communists, recovering the territorial integrity of the country, and, let me repeat, rebuilding it on the basis of the Three Principles of the People.

In carrying out our mission, we must give everything for the anti-Communist struggle and give everything for unity! We certainly will encompass everyone who is willing to join us - for "he who is not an enemy is a comrade." Of special importance is the necessity of observing and implementing the axioms that "national affairs are to be decided by popular will" and that "political power lies in the hands of the entire people!" This has always been our attitude and a foremost requirement that we must fulfill without fail.

Fellow countrymen. For fourteen years our country has faced an enemy whose ruthlessness and cruelty are without parallel in history. The catastrophe visited upon our people is unprecedented. Never have the Chinese people suffered such disgrace. However, during these years we have come to realize why our revolution of the past fifty-two years bas not yet succeeded. We have now learned the unequivocable truth that for our anti-Communist revolution to succeed: national recovery, national reconstruction, revolutionary disruption, and revolutionary reconstruction must be achieved in one unified and sustained movement.

Our preparations for the anti-Communist revolution, therefore, fall into three stages: first, to build a base for the new China in accordance with the Three Principles of the People; second, to create and organize strong and well-trained anti-Communist armed forces; third, to form the organization that will broadly unite all our people in the common struggle, that is the above-mentioned "Anti-Communist League for National Reconstruction", the establishment of which, involving simultaneous efforts for national recovery and national reconstruction, completes the three factors necessary for ensuring us of final victory.

Fellow countrymen: We have borne unbearable disgrace during the past fourteen years. But we have also built a revolutionary army, high in morale and firm in determination, that represents the adhesion of armed force to public interest and opinion. We have transformed Taiwan into a model province for practicing the Three Principles of the People. In other words, we have brought about and fostered a strength and confidence surpassing any in the fifty-two years of our national revolution! Victory is at hand and attainable in one stroke, provided we succeed in marshalling the strength of all the anti-Communist forces whether at the front or in the enemy's rear, and mobilize all the talented personnel whether at home or abroad, for a superb rally to the call of the "Anti-Communist League for National Reconstruction", thereby releasing an irresistible power within the framework of our Constitution.

Fellow countrymen: The century in which we live is a time dominated by cowardice and selfishness. Consequently, the world is full of contradictions and crises, confusion and terror. Obviously, there are people who stop short at realizing the reality of evil, or even willingly bow to it rather than stand firm on freedom and righteousness and courageously try to correct this evil reality.

In our anti-Communist revolution, however, we are firmly convinced that only by sustaining ourselves with the courage of freedom and righteousness shall we be able to keep aglow the spark of vitality on which civilization ultimately depends. Though this is an age of general cowardice and selfishness, it is also the brightest and most hopeful hour we have yet bad in the 52-year history of our Republic. Consistently relying on our national confidence and revolutionary endurance, we hold high the torch of' the free way of life, stand as vanguards in the struggle of human civilization and world righteousness on the one side versus brutish mentality and Communist violence on the other, and march forward unflinchingly on the road to counter-offensive and national recovery!

As a result of our unyielding struggle against Communism during the last fourteen years, we are today able to witness the heresy of Communism which seeks to deceive mankind being exposed as a symbol of the bankruptcy behind the Iron Curtain: the Communism of yesterday is attacking that of today; the Communism of Mao Tse-tung is attacking that of Soviet Russia. But Mao's Communism, which is the "only son who weeps for the deceased Stalin", has been openly denounced by the Communist bloc as a whole as being "traitorous", "Trotskyite", and "the enemy of peace". It is being besieged and attacked from all sides, wounded by ten thousand hostile arrows directed from without and dying of a hundred diseases originating from within, and all at once.

Nevertheless, as far as our counter-offensive for national recovery is concerned, we must not permit changes in the Moscow-Peiping relations or trends in the international situation to deter or deflect the execution of our military plans. What is most important from this point of view is unity. Our compatriots both at home and abroad must have the same resolution to achieve a stronger, more positive mobilization to face the mainland and the Communist enemy. We must take more active and courageous steps, and let our accomplished facts speak to the world and resolve its confused attitude toward the China issue. As a matter of fact, our hard work of fourteen years' standing up-to-date had already improved our external and objective situation. This proves that in the global anti-Communist struggle, our firmness and endeavor are exerting an effective influence on both the Communist bloc and the anti-Communist bloc in their environmental relationships. This is because the teachings of our founding father, Dr. Sun, and the spirit of our revolutionary martyrs have inspired our military forces and civilians in their struggle and enabled them to discern the bright future of national recovery and to steer firmly in the correct direction for national salvation and deliverance of our compatriots in the midst of international inconsistencies and crises, human bewilderment, and fear. Firmly believing that the Three Principles of the People will vanquish all opposition, let us be prepared in the coming year for military and political moves leading to the recovery of the mainland and still greater and more brilliant victory than any that reflect credit to our efforts hitherto.

In reviewing international developments of the past year, we find only one outstandingly clear phenomenon: the Chinese Communists' hard-line of violence and bellicose disposition have intensified in sharper contrast to the love of peace and humanism of the free world. As an old Chinese aphorism puts it, "the world will outlaw the one who kills, hate the one who robs, and punish the one who imperils." Now the whole world has come to see and understand that Mao's totalitarian force is the root cause of aggressive wars not only in Asia but also in other parts of the world, and that it is repudiated and opposed by humanity. This arch-culprit is now virtually isolated and cut off from any avenue of escape.

We, the people, and the government of the Republic of China, and our military forces, cannot stand idly by while the Chinese Communists are jeopardizing the peace of the world, nor, even more imperative from our own point of view, to allow them to continue persecuting and butchering millions of our compatriots. It is an ineluctable duty of our nation as a whole to recover the
Mainland rescue our compatriots, and rebuild our country in freedom and peace so as to remove the source of Communist aggression and the danger of war both in Asia and in the whole world.

Mainland compatriots have read all the letters you have sent to me through devious ways and at the risk of your lives. I have found them full of blood and tears.

—You have asked that the government forces begin counter-offensive immediately, and you have expressed your readiness to respond and assist.

—You have reported on the organization of armed strength among the masses on the main land and have asked for weapons.

—You have told of the formation of anti-Communist "Common Heart" organizations and that you are seeking contact with the government.

—You also have made known that you no longer can endure Communist-imposed starvation, that you need food and medical supplies, and that you have placed your confidence in our guarantee of "Six Freedoms" and ''Three Assurances."*

Fellow countrymen: I fully understand your impatience in waiting for deliverance. We have undertaken the preliminary military step of commando actions from the Shantung peninsula in the north to the Leichow peninsula in the south. We shall continue to support and seek to protect you by air and by sea. I believe the next step, the effecting of a conjunction between government armed forces and you on the mainland, will not be far off.

I should like to tell the Communist troops and militia on the coastal front that your response to and support of the commandos sent to the mainland by air and by sea in more than forty groups last year have enabled these forces to grow in size as well as in combat capability. This has moved us deeply and most gratifyingly.

I sincerely hope that you will persist in your love for the homes and counties you hail from, for your compatriots, and for your fatherland-the Republic of China—and continue to contact, guide and shelter our revolutionary commandos and intelligence agents and fight on to the final victory. I am certain you will refuse to serve as cannon fodder in Communist human sea assaults, and that you have only friendly feelings toward the commandos. I also believe that you are courageous enough not only to join the commandos but also to fight on until the last traitor has been eradicated. This kind of widespread tactical actions on your part will quickly lead to a strategic, total, anti-Communist movement supported by both the uprisings on the mainland and the counter-offensive from Taiwan.

Finally, I wish to tell friends of China that Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who led our national revolution and founded the Republic of China, declared to the world on the first day of the Republic that our nation, was established on the principle of "fulfilling the obligations, and enjoying the rights, of a civilized country." In 1921, he drafted A Plan to Develop Chinese Industry With Foreign Capital. He intended, without jeopardizing the sovereignty of the Republic, to develop our abundant natural resources and vast market for the common welfare of mankind so as to liquidate "the China problem as a root cause of world crisis." Following the success of the Northward Expedition in 1928, while our government was following Dr. Sun's teachings in an effort to conclude treaties of equality and reciprocity with friendly nations and carryon the reconstruction of the Republic and the development of its economic resources, the Japanese warlords suddenly created the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931. They sought to monopolize our mainland resources, to enslave the Chinese people, and to carry out the so-called continental policy of "industrial Japan and agricultural China." To resist Japan's attempted conquest of China and threat to the world, our nation fought Japan for fourteen long years. Our 10-year plan of reconstruction after the war had Dr. Sun's industrial plan as its blueprint. Its aim is not limited to the development of our national economy. Its supreme goal is to help bring about world peace and prosperity.

For the past fourteen years, we have been waging an unswerving war against Chinese Communists and Russian imperialists. Our purpose is to deny the Chinese Communists the use of the capital for world aggression which they have accumulated from the slave labor imposed upon our compatriots behind the Iron Curtain, and to eliminate the so-called "China problem" as a source of danger to world peace. The basic objectives of our counter-offensive are to break the Iron Curtain, open the mainland to freedom, and contribute to the peace and welfare of mankind. This is the real Open Door policy. But it is definitely to be differentiated from a policy of opening the door for the devil to enter. It is not to be so, as the Bible warns, that when the unclean spirit comes back to the house, he will find all swept and garnished - ready for him. Our policy of developing the nation's resources and promoting the welfare of mankind is not to be compared to an invitation to robbers and making them masters of the house. We are confident that the day of our national recovery will also be the day when the free and peace-loving Republic of China will dedicate itself to the re-establishment of lasting peace and universal security for Asia and the world.

Fellow countrymen: Our counter-offensive for national recovery is an ideological struggle in which we must use love to eliminate hatred, replace violence with peace, and conquer brutish mentality with humanism. We appeal to all our revolutionary and dedicated compatriots both at home and abroad to put their heart and soul together in a concerted effort to complete the sacred mission of fighting Communism and rebuilding the nation.

Now let us join in the cheers of the day!

Long live the Republic of China!

Long live the Three Principles of the People!

Everlasting success to national recovery and reconstruction!

* The "Six Freedom and Three Assurances," as first set forth in President Chiang Kai-shek's Double Tenth Message of 1957, are as follows:

Six Freedoms

1. In order to free the workers from slavery and persecution and to restore to them freedom of employment: disband all Chinese Communist concentration camps, abolish the forced labor system now under the guise of "reform through labor," and guarantee to all workers the fundamental right to choose employment and organize trade unions freely.

2. In order to free the farmers from fear of deprivation and starvation and to restore to them freedom to enjoy prosperity: abolish all tyrannical measures of "agricultural cooperatives," "collective farms," and "food rationing system." Farmers should own the land they till and be entitled to their own harvests

3. In order to restore to the people freedom of thought and freedom of study and to free them from fear of "ideological reformation": uproot the ideology of "Marx-Lenin-Stalin-Maoism" and the system of brainwashing under the label of "socialist education," remove the spiritual and mental oppression imposed upon the intellectuals and students by the Communists, re-establish respect for rationality and reason, and encourage free academic pursuit.

4. In order to restore to the people freedom of economic enterprise and to free them from fear of confiscation and requisition: abolish the "public-private-joint-ownership" system and the measures of "monopolized buying and selling" of daily necessities, which have strangled the livelihood of the people, and protect private ownership and lawful profit making.

5. In order to restore to the people their security of life and to consolidate the foundation of society: ban all forms of "class struggle," such as liquidation, mass trials, etc. Those whose family members and dependents were "liquidated" may redress their grievances under the law. They may not seek their own revenge by killing, which will only lead to endless bloodshed.

6. In order to restore to the people the free way of life and to ensure the continuity of Chinese cultural heritage: guarantee the freedom of speech, freedom of residence, freedom of assembly, freedom of publication and freedom of worship; preserve our history and our culture, reestablish ethical and moral standards, protect the family system, and restore the sanctity of marriage.

Three Assurances

1.Those officers and enlisted men who will defect from the Chinese Communist forces shall be accorded the same treatment as that for members of our armed forces and shall be placed on the same basis of remuneration and reward in accordance with their position and merit.

2. All political and civic organizations which will have joined the Government in anti-Communist activities, the Chinese Communist Party excepted, shall enjoy equal and lawful status regardless of their previous political stand; they shall have the opportunity under the Constitution and the principle of fair competition to contribute their effort towards the reconstruction of a new China of the people, by the people and for the people.

3. Those who have joined the Chinese Communist organizations and served under the Peiping regime, except the few hardcore leaders, shall be pardoned and their life and property protected on condition that they pledge to work for the anti-Communist cause; the Government shall pursue a general policy of leniency towards all perfunctory followers of Communism and towards their past records of collaboration with the Communist Party.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Statements on the Chou Hung-ching Case
December 28, 1963

Regarding the release of Chou Hung-ching by the Japanese Government, thus permitting him to fall into the hands of Chinese Communist agents in Tokyo, the Government of the Republic of China, aside from the vigorous protest lodged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issued the following statement tonight:

Following the attempted escape to freedom made by Chou Hung-ching in Tokyo on October 7, 1963, and the receipt of a written request in his own handwriting dated Oct. 16 handed personally to Mr. Wu Yu-liang, Secretary of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, seeking his assistance in obtaining an entry permit to Taiwan, the Government of the Republic of China promptly initiated negotiations with the Japanese with a view to making it possible for Chou to regain his freedom. The Japanese Government, however, evaded its moral obligations by distorting the true nature of the case and refusing to honor the international practice of granting political asylum to political refugees.

The Chinese Government, profoundly shocked by the arbitrary measures adopted by the Japanese Government, feels that this most unfortunate precedent would have the effect of closing the door to anti-Communist and freedom-loving people behind the iron curtain whose desire it is to seek political asylum in the free countries, and that such action would deal a serious blow to mankind's struggle for freedom and against enslavement. The Chinese Government, dedicated as it is to the principles of freedom and justice, strongly urged the Japanese Government to rectify this grievous mistake and to cooperate with Chinese Government in seeking a just solution to the case in question. Instead of complying with our friendly and entirely justifiable request, the Japanese Government permitted agents of a Communist regime which poses a serious threat to the peace and security of Asia to intimidate and brainwash on its own soil a person being detained for having allegedly violated Japanese laws and made it impossible for him to achieve his true intention to regain his freedom and to come to Taiwan. The Japanese Government has, therefore, taken a course of action inimical to its position as a free and democratic nation.

The attitude taken by the Japanese Government favoring the Chinese Communists is a source of profound regret to the Chinese Government. Nevertheless, the Chinese Government continued its efforts to negotiate in all sincerity with the Japanese Government in an attempt to break the impasse created by the Chou Hung-ching case and to preserve the friendly relations between the two countries. While negotiations were still going on, the Japanese Government, unilaterally and in flagrant violation of good faith, released Chou Hung-ching, thus permitting him to fall into the clutches of Chinese Communist agents and depriving him of the opportunity to choose freedom. By taking a course of action clearly favorable to the Chinese Communists and by jeopardizing the friendly relations between the Republic of China and Japan, the Japanese Government has caused indignation on the part of Chinese Government and people.

The Government of the Republic of China feels constrained to state categorically that such unfriendly action taken by the Japanese Government cannot but seriously damage ,Sino-Japanese relations and that the Japanese Government must be held solely responsible for whatever consequences as may develop in future.

January 9, 1964

Sino-Japanese relations have deteriorated to a serious stage. The fundamental cause is that the Japanese Government, oblivious of its own interests and without regard for what is right and what is wrong, has adopted an attitude blatantly favoring the Chinese Communist regime. Unaware of the seriousness of the Communist threat to itself, the Japanese Government has also accorded to the Chinese Communists the opportunity to intensify their infiltration activities in Japan. Such developments have not only greatly impaired Sino-Japanese relations, but also helped the Chinese Communists in their infiltration and aggressive activities, thus producing the gravest adverse effect on the entire anti-Communist front in Asia.

Since the signing of the five-year private trade memorandum between Japan and the Chinese Communists in October, 1962, the Japanese policy of aiding the Chinese Communists has become more and more apparent. In August, 1963, the Japanese Cabinet approved the sale of a vinylon plant to the Chinese 'Communists with installment payments guaranteed by the Japanese Government bank. Later, large scale Japanese industrial fairs were held in various cities on the Chinese mainland. By such action, the Japanese Government has helped to ease the economic crisis besetting the Chinese Communists and increase their capacity for aggression.

It was under the above-mentioned circumstances that the Chou Hung-ching case occurred last October. Chou's case is clearly a political one which cannot be treated as an isolated incident. On the contrary, it must be regarded as another instance in a series of pro-Communist actions taken by the Japanese Government. The Japanese Government, in handling the case of Chou Hung-ching, who has been forced to return to the Chinese mainland, has failed to observe the humanitarian principles and established international practices by withholding assistance to Chou and thus making it impossible for him to realize his original desire to choose freedom. This deplorable decision on the part of Japanese Government has dealt a severe blow to all freedom-loving people of the world and especially to the people on the Chinese mainland who are eagerly waiting for deliverance.

The pro-Communist actions taken by the Japanese Government have aroused a high feeling of indignation on the part of the Chinese Government and its people at home and abroad.

If the Japanese Government should continue its pro-Communist policy, it will not only do serious harm to the interests of the Republic of China, but will also provide further opportunity to the Chinese Communists to pursue their subversive activities in Japan which may eventually be brought under Communist domination. In that event, the maintenance of Sino-Japanese relations will be all but impossible, and the peace and security of the entire Asian continent will be greatly jeopardized.

The Republic of China and Japan are close neighbors. After the conclusion of World War, the Chinese Government adopted a magnanimous policy towal Japan in the hope that it would come to recognize the enormous mistake it had made and that would cooperate with the Republic of China in promoting the security and prosperity of East Asia. It was for this reason that the Republic of China spared effort in safeguarding the lives and liberty of over 2,000,000 Japanese prisoners of war as w as Japanese civilians in China making it possible for all of the to return to Japan. In the case of Chou Hung-ching, the only request made by the Chinese Government was for the Japanese Government to safeguard the life and liberty of one Chinese national. Instead of complying with its request, the Japanese Government, showing no regard for moral principles, took t unilateral action of permitting Chou to fall into the hands Chinese Communist agents. Such action cannot be tolerated by the Chinese Government and people. The Chinese Government has given repeated warnings lodged vigorous protests to the Japanese Government. It has also demanded for a clarification of Japan's policy toward China.

If the Japanese Government should choose to pursue its policy of appeasing the Chinese Communists, giving no consideration to the spirit of magnanimity demonstrated by the Chinese Government and the possible disruption of the existing relations between the two countries, the Japanese Government must be he solely responsible for any and all consequences insofar as future Sino-Japanese relations are concerned.

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