Yen Chia-kan stood solemnly before his peers of the Republic of China at 11 a.m. April 6 - less than 12 hours after the passing of President Chiang Kai-shek - and took the oath of office as the second constitutional President of the Republic of China.
His right hand raised and his left holding the Constitution, the two-time Vice President pronounced these words to become the nation's chief executive: "I do solemnly and sincerely swear before the people of the whole country that I will observe the Constitution, faithfully perform my duties, promote the welfare of the people, safeguard the security of the State, and will in no way betray the people's trust. Should I break my oath, I shall be willing to submit myself to severe punishment by the State. This is my solemn oath."
Presiding over the oath taking ceremony was Tien Chung-chin, president of the Judicial Yuan and chairman of the Council of Justices. The witnesses included Executive Yuan President (Premier) Chiang Ching-kuo, the elder son of President Chiang and next in Constitutional succession to President Yen in the absence of a Vice President, and Presidents of the Legislative, Examination and Control Yuans.
President Yen, who was elected Vice President in 1966 and re-elected in 1972, made this inaugural statement:
"Our late President, Chiang Kai-shek, was not only the savior of the Chinese people but also the world's foremost anti-Communist. His accomplishments and his virtues have been recognized and admired everywhere. When the sad news of his sudden demise from a heart attack spread across the land last midnight, all the people-military and civilian alike - were stricken with grief. He had been my mentor for a long time, and his death has sundered my heart. I failed to do my utmost to assist him and to share his work and sorrow in past years, and feel deeply ashamed now that he is no longer with us.
"In compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of China, I have assumed the presidency. But my abilities and my virtues are limited, and I have a strong sense of inadequacy in the shouldering of such heavy responsibilities. In his last words, our late President urged all of the people to devote themselves to the realization of the Three Principles of the People, the recovery of the mainland, the rebirth of our cultural heritage and to adherence to democracy in their united determination to carry out the National Revolution. I pledge that I shall brace and strengthen myself and, together with all of you, shall carry out this great instruction and apply all my wisdom and my loyalty in bringing his unfinished tasks to a successful conclusion.
"The late President dedicated all his life to the cause of the National Revolution. He experienced countless grave challenges and adversities. Yet he never failed to turn adversity to advantage, to reverse the unfavorable trend and finally to triumph in consequence of his determination and immutable confidence. Inheriting his spirit, we have no fear of any blow or test that may be encountered as we carryon his work. At a time when the national crisis persists, when the Communist threat continues and as the suffering people of the mainland eagerly await their deliverance, I am prepared to endure all hardships and all humilities, and to dedicate my conscience and my sincerity to achieving victory in the struggle against Communism and for national recovery together with all of you. We shall thus assure the total victory of the National Revolution.
"Everyone has his share of duty in carrying out the Revolution and national construction. As I have sworn, I shall 'observe the Constitution, faithfully perform my duties, promote the welfare of the people' and 'safeguard the security of the State.' I shall do all that is helpful in our struggle against Communism and for national recovery, and I shall do absolutely nothing that might damage the well-being of the country or the welfare of the people. This has always been my conviction and I believe that it is also the common conviction of us all.
"I wholeheartedly expect all of the people of our country - military and civilian alike - to be fully aware that we are 'sailing together in one boat' and thus to manifest the spirit of 'one heart and one will.' I believe implicitly that as long as we can eliminate the cause of domestic turmoil embodied in the wickedness of Mao Tse-tung, we can bring the blessings of peace and justice to free Asia and the free world.
"For our mutual encouragement, I pledge my readiness for any sanguinary sacrifice. I shall expect your constant cooperation and counsel so that we can establish a new China based on the Three Principles of the People, open up a new era of San Min Chu I and complete President Chiang's unfinished work. This is the way for us to console the President's soul in Heaven."
President Yen's assumption of the nation's highest office also made him the Government's chief mourner for the fallen leader and the leading solacer of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the widow, and Chiang Ching-kuo and Chiang Wei-kuo (Wego), the two sons. Tears in his eyes, he kept vigil first at the Veterans General Hospital, then the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, where the body of Chiang Kai-shek lay in state, and then at the black granite sarcophagus at the Tze Hu retreat in rolling countryside southwest of Taipei.
Duties of state had to go on during the month's period of mourning that Yen Chia-kan decreed for President Chiang. The new chief executive retained his Vice Presidential Office and ordered the President's Office permanently reserved in memory of his late superior.
Addressing a Sun Yat-sen Memorial Meeting April 26, President Yen reiterated that the Republic of China will never compromise or negotiate with the Chinese Communists. Appeasement and compromise can only contribute to the world crisis, he said, and abet Communist tyranny. All guarantees and promises made to the people of the mainland by President Chiang will remain in full force and effect, he added.
He held his first press conference as President on April 18 and said that he would try to lead the way in implementing President Chiang's Last Testament. The Republic of China cannot be isolated, he said, citing friendly relations with many countries which do not have diplomatic relations with free China. The ROC is ready to defend itself, he said, and described his talks with U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller as "very gratifying." The Americans will keep their commitments to the Republic of China, he said. "We should not doubt their sincerity."
On April 17, President Yen met with more than 1,000 overseas Chinese representatives who came to Taipei to attend the National Memorial Services for President Chiang. He told them that the nation's solidarity, prosperity and anti-Communist dedication remained as strong as ever. "Overseas Chinese can offer the late President more than tears and devotion," he said. "You can express your support for your mother country in keeping with overseas Chinese tradition." The firm foundation laid in "this anti-Communist base and the confidence of the people are unshakable," President Yen said, "thanks to the leadership of the late President Chiang." He urged overseas Chinese to tell their compatriots what they had seen and learned in free China.
Although he marked his 70th birthday (by Chinese reckoning) in 1974, President Yen has the appearance and the energy of a much younger man. He was born October 23, 1905, in a village six miles from scenic Soochow in Kiangsu province. His family was large and moderately well off. He had the traditional Chinese upbringing. At 4 he could recite dozens of ancient poems. Formal schooling began at home when he was 5. The year was 1910 and the Wuchang Revolution that overthrew the Manchus and established the Republic of China was less than a year away.
His first important lesson, President Yen recalled, was that "cleverness should not be confused with wisdom." His tutor taught him to manipulate the difficult Chinese writing brush, to mix his own ink on a stone slab and to appreciate calligraphy as an art form as well as a medium of communication. The chief executive still enjoys using a brush to write the graceful Chinese characters.
With the establishment of the Republic, Chia-kan was sent to a primary school to begin learning the modern ways that the Manchus had rejected. He was soon attracted to the scientific method - to its insistence on facts in the solution of problems and its rejection of anything less than the whole truth. As his college major, he chose chemistry. He later became one of Asia's outstanding economists by applying test-tube procedures to fiscal affairs.
His institution of higher learning was St. John's University in Shanghai, a missionary school which graduated many of the young men who were to become leaders of the new China. He was at the head of his class and yet found time for extracurricular activities. He was editor of the English - language college yearbook. Along with chemistry, he took an honors course in mathematics. He learned his English at St. John's. It is so fluent that many of his foreign friends jump to the conclusion that he must have attended university in a Western country.
Following his graduation from St. John's in 1926, he became director of supplies in a railroad bureau. His immediate advance was routine. He was practicing what he has always preached - that it is more important to do a good job than to be successful. War with Japan came in 1937. The need for honest, energetic, imaginative young civil servants was greater than ever. In 1938, C.K. Yen was named reconstruction commissioner for Fukien province. There was little money for the projects he was supposed to undertake and he asked for more financial support. With poetic justice, he was appointed finance commissioner in 1939 - and learned that there is never enough money for everything.
Fiscal responsibility began to bring out the financial genius that was to make him famous. He initiated land taxes in kind to help alleviate the dual problem of food shortages and a nearly empty treasury: The National Government was impressed by his successes. Levies in kind were introduced nationwide and helped feed China during the final stage of the war with Japan.
Fukien's finance commissioner had become too valuable an administrator to be allowed to remain in a provincial post. He was drafted by the National Government as procurement director of the new War Production Board. He had charge of supplies under both U.S. Lend-Lease and the British and Canadian loan programs. He twice visited India to expedite deliveries over "The Hump." After World War II, he was sent to Nanking as a Ministry of Economic Affairs representative assisting General Ho Ying-chin in rehabilitating the nation's devastated industrial structure.
Taiwan, which had been ceded to Japan as a spoil of war in 1895, was retroceded to China in 1945. War damage to the island was heavy. C.K. Yen was sent to Taiwan as director of the Department of Communications of the Provincial Government. He served in that post in 1945 and 1946. Again his financial abilities were recognized. In 1946, he became director of the Department of Finance and in 1947 was given the concurrent post of Bank of Taiwan chairman.
The National Government was preoccupied with the mainland struggle against the Chinese Communists. In the late 1940s, it had little time or energy for the problems of Taiwan. Rampant inflation threatened to destroy the island's economy. C.K. Yen saw the danger in time. He re formed the currency and brought prices under control. That was the start of making Taiwan into the model province for all China.
When the National Government moved to Taipei, the obvious choice of an official responsible for economic and financial affairs was C.K. Yen. He entered the Cabinet in 1950 as Minister of Economic Affairs, then moved to the Finance Ministry. He remained at MOF until 1954, when he was named Governor of Taiwan. In 1957 and 1958, he served as chairman of the Council for United States Aid, then returned to the Finance Ministry and stayed there until 1963, when he was elevated to the Premiership.
His financial accomplishments included revision of the tax system, budget and foreign exchange reforms, acceleration of economic development, and reactivation of the Central Bank of China, the Bank of China and the Bank of Communications. He has consistently served the public interest while acting on his conviction that a sizable content of free enterprise is essential to economic prosperity and well-being.
As Finance Minister and then Premier, he made many trips abroad. He represented the Chinese Government at international conferences on economic and financial matters, and served as a governor of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association and the International Monetary Fund.
This experience stood in him in good stead when on December 16, 1973, he was called to the Premiership to succeed the ailing Vice President Chen Cheng. Premier Yen carried on the policies of his predecessor with energy and determination. His encyclopedic knowledge of government administration in general and of economic affairs in particular was just what the country needed. The boom that had begun under the administration of Vice President-Premier Chen Cheng reached the point of economic take-off. By June of 1965, the United States was able to announce the termination of economic assistance to the Republic of China - the first such accomplishment in the history of American aid to Asian countries.
Vice President Chen Cheng died in 1965. Presidential and vice presidential elections were scheduled for the spring of 1966. When the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) began the search for a vice presidential nominee, it had the guidance of these words from President Chiang Kai-shek: "The candidate for the vice presidency, if he is to share with me the heavy responsibility of national recovery, should be a person who is relatively young and who has great energy. In choosing the vice presidential candidate, therefore, consideration must be given not only to his experience, ability and contributions to the Party, but also to his age."
Then 60, C.K. Yen was rich in experience, buoyant in spirit and resourceful in imagination. He was quickly nominated and then elected by the National Assembly. President Chiang welcomed the choice by saying that as his new right hand he had "a man nearly 20 years my junior; gifted with intelligence, insight and many other talents; incorruptible, upright and selfless; possessing virtues reinforced by many decades of revolutionary experience; and invigorated with radiant spirit and enduring fortitude."
C .K. Yen was the Republic of China's first civilian Vice President. Despite the heavy burden of the second highest office in the land, he remained as Premier to continue the direction of Taiwan's economic development. He had the guidance and backing of President Chiang and the cooperation of the Legislative Yuan. By 1972, when he was re-elected Vice President and relinquished the Premiership to his former deputy, Chiang Ching-kuo, C.K. Yen had taken the Re public of China well down the road to developed status. Industrial production was nearly tripled in the six years from 1966 to 1972. Agriculture moved ahead by nearly 30 per cent. Average annual economic growth was just under 10 percent and reached 11.4 percent in 1971. Foreign trade was favorable after 1970. Taiwan was known around the world as an economy in which the lid had been screwed down on inflation. The 1971 per capita income of US$329 did not really reflect the standard of living because the advance from the US$187 of 1966 had been made without disturbing price stability.
The Vice President-Premier had earned his spurs. Members of the National Assembly welcomed the Kuomintang's 1972 renomination of C.K. Yen with enthusiasm. He received 1,095 second-term votes from the Assembly, which serves as the Republic of China's Electoral College. President Chiang took note of his Vice President's faithful service in his Inaugural Address. Chiang Ching-kuo had learned his administrative lessons well. A week after his swearing in, C.K. Yen was able to hand the duties of Premier over to Chiang and devote more attention to his own unique responsibilities as assistant President. The need for a surrogate was to be quickly apparent. President Chiang was stricken ill not long after his fifth inauguration and did not again return to affairs of state on a full-time basis. Yen Chia-kan stepped into the breach, receiving foreign dignitaries and carrying out other duties and obligations of the presidency. He had the able and constant assistance of Madame Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo.
President Yen came to his high office with far more experience than the average chief of state. He also had the broadening of extensive foreign travel and contacts over a period of more than three decades. Some of his earlier travels have already been mentioned. In 1967, he was invited by President Lyndon B. Johnson to visit the United States. He was received with the honor that would have gone to Chiang Kai-shek if the President had not sworn to remain to Taiwan until the time of return to the mainland.
On May 15, in New York City, more than 800 leaders of world business and industry recognized his contributions at the C.K: Yen Dinner. Introducing him, Eugene Black, president of the World Bank, said the guest of honor had "been both friend and counselor to me since I first was a guest in his country in 1957... They called him even then 'the walking encyclopedia of Taiwan.' There wasn't then and there isn't today any aspect of economic activity in Taiwan about which he couldn't quote the latest statistic, explain the latest policy or describe the latest goal and the progress being made towards that goal. Nobody I have ever met talked with more persuasion, more professional competence about his country's economic life than does our guest today. And what a magnificent story he has to tell!"
Mr. Black went on to say that no one man deserved more credit for the "economic miracle of Taiwan."
In his address on that occasion, C.K. Yen thanked the United States for its friendship and cooperation, and then said: "What modest progress we have achieved on Taiwan, let me assure you, is but a foretaste of the shape of things to come in China after it has returned to the camp of freedom and democracy. The present turmoil and chaos, which have shattered the myth of a stable and monolithic Communist regime in power, should not be allowed to go on indefinitely. The Chinese people have suffered too much, and their ardent and natural desire for the basic freedoms deserves our active support. It is the duty of my Government, and that of the free countries, to demonstrate to them that ours is the better of two systems, and to assure them that we are behind them.
"Once the Chinese people have made their choice, and we have no doubt what it will be, we shall launch the greatest building program the world has ever seen. Instead of promoting 'people's wars of liberation' in foreign lands, we shall give top priority to the war on poverty in our own provinces. Instead of squandering away China's limited resources on nuclear projects for aggression, we shall embark on nuclear research for peaceful purposes. And instead of pursuing ideological quarrels based on the dream of world revolution, we shall throw open our doors and welcome capital and technical know-how from all friendly countries.
"In two centuries, the American people have built up a vast reservoir of goodwill in the hearts and minds of the Chinese. When those on the mainland are once again free to express their true feelings, I can assure you that the ancient Chinese ideal of the universal brotherhood of men will reassert itself and that the chances of a lasting peace will be, immeasurably improved. We have faith in the rationality of our compatriots and we have faith that we shall one day be reunited in the land of our ancestors."
In July of 1967, Yen Chia-kan went to Korea as the Special Envoy of President Chiang Kai-shek to attend the second inauguration of President Park Chung Hee. It was his second visit to Korea. During his first visit in 1964, he received an honorary LL.D. degree from Seoul National University. In January of 1968, he went to Thailand and was received by Their Majesties King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit. He conferred with government leaders and accepted an honorary degree from Chulalongkorn University.
Travels in 1970 included a July trip to Japan to officiate at the China Day ceremonies of Expo 70 in Osaka. As Vice President, he was received by Emperor Hirohito at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. In October, he went to New York for the opening of the 25th session of the United Nations General Assembly. In October of 1971 he represented the Republic of China at the second inaugural of President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Vietnam.
The year 1973 was one of renewed travel to the Americas. He went to the United States twice in January, first to attend memorial services for President Harry Truman and subsequently to attend services for President Lyndon Johnson. In July and August, he went to Asuncion to attend the inaugural of President Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay, then visited Brazil, Costa Rica and Guatemala.
In 1974, he made three separate trips to Latin America and the Caribbean. In March, he attended the inaugurations of President Ernesto Geisel of Brazil and President Andres Beres of Venezuela. In May he represented the Republic of China at the inaugural of President Daniel Oduber Quiros of Costa Rica and then visited EI Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. In November he traveled to Managua for the swearing in of President Anastasio Somoza Debayle of Nicaragua. Subsequently he was the guest of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Barbados.
President Yen is an eloquent and persuasive speaker in both Chinese and English. Quotations from his addresses and his statements give an insight into the man, his thinking and his dedication to the ideals of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the leadership of President Chiang Kai-shek.
On December 27, 1963, he made his first report to the Legislative Yuan as Premier. "The spirit of modem democratic government," he said, "lies in the exercise of the people's political power and the government's administrative power, in the development of constitutional government and the rule of law, and in the strengthening of cooperation and coordination between the legislature and administration - so as to increase the generating force of national reconstruction. In our great task of fighting Communism and of national recovery, we have sought to establish here on Taiwan a democratic constitutional rule that will serve as a model for national reconstruction."
He spoke of the importance of human resources, and said that he considered them more important than any other assets in assuring social and national progress. In the spirit of Dr. Sun and President Chiang, he called for expeditious development of human resources through increased employment of young people.
In February of 1964, he made his first Administrative Report to the Legislative Yuan and identified two kinds of appeasement: that of "neutralization" and that of accepting Communist aggression as a fait accompli. Neutralization only creates a vacuum for Communist infiltration and subversion of free and democratic areas, he said, while acceptance of Communist enslavement is an attempt to keep half the world free at the expense of the half that is tyrannized.
Yen Chia-kan addressed these prophetic words to the Legislative Yuan in September of 1965:
"The war in Vietnam is going to be difficult and tricky over a prolonged period of time. Most of the nations of the world want peace. The Chinese Communists are taking advantage of this yearning for peace. Under such circumstances, it is quite possible there will be an incessant flurry of peace clamors and gestures." The eventual price was to be the freedom of South Vietnam. But President Yen is as confident today, as he was then, that "the free nations one day will awake, see through Communist deception and then seek a permanent and realistic settlement."
President Yen is an enthusiastic amateur photographer and his favorite subjects are family members. (File photo)
In March of 1966, he told the Third Plenary Session of the Ninth Kuomintang Central Committee: "We are confident that with our own military and civilian strength, we can by ourselves shoulder the responsibility of destroying the Communist puppet regime on the mainland and freeing all Asia from the Red scourge. Because this is purely an internal problem, we definitely do not need so much as a single soldier from any friendly foreign nation to help us defeat and punish the usurpers within our own territory. It has been so in the past. It is so today. It will always be so in the future."
C .K. Yen told members of the National Press Club of Washington in 1967 that he had come to the United States "not as a stranger but as a friend. Our two countries have had a long tradition of friendship. But what is more important is that this friendship, rooted in our dedication to common ideals, has successfully withstood the test of time and adversity." He recalled that "Together we fought a common war against a common enemy. The Chinese people will always remember the assistance they received from the United States in their hour of unprecedented peril. "
In May of 1969, he philosophized in this vein for the International Conference of Weekly Newspaper Editors in Taipei: "In some countries you find young people, especially those in the universities and colleges, becoming rather disenchanted with their environment and turning either cynical or militant. Cynicism and militancy have been plaguing quite a few countries and quite a number of societies throughout the world. I think that in education it is imperative to emphasize the ethical point of view (which) stems from the idea of civic responsibility. After all, a human being differs from other animals in that he or she has a brain out of which some sense of responsibility can be developed. A human being can never live alone in this world. He has to associate with his fellow human beings. He naturally must assume responsibility not only toward himself but also toward other people. And that is exactly what is contained in the teachings of our great Sage of more than 2,000 years ago - Confucius. The teaching of Confucius emphasizes this very point. So we can hope that we can create better scientists, better technicians and better citizens."
Addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations October 21, 1970, C.K. Yen reaffirmed the Republic of China's "unshakable faith in the noble goals and ideals enshrined in the Charter." "The quest for international peace and security is and will continue to be," he said, "the dominating purpose of our age. It is to the governments represented here that the peoples of the world look for the peace and security that they so desperately long for. So let us wholeheartedly pledge ourselves to the noble and challenging task of translating the ideals and goals of the Charter into reality. If we can make this turbulent world march toward what Confucius called the 'Great Commonwealth,' we shall have made one of the greatest contributions to the future of humanity."
In July of 1971, he expressed "surprise" at the plans of President Nixon to visit the Chinese mainland. "We have a thorough understanding of the ambitions, intrigues and deceits of the Chinese Communists," he said. "Recalling the bitter experiences suffered by the free world in the past, we regret to see a friendly nation deceived by the Chinese Communists. This could lead to a tragedy far more serious than that involved in the fall of the Chinese mainland."
Reporting to the Fifth Session of the National Assembly early in 1972, he declared that the 1971 voluntary withdrawal from the United Nations "was an act of sacrifice to uphold our solemn stand. The U.N. had violated its own Charter and destroyed the lofty ideals and moral basis on which it was founded, thereby sacrificing the dignity of its principles and purposes." Despite the necessity of breaking diplomatic relations with countries entering into ties with the Chinese Communists, "we are taking positive action and continuing to wage an unswerving struggle to safeguard righteousness and justice in the international community and preserve world peace," he said.
In 1974, Yen Chia-kan addressed the Fourth of July meeting of the American University Club in Taipei (for the fourth time) and gave his American friends and U.S.-educated Chinese a lesson in American history. Ambassador Leonard Unger subsequently remarked that Embassy personnel had gone scurrying for their history books and found that they still had much to learn about the War of American Independence and the birth of the United States of America.
"Nothing is swifter than the years," C.K. Yen told the AUC. "On the Fourth of July after next, the United States will be marking its bicentennial. That will surely be the grandest and most glorious Fourth of July since that day 198 years ago when 28 members of the Second Continental Congress met in Independence Hall at Philadelphia and adopted the Declaration of Independence... Interestingly enough, twelve of the thirteen American colonies had actually dissolved their bonds with Great Britain two days earlier - or 198 years ago this second day of July, 1974. The Congress then settled down to three days of debate over Jefferson's draft text of the Declaration. Benjamin Franklin, who was sitting next to the Declaration's author, noted that Jefferson was - and I quote 'writhing a little under the acrimonious criticisms.' The man who was to be the third president of the United States was sensitive about his writing and the members of the Congress were not gentle editors. About one fourth of Jefferson's text was blue-penciled out of existence. Congress wanted King George's toes stepped on - hard - but sought to avoid stirring up any domestic hornet's nests.
"Of the 28 American patriots who voted for the Declaration, two were never to sign the parchment copy laid before the Congress on August 2 of 1776. Fifty members affixed their signatures on that day and six more signed later. Thus a new and different nation was created on this earth two centuries ago the nation' that Chinese so aptly call Mei Kuo, or the beautiful country."
The man who was to become President of the Republic of China less than two years later went on to trace the long and warm relationship between the United States and the Republic of China. In summing up, he said: "It seems to me that the United States and the Republic of China have as much in common for the future as for the past. We both believe in a free way of life for our people. We both are dedicated to justice. Americans are not Confucianists but they have a Confucian trust in humanity, love and compassion. For similar reasons, many of our people are Christians. They have added a metaphysical aspect to their Confucianism." Quoting from Madame Chiang Kai-shek's address to the U.S. House of Representatives in the wartime year of 1943, he said America is "'not only the cauldron of democracy but the incubator of democratic principles.' "
Yen Chia-kan has dedicated himself to the economic theory as well as the political ideology of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Founding Father, as incorporated in the Three Principles of the People - Nationalism, Democracy and the People's Livelihood. Dr. Sun advocated international investment in the China of the early 20th century to help expedite the process of modernization. As an economist-financier, C.K. Yen made this advocacy a cornerstone of his thinking. He was one of the prime movers of the Foreign Investment Law enacted by the Legislative Yuan in 1960 and since revised to make Taiwan an even more desirable place of deposit for foreign capital. Investment provides more than a footnote to the relationship with the United States. American companies have invested about US$500 million in Taiwan, and their names include Ford, Goodyear and most of the big makers of electronics.
In personal relationships, President Yen is warm, friendly and unassuming. He is gentle, easy to know, always accessible and strict only with himself. His office door has not been closed since he became chief of state. "We are not alike," he has said. "Everyone has his own personality and should be encouraged to develop it." He wants to think through every problem and put himself in the shoes of those with different solutions. He is never satisfied that he is well enough informed. He reads widely in both Chinese and English books on astronomy and geography, economics and literature, periodicals of every kind, and leading newspapers from at home and abroad. He keeps up the newest developments in public administration and the growth of computerized political science. What he doesn't know he knows where to find - whether in a book or from an authority on the subject.
President Yen spends with his family what time he can borrow from affairs of state. He and his wife, the former Liu Chishun, have five sons, four daughters and many grandchildren. The President delights in taking pictures of family members, especially of the third generation, on a Sunday outing or in his garden. He is an ardent amateur photographer and likes to exchange tips and discuss new equipment with news cameramen. He enjoys music, both Chinese and Western classical, and has his own records and tapes. He is often in the front row at important concerts and recitals. His day begins at 6 and ends late in the evening. But he does not tire. He adheres to his schedule and finds moments for relaxation. Because he likes people, meetings with visitors are stimulating and enjoyable.
Yen Chia-kan is a leader of the new China, yet he also represents and preserves the traditional virtues of an old China in which life was slower and more contemplative. He is wholly modern in his services to government and people - an organization man and a team worker who gets things done efficiently and on time. In private life he retains the individuality and serenity of the Chinese mandarins of old. Above all, he is a dedicated patriot - faithful to country, to Dr. Sun and to his long-time friend, benefactor and leader, President Chiang Kai-shek. Following in the footsteps of Dr. Sun and Generalissimo Chiang, he insists on a united, free, peaceful and democratic China that will take its rightful place in the world.
He believes with Confucius that "When a country is well governed, poverty and want are things to be ashamed of; when a country is ill governed, riches and honor are things to be ashamed of." His certainty of mainland recovery is no less strong than that of President Chiang. Communism's defeat, he has said, is assured by another great Confucian truth: "Without the confidence of the people," the Sage said 2,500 years ago, "no government can stand."
In his own words, President Yen has put it this way: "No government can be called good unless the people are happy and secure." That symbolized his dedication as he pledged to do his humble best to lead the Republic of China in carrying out the Last Testament of President Chiang.