President Chiang Kai-shek's Inaugural Speech
May 20, 1966
Acting under the Constitution and on behalf of the whole body of China's citizens, the fourth session of the National Assembly has reelected me to serve as the President of the Republic of China for the fourth term. The National Assembly has also enacted measures giving me emergency powers and charging me with the great task of bringing our projected counter-offensive and national recovery to a successful conclusion. I am fully aware of the complete earnestness with which the National Assembly bas called upon me to serve my country, and at the same time I am keenly sensitive to the tremendous responsibility my countrymen have placed on me. But urged on by my life-long dedication, I dare not shirk this sacred duty when the national crisis is still acute, when the Communist scourge remains rampant, when our mainland compatriots, shedding blood and tears, patiently defy death and urgently await deliverance, and when the great task of National Revolution bequeathed to us by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Founding Father of our Republic, is not yet completely fulfilled. I shall, therefore, endeavor to discharge my duty from beginning to end—in the words of my oath of office, to "observe the Constitution, faithfully perform my duties, promote the welfare of the people, and safeguard the May 20, 1966 security of the state." With a grim determination to persevere, I shall make a supreme effort to achieve total victory for our counter-offensive and national recovery, and to score a consummate success for our National Revolution.
At the end of World War II which brought about the defeat of the Nazi aggressors, our nation and our people achieved their long-cherished desire for liberty at home and equality in the community of nations. Before long, however, the people on the Chinese mainland were robbed of their personal property, separated from their families and relatives, deprived of their cultural and historical heritage, and denied their human and individual dignity. They have been forced to serve as Communist tools of aggression for the enslavement of yet other peoples.
Moreover, Asian peoples living close to the Chinese mainland have been subjected to the out-rages of infiltration, subversion, aggressive rough-handling, and outright armed invasion. As a result, they are cowed by the Chinese Communist evil and tremble under the lethal umbra of Peiping's nuclear fallout. The conflagration extinguished in World War II has been rekindled and the fires of war are leaping high once more. All this is attributable to the usurpation of governmental power over our mainland by Mao Tse-tung and his cohorts whose insurrection has deprived the free world of an otherwise stable and secure Asia. Our program of building up Taiwan into a model province of San Min Chu I (Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People) and a powerful base for the recovery of the Chinese mainland is primarily aimed at uprooting Communism, emancipating our compatriots from slavery, restoring freedom to all within the Republic, and providing Asia and the whole world with a new lease of life that is based on justice and peace.
As Dr. Sun once said: "The tendencies of a nation are deter mined by mental tendencies of all its people. Now these very same tendencies of our people are foreshadowing the defeat and destruction of the nefarious Communists in our country and auguring the inevitable triumph and success of our National Revolution!
The ideology of Marxism-Leninism—the selfish one-class heresy of Communism-has ended in bankruptcy and isolation as a result of its internal divisions and conflicts caused by "revisionism" and "anti-revisionism" and by the "brutal mentality" of the Communists.
Furthermore, the exposition of Peiping's intrigues at infiltration, subversion, bribery, and rebellion-fomenting in countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas has isolated that regime and made it an international outcast.
Fear-stricken, the Chinese Communists now say that "the U.S. imperialists are trying to isolate us. The Soviet bloc also wishes to encircle us." And so we see that Peiping now is isolated by a "strategic crescent of menace" stretching from India in the west to Japan in the east and the Chinese Communists are aware that they are cornered.
At this juncture, it deserves special mention that the Chinese Communists have admitted that an anti-party and anti-Communist "black line" struggle "has involved a wide area" on the mainland. Faced with a war against the minds and hearts of 600 million people, the Peiping regime finds itself amid overwhelming conflicts and enmity in which the people driven by hate and discontent have risen up in unison for self-defense.
However, the Chinese Communists are not yet defeated. Mere military containment unaccompanied by political isolation will still leave them free to effect a break-through by way of infiltration, to say nothing of the threat of surprise attacks by their crude and dirty nuclear weapons. Only when military containment is reinforced by political isolation can we keep ourselves from falling into their sinister traps. In view of their 'Theory of Contradiction," they can very well resort to the stratagem: "Use your enemy's spear to pierce his own shield."
Appeasement is nothing but defeatism in another form. To entertain any illusion, to wait and see, to seek contact with the enemy, to retreat, to appease, to beg him for mercy—to do any of these is to fall prey to Communist treachery. As Mao Tse-tung has said, "The easiest way to destroy an enemy stronghold is to attack it from within."
As we all know, the two great wars since the beginning of this century which entailed millions of casualties, were both caused by men, who indulged in appeasement under the delusion that war could be avoided simply by not thinking of it. Unfortunately, the more they tried to avoid war, the more quickly war came; the more they tried to appease the aggressors, the more horrible the resultant wars became. Like the Nazis of the past, the Chinese Communists today are possessed by certain psychosis that drives them onward seeking to conquer the world and enslave mankind and they will not be dissuaded from their course of action by either reasoning with them or by appealing to them for mercy. This is what contemporary statesmen in the free world can see in the foreseeable future — war or peace. They must be responsible to their respective countries and also to humanity as a whole.
To be sure, the spread of the lethal fallout from Peiping's nuclear explosions and the claims by the Chinese Communists of having established an effective control over the 600 million people on the mainland have had some intimidating effect on the cowardly and have given rise to defeatism in some circles. The courageous, however, are immune to fear and can readily discern the contradictions and conflicts inherent in tyranny, and discover the braggings and empty threats of the weak who pretend to be strong. The courageous, therefore, will rise and take up arms. They will hoist the banner of righteousness and come together from all directions. They will root out the forces of evil. They will consider it their responsibility to maintain peace and security in Asia and the world. In other words, while Peiping's nuclear explosions may bewilder some politicians in foreign countries, cow the cowards and intimidate its neighbors in order to control them, they are wholly impotent when confronted with the movements of resistance and revolution in their own backyard, namely, the Chinese mainland. Nuclear power will also be useless in resisting our armed forces once we have launched the counter-attack. In fact, what the Chinese Communists fear most of all is our National Revolutionary Army fighting in the name of all the Chinese people to punish the tyrants and to emancipate the people on the mainland. In order to put an end to the evil deeds of the Chinese Communists, to avert a nuclear war, and to save mankind from an impending catastrophe, there is no other way than putting into effect our plans of an all-out offensive against the Communist-occupied mainland of China. To this end, we shall wield the Three Principles of the People as our sword and the spirit of the Chinese people as our shield, and fight in coordination with the mainland people rising in armed resistance and revolution against the Communist tyranny.
In the early days of our National Revolution, Dr. Sun pilot ed and guided us through a series of campaigns-the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty, the founding of the Republic, the defending of the Republic's provisional constitution, and the suppression of Chen Chiung-ming's attempted coup. Succeeding to Dr. Sun, I led the nation in the Northward Expedition that brought about China's unification, in campaigns to oust the Chinese Communists from their very lairs in central China provinces, and in our War of Resistance against Japan until victory. In all these undertakings, we invariably managed to defeat the enemy in a manner characterized by the phenomenon of a minority vanquishing a majority in point of troop strength, and that of a majority overwhelming a minority in. point of moral support. Dr. Sun said: "The might of revolution is different from that of ordinary force. With but a small revolutionary army, we can destroy an enemy of enormous numerical and armament strength." That explains why the Chinese Communists, who have occupied the Chinese mainland for 16 years and imposed their control over 600 million people, dare not come face to face with our 12 million people on Taiwan. Worse than that, they invariably suffered a down-right defeat in everyone of their moves against any point in the Kinmen and Matsu complexes of the off-shore islands—whether at Kuningtou, or at the islet of Tatan, or at the islet of Lieh. In these engagements, no matter whether the Chinese Communists attacked by amphibious landings or by prolonged bombings, and no matter how hard they tried, they unfailingly ended up in a total defeat, with everyone of them either captured or killed. The Chinese Communists can slave-drive the 600 million people on the mainland by force and violence, but they cannot convince their minds and win their hearts as they are all anti-Communist. On the other hand, if we on Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu are inferior in number, the entire body of our military forces and civilian population are united in a single mind, absolutely dedicated to duty and iron-firm in devotion to our nation. To them, the Chinese Communists are an enemy with whom they "will not co-exist under the same sun" and they are determined to march forward with one heart with a common purpose and never a backward glance. This will serve to prove that our 600,000 troops that fight as one man cannot but defeat the 3,000,000 Communist troops since they are of 3,000,000 different minds, each pulling in a different direction. The people on the mainland have suffered most from the hands of the Communists, and deep in their hearts they have nurtured an extreme hatred of the Peiping regime. They are actually the Communists' enemy. They have virtually become the main reserve units of the government forces, ready to take part in our counter-offensive. For this reason, we are all the more convinced of the truth in Dr. Sun's saying: "With but a very small force, we can destroy the most powerful enemy." Now, while speaking of numerical strength, we have today not only 600,000 men under arms who believe in the Three Principles of the People, but also 12 million loyal compatriots in our bastion of freedom, Taiwan. In addition, we have in overseas areas 15 million Chinese who likewise support the Three Principles of the People. And, above all, we have on the mainland 600 million countrymen who look forward to the triumph of the Three Principles of the People and who impatiently await rescue from the brink of death. We have no doubt whatsoever that we shall be able to crush the armed forces of the nefarious Mao Tse-tung who is now at the end of his tether. We know that among the rank and file of the Chinese Communist forces, an overwhelming majority are "flying the Red banner but are really anti-Red at heart". These soldiers are comparable to the "New Army" of the Manchus, who joined forces with the revolutionaries to make the Revolution of 1911 a success. This "New Army" under the Red banner is merely biding its time to bring its revolt info the open. The Communists in Peiping, imbued with the evils of Marxism and Leninism imported from Soviet Russia, will perish by their own violence because they first seized power by violence, for like begets like. By contrast, our National Revolution, which is based on Dr. Sun's Three Principles of the People, has its origin in benevolence and, therefore, conquers by benevolence.
As I myself and Mr. Yen Chia-kan are today sworn in as President and Vice President respectively, we wish to call the attention of our fellow-countrymen, civilian and military alike, to this important truth: The struggle against Communism and tyranny is a common obligation of all free people in the world but the task of our counter-offensive and national recovery is a special responsibility solely our own, to be borne by the military personnel and civilians of the Republic of China alone.
We should not rest on our achievements, nor be content with the security and prosperity of our bastion of freedom. The primary results of our efforts jointly made by our military and civilians in invigorating national ism, implementing democracy, and promoting social welfare and reconstruction must not be eroded away by inertia or circumscribed by self-satisfaction! We must bear in mind that for the past 16 years the pain of suffering endured by our mainland compatriots has increased daily. Their vitality, their corpora, and their means of sustenance have been exploited by the insane Communists in their efforts to continue nuclear explosions aimed at threatening mankind; and so their welfare has vanished in the form of radio-active fallout. The vigorous reconstruction efforts we have made on this base of freedom over these years also have as their objective the expression of our fraternal love and the love of all within the compass of our ethnic kinship, and to do this amidst, as well as despite, the widespread destruction perpetrated by the Chinese Communists. It has been our hope, too, that ethical, political, and scientific constructions which have been carried out on this island province will be extended to every corner of the mainland; and in that way we may be able to share with all our mainland compatriots the welfare of peace and freedom under the Three Principles of the People.
In this base of national recovery, our nation as a whole and our people individually have experienced 16 years of untold hardship and mortification. How ever, over these years, the military and civilians, with their hard work and painstaking efforts and their struggles in unity, have all contributed to the impending collapse and straitened circum stances of the Chinese Communists. Conversely, our people, again military and civilian alike, have prepared us well by their endeavors for our forthcoming counter-offensive and national recovery. We have already gone 90 per cent of our journey to ward our goal, but as a Chinese proverb gees, one's hike is only half through after covering nine-tenths of the whole distance—the last lap demands the utmost effort. Of course, the path ahead is still full of thorny plants, hidden or gaping dangers, and all manners of obstacles to be braved and overcome by our united efforts. But inestimable pains and unprecedented difficulties have we overcome and surmounted during the past 16 years because of our unshakable confidence in the inevitable success of the Three Principles of the People, and we have thereby become a shining beacon of freedom in the Western Pacific and a strong and invincible anti-Communist bastion at the Asian front. Hereafter, as long as we resolutely make more positive efforts, speed up our preparations, work in harmony and unity, and, taking advantage of our own strength and the enemy's weakness, seize the opportunity for our counter-offensive when the moment arrives, we can, by engaging in struggles and by shedding our own blood, quicken the anti-Communist armed resistance and revolution on the mainland. All we have to fear is the slackening of our preparations. With that out of the way, we shall have no cause to worry about ever repeating the past' mistake of getting bogged down in our travail.
So I spoke to the National Assembly not long ago: "In the face of this courageous and glorious undertaking, which is going to affect the whole of the mainland, we must concentrate our physical and mental strength and mobilize our material and financial resources. We must be industrious, frugal, law-abiding, and practical in a total mobilization of our daily life. In particular, we must promote our nation's traditional virtues of mutual help and cooperation for unity in struggle and heighten our ingrained sense of responsibility for total spiritual mobilization."
We must, therefore:
—Appeal to the conscience of mankind by contrasting the peace and prosperity under the democratic government of the Republic of China with the endemic terror and hunger of Peiping's bloody rule; contrasting the political freedom on this bastion of national recovery with the popular hatred generated by Peiping's "salient politics" of repression; contrasting our cultural and ideological developments with Peiping's purges of intellectuals; contrasting our progress in the peaceful uses of science with Peiping's insane explosions of nuclear devices for blackmail and war; and contrasting our national spirit of righteousness with Peiping's nefarious policy of national genocide. Thus can we over throw and destroy the Peiping regime and restore and rehabilitate the long-suppressed life of freedom on the mainland.
—Deliver our mainland compatriots in an exercise of national righteousness; destroy the treacherous Communist criminal; and extirpate the principal cause of human evil—by emulating the spirit of our martyrs, by relying upon the power of the Three Principles of the People which are based on morality, democracy, and science, and by sacrificing our lives for the recovery of our lost land and the restoration of our compatriots' lost freedom.
Our ancient sage Confucius said: "A man of virtue will never be alone and will always have friends." Another sage also said: "He who finds the proper course has many to assist him. He who loses the proper course has few to assist him. When this—the being assisted by few-reaches its extreme point, his own relations revolt against the prince. When the being assisted by many reaches its highest point, the whole empire becomes obedient to the prince. When one to whom the whole empire is prepared to be obedient attacks those against whom their own relations revolt, what must be the result? Therefore, the true ruler will prefer not to fight; but if he does fight, he must overcome." Today we are employing our national spirit and traditional culture based on loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, love, faithfulness, justice, harmony, and peace to strengthen the moral forces of freedom and democracy in accordance with the Three Principles of the People, which call for government of the people, by the people, and for the people. What we all can be sure of today is that the very moment we start our counter-offensive, we can describe our position with the saying "we shall prefer not to fight; but if we do fight, we must overcome." We shall succeed in recovering our country because the benevolent is invincible. No evil force of Communism can stop us in our march.
Being devoted to our National Revolution and dedicated to the Republic of China, I often remind myself of Dr. Sun's words urging me to carryon the work he had begun. I have long been entrusted with the task of rescuing the people and punishing the guilty. Looking back, I must say that I have often lived in suffering, humiliation, danger, false accusations, enemy infiltration and subversion, and narrow escapes from death. I have scored many successes but I have also met with many defeats. Defeats, however, only paved the way for successes. All these experiences of successes and failures and precarious living and narrow escapes have made me an undiscouraged old soldier. This undiscouraged old soldier, who can be as alert and vigilant as if he were walking on thin ice or standing at the edge of a precipice, is, however, indifferent to name and position and oblivious to fame and slander. Now I must continue to accept the heavy responsibility of leading our people in the counter-offensive and national recovery just as I must accept the wartime emergency powers they have entrusted me with. With a common feeling of making amends and a determination to render our best, I shall work together with Vice President Yen Chia-kan to punish the rebels, implement the Three Principles of the People, and relieve the nation of its calamity. We shall combine the might of our servicemen and civilians to recover the national territories, protect civil rights, exterminate Mao Tse-tung and his cohorts, liberate our mainland compatriots, and establish on the ruins a new country of unity and freedom. We also shall cooperate with free Asia and the free world in establishing a new age of peace and tranquility. Thus will our country and our people be blessed!