The new Central Standing Committee consists of 21 members, including Vice President C.K. Yen and Premier Chiang Ching-kuo.
Others are Ku Cheng-kang, chairman of the China Chapter of the Asian People's Anti-Communist League; S.K. Huang, secretary-general of the National Security Council; Nieh Wen-ya, president of the Legislative Yuan; Hsieh Tung-min, governor of Taiwan; Huang Chieh, former minister of defense and governor of Taiwan; Yuan Shou-chien, former minister of communications; Chang Chi-yun, former minister of education; Cheng Yin-fun, presidential secretary-general; Vice Premier Hsu Ching-chung; Education Minister Y.S. Tsiang; Finance Minister K.T. Li; Economic Affairs Minister Y.S. Sun; Kuo Chi, secretary-general of the Mainland Recovery Planning Commission; Lai Ming-tang, chief of the general staff; Justice Minister Wang Jen-yuan; Lin Ting-sheng, speaker of the Taipei City Council; Foreign Minister Shen Chang-huan; and Defense Minister Kao Kuei-yuan. The last two are new members.
The four-day session at which six general meetings were held opened at the Chungshan Building in the Yangmingshan (Mt. Yangming) district of Taipei November 12, the birthday of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Republic of China and also the founder of the Kuomintang.
Among the 800 participants were 99 members of the Central Committee and 153 members of the Central Advisory Council. The others were local party representatives and government officials who are members of the ruling party.
Delegates heard an administrative report by Premier Chiang Ching-kuo. They also heard reports by Chang Pao-shu, secretary-general of the Central Committee; Hsu Ching-lan, director of the Department of Mainland Operations of the Central Committee; and Y.C. Chen, director of the Department of Overseas Affairs of the Central Committee.
Discussed and adopted at the general meetings were the "Guidelines for the Revolutionary Situation at the Present Stage," "Guidelines for Party Construction and Struggle at the Present Stage" and "Guidelines for Political Reconstruction at the Present Stage."
Also adopted were four messages: to the people on the Chinese mainland, to party workers on the mainland, to overseas Chinese and to men and women in uniform.
All members participated in the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Advisory Council, which took place at the Chungshan Building November 14. They discussed 15 proposals and made recommendations.
S.K. Huang, member of the Central Standing Committee, presided at the closing ceremony of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 10th Central Committee and the 5th Plenary Session of the Central Advisory Council the afternoon of November 15.
President Chiang Kai-shek, Director-General of the Kuomintang, received nine key members of the 10th Central Committee and Secretary-General Chang Pao-shu at the presidential residence November 11 and nominated them as the presidium of the Fourth Plenary Session. Madame Chiang was also present.
The nine members were C.K. Yen, Chiang Ching-kuo, Ku Cheng-kang, Huang Shao-ku, Nieh Wen-ya, Hsieh Tung-min, T.S. Lin, Li Chih-min and Chien Chien-chiu (Mrs. P. Y. Wong).
President Chiang emphasized the importance of the party meeting and expressed hope the Plenary Session would be conducted carefully and effectively. He said participants should contribute their valuable views and that he was ready to be reminded of any important issue.
Yen quoted President Chiang as saying all party members should work together.
"I believe that in this way our party will certainly accomplish the mission of mainland recovery," President Chiang was quoted as saying.
Yen said President Chiang also asked that his regards be conveyed to members of the Kuomintang Central Advisory Committee and to the Central Committee and to other participants.
"The President was satisfied with the successful conclusion of the Fourth Plenary Session," Madame Chiang said at a farewell dinner for the delegates.
President Chiang Kai-shek called on the nation to rededicate itself to national recovery on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of Taiwan's retrocession to China (October 25, 1945).
In a Taiwan Retrocession Day message, President Chiang told the nation the recovery of the Communist-held mainland of China is the destination of a march that started with the restoration of the island to China after 50 years of Japanese rule.
It is a "sacred task" facing the entire nation, President Chiang said.
"Let us, with one mind and one heart, march together bravely and courageously - shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand - along this broad way of light," he said. The message was read at a mass rally at Taichung.
The President said the tide of appeasement is still running strong. However, he said, the people of the Republic of China have not been daunted. "They have been able to withstand the onslaught of the tide and continue to make phenomenal progress."
"All this is proof," President Chiang said, "that we can meet any challenge and withstand any test.
"As we are celebrating the 28th anniversary of Taiwan's retrocession today," he said, "all of us are boundlessly rejoicing in the constant improvement of the standard of living of our people and the evergrowing prosperity of our society."
It was President Chiang who took the first step toward Taiwan's return to China.
He met President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain at Cairo in November of 1943.
They declared that Japan should be required to return Manchuria, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to China after the end of World War II.
This requirement was reaffirmed in the Potsdam Declaration that the Japanese government accepted in deciding to surrender to the Allied Powers.
The President paid high tribute to overseas Chinese as the nation marked Overseas Chinese Day October 21. He recalled that the overseas Chinese community had contributed greatly to the National Revolution.
Since the Communist usurpation of power on the mainland, President Chiang said, the overwhelming majority of overseas Chinese have resisted Communist united front tactics.
The President likened the loyalty of the overseas Chinese community to a "great wall" that checks Communist subversive activities.
"The fact that leaders of the overseas Chinese community are here to celebrate their own day has fully demonstrated the solidarity of our countrymen at home and abroad and their determination and sincerity in meeting the national crisis squarely," the President declared.
"The most important task for us today," he added, "is to unify the strength of the Chinese people at home and abroad and capitalize on the Chinese Communist weaknesses to offset their temporary advantages."
The President urged overseas Chinese visitors to:
- Tell the people in the free world of what they have seen in free China and persuade those overseas Chinese who have been hoodwinked by the Peiping regime to join the anti-Communist struggle.
- Make friends with the people of their countries of residence and assist in their economic development.
- Support the economic development of Taiwan and help promote the sale of local products.
Vice President C.K. Yen praised overseas Chinese for their patriotism and their rejection of Communist enticements and cajoleries.
President Chiang Kai-shek passed his 86th (87th by Chinese reckoning) birthday October 31.
President Richard M. Nixon of the United States led world chiefs of state in wishing President Chiang a happy birthday.
In a personal letter of congratulation, Nixon praised President Chiang for the wisdom his long and rich experience has given the world.
"We all have benefited from the wisdom that your long and rich experience has given us," Nixon wrote, adding:
"What the Republic of China has accomplished under your leadership now serves as a premier example to other Asian nations which want to meet the challenges of modernization while honoring their cultural heritage.
"You can take deep pride in the place this has given you not only in the history of your country, but in that of all Asia as well."
Nixon's letter, dated October 20, was brought to Taipei by Mrs. Anna Chennault, widow of Lt. Gen. Claire Chennault.
American Ambassador to Taipei Walter P. McConaughy also transmitted a message of congratulation from President Nixon to President Chiang.
The message, dated October 27, said:
"On behalf of the American people, Mrs. Nixon and I extend to you our heartiest congratulation" on the occasion of your birthday. Over the years you have earned the admiration and respect of this country for your wise and dedicated leadership. You have our best wishes for continued good health, and for happiness and prosperity in the Republic of China."
Similar messages came from President Park Chung Hee of the Republic of Korea and President Nguyen Van Thieu of the Republic of Vietnam.
McConaughy led foreign envoys in extending congratulations to President Chiang.
In a statement, Ambassador McConaughy said President Chiang's long and illustrious career has spanned a period of conflict, change and complexity perhaps unparalleled in world history.
"His lasting reputation as one of the great leaders of this era is firmly established," McConaughy said.
Today in Taiwan, he added, one sees the results of President Chiang's leadership clearly reflected in the continuing progress, prosperity, resilience and stability of the Republic of China.
Birthday halls in public places and schools were crowded with people who signed their names on congratulatory scrolls to extend best wishes to the national leader.
A reception took place at the National Civic Activity Center. Nieh Wen-ya, president of the Legislative Yuan, was host to more than 5,000 government officials and civic leaders.
Five Chinese Navy ships held open house at Keelung, Kaohsiung, Hualien and Makung. People visited birthday halls aboard the ships.
Two U.S. senators and five members of the House of Representatives spoke up in support of the Republic of China to mark the anniversary.
Senator Peter H. Dominick (Republican-Colorado) praised the Republic of China for its booming economy and congratulated the free Chinese "for their extraordinary achievements and their dramatic progress in the face of international uncertainties."
Dominick noted that "The Republic of China has the highest rate of growth in foreign trade of any significant trading nation in the world."
Representative John M. Ashbrook (Republican-Ohio) said the Republic of China was a "steadfast friend and ally of ours in Asia." He said that the free Chinese "serve as an example that friendship with the United States, hard work and a free enterprise system can lead to a strong country and a prosperous people."
Ashbrook said the United States should give more diplomatic support to the cause of the free Chinese.
Representative Robert J. Huber (Republican-Michigan) said it would be a mistake for the United States to break diplomatic relations with the Republic of China as a precondition of establishing full relations with the Peiping regime.
Representative Floyd Spence of South Carolina took advantage of the Double Tenth anniversary to "publicly restate my dedication to freedom and democracy and to the continued health and prosperity of the Republic of China."
He said, "Truly, the entire free world owes to the Chinese people on the island of Taiwan a great debt of gratitude for their courageous example in defense of freedom and democratic government and the spirit of peace and brotherhood."
Representative William J. Scherle (Republican-Iowa) expressed the sincere hope that the Republic of China will continue to experience democratic freedom and economic success. He lauded the country as "a prime model of the importance of freedom and democracy in our world today."
Representative Robert L. Sikes (Democrat-Florida) took note of the trying time the Republic of China has faced in the past and still faces. "Through all of this," he said, "our good friends on Taiwan maintain the dignity, courage and freedom-thinking attitude which caused them to declare themselves a republic 62 years ago."
Ambassador to the United States James Shen said that the Republic of China, with its economic, political, financial and social achievements, may increasingly become a symbol of hope and freedom to freedom-loving Chinese everywhere.
He said that it is not a matter of semantics for the Republic of China to claim that it, rather than the Maoist regime, is the true spokesman for the enslaved millions of Chinese on the mainland.
The Chinese envoy made his remarks to the annual dinner of American Bureau for Medical Aid to China in Los Angeles November 2.
Shen cited statistics to show the economic growth of the Republic of China and the pathetic state of the Chinese Communist economy.
He said that Peiping's foreign trade totaled no more than US$4,700 million for 1972 as compared with US$5,900 million for the Republic of China.
In addition, he said, 1972 per capita income for the mainland was estimated by a U.S. Congressional committee at less than US$150 as compared with US$372 for the Republic of China.
The ambassador told his audience that the Chinese Communists are now engaged in a massive psychological offensive to isolate the Republic of China.
He proclaimed the Republic of China's firm resolve not to compromise with the Peiping regime.
He said, "With its God-given freedom, the Republic of China will not cease its struggle against Maoism until freedom is restored to the enslaved millions on the mainland."
Referring to the severance of diplomatic relations between his country and many previously friendly countries, Ambassador Shen said that the Republic of China, though shaken and angered, had met adversity "head on with calm fortitude and quiet dignity."
"Taiwan became one - one heart and one mind - and from Keelung to Kaohsiung, the people were imbued with a firm resolve to work and to work harder," he added.
He said that the outcome of this "extraordinary burst of national zeal and collective tenacity in the face of free China's most perilous crisis has exceeded even our own fondest expectations and left an indelible impression upon the rest of the world."
While the Republic of China is an open society, regimentation and controls afflict the mainland, he said.
Quoting the commentaries of some Western writers who, after visiting the Chinese mainland, described it as "the most frozen-faced society" and "the world's most forbidding prison camp of the human spirit," he said other reporters of the U.S. mass media had given the American people a "deliberately glamorized picture" of the mainland.
Quoting American journalist Stanley Karnow, Ambassador Shen said that the U.S. view of Communist China is plainly tilted and that most American newsmen visiting the Chinese mainland are "reluctant to pose tough questions or delve into certain sensitive subjects."
Air Force Major General Slade Nash has been appointed chief of the U.S Military Assistance Advisory Group to the Republic of China.
Maj Gen. Nash, a West Point graduate of the class of 1942, is currently studying Chinese at the Foreign Service Institute of the State Department in suburban Washington. He is replacing Maj Gen. John Barnes.
Gen. Nash set a world speed record in the F-86D in November, 1952.
His last assignment was as Deputy Director of Information, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C.
Nash, of Moville, Iowa, is 52 years old. He is married and the father of three daughters.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi said he believed Japan and the Republic of China would further strengthen non-governmental relations.
He said the great majority of Japanese people hoped to maintain friendly relations with the Republic of China.
Kishi came to Taipei October 28 to extend his congratulations to President Chiang Kai-shek on his 86th birthday.
Mitsujiro Ishii, former speaker of the Japanese House of Representatives, and 21 other Japanese leaders arrived in Taipei October 29 to join Kishi in wishing the President many happy returns.
Among them were former Japanese Ambassador to Taipei Sadao Iguchi, Dietman Tatsuo Tanaka and commentator Sadachika Nabeyama.
They visited the Presidential Office October 31 to sign their names on the congratulatory scroll of congratulations.
The Japanese leaders met with government officials and business executives to exchange views on cooperation.
Taipei severed diplomatic relations with Tokyo September 29 of 1972 but the countries have maintained economic, social and cultural relations.
British Conservative MP Patrick Wall, who visited Taiwan recently, told the British public of Taiwan's economic achievements.
In a long article in the Yorkshire Post. Wall said the Chinese of Taiwan have the highest standard of living in Asia after Japan.
Wall introduced in detail the land reform and industrialization programs. He said the achievements have lessons for the West. The free Chinese have ample labor and work hard. The establishment of three export processing zones has contributed to the success story, he said.
In these zones, foreign firms can have factories built for them with all facilities included.
Wall said Japanese cameras and American shirts and motorcycles are, in fact, often made in Taiwan.
This must be the only country in the world which has in the past 20 years increased the share of private enterprise in the national economy from 43 to 75 per cent, thus reversing the trend in most Western countries, he said.
Wall reported there is a strong desire in Taiwan to encourage European industrialists. Wall also made a glowing report about Kinmen and Matsu.
The island of Quemoy (Kinmen) has been transformed from barren rocks to a lush green agricultural paradise with excellent roads and plenty of water, he said.
Licenciado Cesar Mossi Sorto, Honduran ambassador in Taipei, pledged his all-out efforts to promote friendship between the two countries.
In presenting his credentials on November 5, Ambassador Mossi said he would do what he could to cement friendly ties between Honduras and the Republic of China.
He conveyed the warm regards of President Oswaldo Lopez Arellano of Honduras to President Chiang Kai-shek.
Vice President C.K. Yen described the World Anti-Communist League and the Asian People's Anti-Communist League as the "free man's anti-Communist crusade" and the vanguard in launching severe blows against the Chinese Communists.
Addressing the 1973 general membership meeting of the WACL/APACL China chapter in November at the invitation of Dr. Ku Cheng-kang, the chapter's president, Vice President Yen called on the participants to expose the Chinese Communist plan to communize the whole world, using appeasers as stepping stones.
Dr. Ku appealed to the participants to "urge all freedom-loving people of the world to manifest their human wisdom and ability and strive together for self-salvation as well as mutual salvation toward the accomplishment of this great mission of timely significance."
This mission, according to Dr. Ku, is the course "of our anti-Communist struggle" toward which the chapter will move in the following way next year:
- "We should launch an all-out anti-Communist struggle. Our major mission at the present stage is positively to unite all the freedom-loving people of the world, make them clearly discern Communist crimes and schemes, and through organized joint action deal decisive blows to the Communists' united front plots as well as infiltration and subversive activities."
- "We should turn the tide of international appeasement. And we should urge all the freedom-loving people of the world to discard fallacious and mistaken thoughts and actions involving appeasement, conciliation, neutralism and non-alignment in the face of the Communists."
- "Instead, all the freedom-loving people should show their moral courage, strive to add brilliance to human dignity and positively play up their anti-Communist determination.
- "We should strongly promote international anti-Communist unity, particularly in Europe."
Ku noted that the Seventh WACL Conference will be held in Washington and the 20th APACL Conference in Vietnam next year. Details will be worked out at on Executive Committee meeting in Tokyo in April.
A resolution adopted by the China chapter called on freedom-loving people to expose Chinese Communist schemes to use U.N. organizations in united front conspiracies to subvert the free world and cause worldwide turmoil.
A World Free Workers' Anti-Communist League will be established next year. Other resolutions included proposals for world youth and student anti-Communist leagues.
Three freedom fighters named the 10 most popular broadcasting stations among the people on the Chinese mainland. The "top ten" are: Central Broadcasting Station, Kwang Hua Station, Matsu Station, Chen Sheng Broadcasting Corp., Police Broadcasting Network, American Forces Network Taiwan, British Broadcasting Corp., Japanese NHK, Malaysia Broadcasting Corp. and Australian Broadcasting Corp. The most popular programs are newscasts, Mandarin songs and dramas.
The three freedom fighters - Yang Jen-huang, 28, Yang Biao-hsiang, 25, and Yang Tsai-cheng, 22 - began their flight October 27 and reached safety after three days on a sampan in the Taiwan Straits.
They were members of an agricultural corps of the Chinese Communist Peoples' Commune in Foochow, the capital of Fukien Province.
They said that they had no freedom on the Communist-controlled mainland of China and were persecuted.
Their escape was partly inspired by seven years of listening to the broadcasts of radio stations in Taiwan. They had also picked up leaflets distributed from Matsu, an offshore island held by the Republic of China. One leaflet displayed a picture of the downtown area of Taipei. The prosperity of the Republic of China was obvious.
Of a cartoon showing how Mao Tse-tung oppresses people on the mainland, the escapees said this feel short of depicting the tragedy on the mainland.
Taiwan's fourth export processing zone is expected to be under construction by the end of 1974.
The extant zones are Kaohsiung, Taichung and Nantze. Kaohsiung Zone, the oldest of the three, was established in 1966 and is fully occupied.
The zones earn foreign exchange and increase employment. The ROC zones have attracted visitors from many countries.
Government investment in the three zones is US$11,935,228 - US$3,250,000 at Kaohsiung, US$6,013,433 at Nantze and US$2,671,795 at Taichung. The amount for Kaohsiung does not include land, which was rented from the Kaohsiung Harbor Administration.
Zone exports are expected to reach US$350 million this year compared with US$240 million in 1972.
Kaohsiung has recorded profits of US$54,640,000, or 17 times the investment.
Profits from Kaohsiung total US$208,750,000, of which US$75,000,000 is net (exports minus imports), or 23 times the investment.
Employment totals 50,248 at wages averaging NT$1,400 (about US$36) a month. Wage income of US$18,000,000 is five times the investment. Tax income is US$2,630,000, or 80 per cent of investment.
Construction of the long-heralded Suao-Hualien railroad was started this month.
With a price tag of NT$2.7 billion (US$71 million), the railway will help make Hualien into a full-fledged international seaport.
Opened September 1, 1963, Hualien is relatively idle. Taiwan's two other international ports, Keelung and Kaohsiung, are overtaxed by foreign trade which continues to grow at an annual rate of over 40 per cent.
The 80-kilometer (49-mile) railroad will link Hualien with Suao, which has a rail link with Taipei via Yilan and Patu.
There will be 13 stations on the new line, which will be completed in four years.
Fourteen bridges will have to be built across ravines and gorges on the sheer Pacific coast of eastern Taiwan. The length of bridges will be 6,300 meters with the longest more than 1,300 meters.
Nineteen tunnels will be bored through granite and marble. The longest will exceed 4,000 meters and the total will reach 31,600 meters.
Cargo transportation will grow fast in the first three years of the railroad's operation. The estimate is 1,500 metric tons in the first year, 2,000 tons in the second and 3,000 tons in the third. The annual growth is forecast at 6 per cent after that.
Passenger transportation will increase by at least 10 per cent a year.
"We can break even in three years," a Taiwan Railway Administration spokesman said.
Losses are set at NT$20 million (US$520,000) for the first year and NT$10 million (US$261,000) for the second.
The railroad will improve access to eastern Taiwan's resources of marble and limestone.
Taiwan's cement industry has almost exhausted the limestone deposits on the west coast. Cement plants are expected to mushroom in the Hualien area.
Tariffs for ammonium sulfate and compound fertilizer have been cut in half to encourage imports.
The Executive Yuan made the decision upon recommendation of the Ministry of Finance. The cut was from 7 to 3.5 per cent.
Under the Chinese Customs Law, the government may raise or cut tariffs within a range of 50 per cent.
Ammonium sulfate and compound fertilizer were in short supply this year. The government is planning to import 200,000 tons of ammonium sulfate next year.
The Board of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Finance has lower tariffs for hundreds of basic consumer products. Recommended cuts for meat, fishery products and vegetables would range from 39 to 50 per cent.
BOFT announced in late October 23 the lifting of controls on 824 items of consumer goods and abolition of the "country-of-origin" requirement.
Goods may be imported from any part of the world except the Chinese mainland.
Tariffs on these products range from 26 to 156 per cent.
Chiness agricultural missions in Bolivia, Costa Rica and Guatemala have been highly successful, the Central News Agency reported.
The mission in Bolivia has been increased from 8 to 13 members at the request of the Bolivian government.
Ku Lai-chen, chief of the mission, is a tea plantation expert. Under his direction tea, rice, soybeans, peanuts and vegetables have been grown.
The group in Costa Rica is led by Lin Sin. Rice, vegetables, soybeans, peanuts, corn and fruits have been grown during the last year.
President Jose Figueres and Agriculture Minister Jose Batalla visited the team's base at Bataan on the Atlantic coast.
A team of six members led by Cheng San-wen arrived in Guatemala last February. Rice and vegetables have been harvested.
The Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction will take stock of paddy land resources of Taiwan with photogrammetric techniques next year.
Sponsored by the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry, the project will ascertain existing and potential use of paddy.
Key points of the 1½-year project include:
- Delineation of physical land features and existing utilization.
- Compilation and interpretation of information on rice production with special emphasis on water resources.
- Interpretation of soil survey data with respect to rice culture and management.
- Determination of areas suitable for rice production and recommendation of improvement and management programs.
The map will show all areas larger than two hectares which are suitable for rice production.