Chang Yen-tien, EARA president, and Teizo Horikoshi, JROCIA board chairman, signed an agreement which authorized the two organizations to perform consular and trade services.
EARA set up offices in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. JROCIA opened offices in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
Both organizations see to the protection of lives and property, to travel and to education for the children of its nationals; carry on Sino-Japanese technical, economic, trade and cultural cooperation and exchanges; and provide protection and assistance to the other's fishing boats and to air and sea carriers.
The JROCIA Taipei office is headed by Hironori Ito, former minister of the Japanese Embassy in Taipei, and the Kaohsiung office by Shigehido Tanaka, former Japanese consul-general in that city.
EARA named Wu Yu-liang, former Chinese consul-general in Osaka as secretary-general and Huang Jung-hua, former economic counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, as deputy secretary-general.
Economic growth was 11 per cent and per capita income reached US$372 last year. The gross national product was NT$287.3 billion for an increase of 11 per cent in real terms. The industrial share of the net domestic product rose to 36.6 per cent while that of agriculture fell to 15.7 per cent.
In manufacturing, heavy and chemical industries accounted for 54 per cent of output and light industries for 46 per cent.
Foreign investment totaled US$126 million, down from 1971's US$163 million. The biggest investment of US$36 million was that of the Ford Motor Company of the United States with Taiwan's Lio Ho Automobile Industry Corporation to manufacture Fords.
Foreign trade reached US$5,963,300,000 with a favorable balance of US$272,500,000. Exports totaled US$3,117,900,000, an increase of 46 per cent. Imports amounted to US$2,845,400,000, an increase of 42.98 per cent.
Banking institutions registered deposits of NT$139,947 million in 1972, an increase of 36.96 per cent. Loans amounted to NT$106,208 million, an increase of 20.4 per cent.
The consumer price index was up 6.21 per cent.
Taiwan's stock market boomed in 1972 thanks to economic progress and abundant idle capital. Total transactions reached NT$54,054,800,000 (US$1,351,370,000), the biggest volume since the market's establishment in 1962. Transactions totaled NT$23,598,230,000 in 1971.
Industrial production showed these gains in 1972:
- 18,000 automobiles assembled.
- 3,650,000 TV sets made, 15 per cent in color. Exports totaled 90 per cent of output.
- Electronics components worth NT$5,850 million.
- 860,000 bicycles for export.
- 700,000 metric tons of PVC powder.
- 352 million square meters of plywood.
Textiles led exports with volume of more than US$800 million, 3 per cent more than in 1970. The Government Information Office said exports were affected by the cost of raw materials, U.S. quotas, upward revaluation of the Japanese yen and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Peiping.
Knitwear exports totaled US$250 million, an increase of 25 per cent, and are expected to reach US$300 million this year.
Exports from the three export processing zones reached US$241 million, up by 47 per cent. Zone imports of raw materials and machinery totaled US$165,760,000. Electronics products made up US$124.6 million of the exports.
Kaohsiung harbor handled more than 19,460,000 metric tons of cargo in 1972, an increase of 26.25 per cent. Port authorities predicted 30,000,000 metric tons of cargo would be handled in 1976.
Of 1972 cargo, 13,987,409 metric tons were imports and 5,478,830 metric tons exports.
More than 10,000 ships totaling 60,134,105 as tons called at Kaohsiung in 1972 a gain of 27.86 per cent.
Allocation of US$400 million for imports of important consumer goods, industrial raw materials and capital equipment has been made by the Executive Yuan. Foreign exchange reserves rose by US$500 million to US$1,500 million in 1972 and the measure is aimed at relieving inflationary pressure as well as providing raw materials and capital equipment for economic growth.
NT$110 billion will be invested in the economic infrastructure during the 1973-76 period. These will be guidelines:
- Help for agriculture, which has been left behind by manufacturing and service industries.
- Reliance on foreign trade due to lack of natural resources and the limited home market.
- Fiscal and monetary measures to dovetail with economic development.
- Manpower planning and educational programs to coordinate with vocational needs.
- Scientific and technological development to meet the needs of industry.
- Limiting of population growth through birth control.
- Recognition that manual work is as important and respectable as intellectual pursuits.
- Allocation of resources for the benefit of the economy as a whole.
The Board of Foreign Trade predicted two-way trade of US$7.35 billion for 1973 with exports of US$3,810,000,000, and imports of US$3,545,000,000. Growth will be 27 per cent for exports and 29 per cent for imports. The predicted trade surplus is US$265,000,000. Textiles will continue to be the top export at US$1.2 billion, followed by electrical apparatus, US$600,000,000; plywood, US$240,000,000; canned food, US$170,000,000; machinery, US$150,000,000; and fishery products, US$110,000,000. Imports will include a considerable quantity of daily necessities as well as industrial equipment and raw materials.
The Industrial Development Bureau predicted that industry will grow by 24.5 per cent in 1973. Industrial development will continue to be export oriented. However, integrated industrial development will be sought. Industrial emphasis is being placed on heavy industries and petrochemicals. Heavy industries will grow by 30.5 per cent in 1973, followed by construction at 30 per cent, manufacturing at 25.5 per cent and public utilities at 17 per cent. Light industries will grow by 16.2 per cent. Coupled with development of heavy industry will be construction of an integrated steel mill at Kaohsiung, expansion of the Taiwan Aluminum Corporation and establishment of a shipyard at Kaohsiung.
Power supply will have to be increased by 27 per cent this year to meet the demands of industry. Present power generating capacity is 3,600,000 kilowatts.
Finance Minister K. T. Li said that to develop new industrial products and find new markets overseas, the Republic of China will welcome foreign capital and loans on "a selective basis."
One of these is a joint venture to manufacture polypropylene. Investors are the Chinese Petroleum Corporation with a 6 per cent share, China Gulf Plastics Corporation with 27 per cent, China Trust and Investment Corporation with 27 per cent and the Hercules Company with 40 per cent. Hercules holds the patent. Construction of the Kaohsiung plant will be started early this year and take about two years. Taiwan currently imports 10,000 metric tons of polypropylene a year and will be using 50,000 tons four years hence.
Rice output missed the target. Hogs topped it.(File photo)
The Chinese Petroleum Corporation is prospecting for oil off the shores of Taiwan. The company rented the oil drilling vessel Wodeco IV, which has displacement of 11,500 tons and is capable of drilling to a depth of 4,500 meters. The ship will drill 4 or 5 wells in some 270 working days. Initial investment amounts to some US$19 million.
CPC netted NT$350 million (US$8.75 million) in profit from sales of NT$14,200 million (US$355 million) last year, a gain of 23 per cent. The company reported these production figures: 145,000 kiloliters of crude oil, 1,300 million cubic meters of natural gas and 8,290,000 kiloliters of refined crude.
Agricultural production in 1972 showed both increases and decreases.
Rice output was 2,397,738 metric tons, short of the projected target by 172,262 metric tons but up 83,936 metric tons over 1971.
Sweet potato production was 3,468,527 metric tons, short of the target by 786,000 metric tons but up from 1971.
Refined sugar production of 713,121 metric tons, short of the target by 136,879 metric tons as a result of unfavorable weather.
Tea production of 26,277 metric tons, short of the target by 1,319 metric tons.
Banana production of 444,946 metric tons, below target by 46,048 metric tons.
Orange production of 275,819 metric tons, over the target by 54,294 metric tons.
Mushroom production of 90,653 metric tons, over the target by 18,811 metric tons.
Asparagus production of 80,365 metric tons, over the target by 10,881 metric tons.
Hog production of 8,481,375 head, over the target by 6.98 per cent.
Beef production of 20,000,000 kilograms from 14,194 head of cattle, over the target by 1,695 head.
Flower exports reached US$2 million, an increase 54 per cent. The Provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry plans to establish an export promotion center and two growing zones at Fengyuan in Taichung county and Liufeng in Changhua county. Fengyuan will grow roses and Liufeng chrysanthemums.
The department has instituted a three-year slopeland reclamation project to help resettle retired servicemen. Slopeland areas in Chutung and Tachia totaling 1,524 hectares have been allocated for cultivation of bamboo and fruit trees. Special agricultural districts were designated for production of beef cattle, milk cows, hogs, fish, silk, vegetables, fruits and special crops.
Flood control, irrigation are vital to farmers.(File photo)
The Provincial Food Bureau announced scrapping of the rice-fertilizer barter system. Henceforth, farmers may get fertilizer on loan from farmers' associations and repay in cash or kind after the harvest. The price of fertilizer will be lowered and that of rice raised in making repayment. This is one of nine measures proposed by Premier Chiang Ching-kuo for accelerating agricultural growth. The NT$2 billion program lasting two years also calls for:
- Improvement of the farm tax collection system.
- Abolition of the farmland surtax.
- Loans for special production.
- Loans to poverty-stricken areas.
- Strengthening of the functions of farm loan societies.
- Implementation of a marketing and packing system for vegetables.
- Promotion of irrigation and flood prevention.
- Building of windbreaks.
-Construction of access roads in mountainous areas.
- Installation of water systems.
- Improvement of environmental sanitation.
- Increase in rice productivity.
- Increased planting of crops other than rice.
- Promotion of mechanization.
- Establishment of special crop regions.
- Implementation of a coordinated plan for agriculture, fishery and animal husbandry.
- Provision of research funds.
- Strengthening of the infrastructure.
- Establishment of processing plants.
Implementation of the measures is expected to hike agricultural output by NT$1 billion in the two years.
Agricultural production is expected to reach NT$50 billion (US$1,250 million) this year. Rice production will be 2,515,000 metric tons, an increase of 110,000 metric tons over 1972. Production of other food crops including sweet potatoes, peanuts, soybeans, maize and kaoliang will total 3,845,030 metric tons, up 149,000 tons.
Cash crops to be harvested this year include: bananas, 462,283 metric tons; pineapples, 380,000 metric tons; oranges, 298,195 metric tons; mushrooms, 64,799 metric tons; asparagus, 92,000 metric tons; vegetables, 443,380 metric tons; tea, 27,572 metric tons; and sugar cane 850,000 metric tons. A total of 5,027,733 hogs will be raised for domestic consumption and export. By the end of the year, Taiwan will have 110,583 head of beef cattle and 15,026 head of dairy cattle producing 26,734,200 kilograms of milk. Poultry production will reach 81,410,000 birds.
Economic development is providing more jobs than job seekers. The ratio is 2 to 1. A total of 52,119 applicants sought help from five government placement centers in the third quarter of 1972. Employers asked for 93,721 prospective employees from July to September but only 36,649 workers were supplied.
Workers are lacking in vocational training but seek high pay. In transportation alone, some 15,000 truck and bus drivers will be needed annually for the next four years.
The Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen will settle 19,115 veterans in fiscal 1974. Jobs will be found and hospitalization, convalescence and schooling provided. VACRS is settling 7,421 servicemen and helping 900 newly retired officers and 3,300 enlisted men in fiscal 1973.
The Fourth Manpower Seminar set these goals for the next 10 years.
- Population growth rate to less than 1.8 per cent annually.
- Unemployment rate of under 3.5 per cent.
- Agricultural population of under 25 per cent.
- School dropout rates of less than 3 per cent at the primary level and 5 per cent at the secondary level.
- Scientific manpower ratio of 63 per 10,000 persons, double the present level.
Vocational school-academic senior high school ratio of 7 to 3 instead of the present 5.5 to 4.5.
Vice President C.K. Yen of the Republic of China went to the United States to attend memorial services for President Harry S. Truman. The Vice President met with President Nixon in Washington and received personal assurance that the United States will continue diplomatic and other ties with the Republic of China.
President Nixon told Vice President Yen that the United States would stand solidly behind its defense commitments to the Republic of China.
Vice President Yen also met with Vice President Spiro Agnew.
In an interview in Washington, Vice President Yen praised President Truman for his decisions to defend South Korea.
The Vice President said that the free Chinese people are working harder as a result of the Chinese Communists' smiling diplomacy offensive. He said freedom makes the difference between the output of 15 million Chinese on Taiwan and the more than 700 million on the mainland.
Vice President Yen addressed a dinner party given in his honor by the New York Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and several Chinese cultural and student organizations at the Chinese Community Center. He said that by following President Chiang Kai-shek's teaching of self reliance, the free Chinese will eventually overcome all difficulties and emerge victorious.
Vice President Yen visited Los Angeles on his way home.
Foreign Minister Shen Chang-huan said the Republic of China is active internationally. He said the government is participating in four affiliated agencies of the United Nations and fourteen international organizations. Citizens of the Republic of China are taking part in more than 190 international non-governmental organizations. More than 100 international meetings and gatherings were held in Taiwan last year. Most countries which have severed diplomatic ties with the ROC are maintaining cultural, economic, trade and technical ties, the foreign minister added.
The Republic of China donated US$250,000 to Nicaragua for relief of earthquake victims.
Opened in Taipei for a two-month run was the Second National Industrial Exhibition. There are display and sales sections housed in 1,420 booths. Manufacturers and exporters numbering 885 are participating and showing musical instruments, textile products, machinery, electrical and electronic products, communications and transportation equipment.
The Directorate General of Telecommunications will buy US$7.2 million worth of telecommunications equipment with a U.S. Export-Import Bank loan.
By the end of 1973, a microwave system will link eastern and western Taiwan with direct dial service. The system is part of a four-year telecommunications development program and includes 478 miles of trunk lines. Fourteen relay stations are being built, eight of them atop mountains. The project calls for 600 new domestic phone circuits, 240 international telephone circuits, 72 telegraph circuits and three color TV channels. The cost is US$11 million.
Nuclear power stations will add 2,972,000 kilowatts to the island's installed capacity in the next 12 years. The first nuclear station will become operational in 1976.
Taipei's City Government will spend NT$1,330 million on construction in fiscal 1974. Projects include roads, sewers, river levees and parks.
Construction of two overpasses and a semi-cloverleaf connecting the MacArthur Freeway with Nanking East Road and Keelung Road has been started. Cost will be NT$86,000,000 (US$2,150,000).
The Taiwan Highway Bureau will spend NT$1.4 billion in the next four years to remove other traffic bottlenecks. Ten highways will be widened. The Suao-Hualien Highway will be made a two-lane thoroughfare.
Another project is a NT$16,144,900 access road to the site of Taichung port. Construction of the harbor will begin next year.
Kaohsiung is the center of world ship breaking. In 1972, 220 ships totaling 1.5 million tons were dismantled. There are 22 wharves for scrapping operations. Each accommodates two vessels. The industry employs an average of 4,000 workers daily.
The government is developing the Linhai Industrial District covering 800 hectares of land at Kaohsiung under a project to add 2,000 hectares of industrial parks in the next four years. Other districts projected are Anping in Tainan, 200 hectares; Hualien on the east coast, 100 hectares; Central district, 200 hectares; Northern district, 500 hectares; and rural area, 200 hectares.
Premier Chiang has introduced many new programs.(File photo)
Premier Chiang Ching-kuo has ou tlined a nine-point program to speed Taiwan urbanization. These are highlights:
- Completion of urbanization plans already started within two years.
- Improved utilization of land.
-Creation of new satellite cities and towns for export processing zones and industrial estates.
- Survey of land along the North-South Freeway so as to benefit cities, industrial zones and agricultural areas.
- Construction of four industrial parks.
- Improvement of mass transportation facilities.
- Improvement of traffic conditions.
- Establishment of a provincial waterworks company.
- Construction of housing for low and medium income families.
- Revision of regulations governing housing projects.
- Improvement of the urban environment, including better garbage disposal facilities and markets and control of air, water and noise pollution.
Premier Chiang predicted 1973 would be another hard working year. He said free China must:
- Establish a harmonious, peaceful, free and orderly society.
- Crush the Chinese Communist united front schemes internationally.
- Complete all national defense projects.
- Balance the budget, curb inflation and stabilize commodity prices.
- Carry out rural and urban reconstruction programs.
- Strengthen normal education and emphasize job placement.
- Develop Chinese culture in the spirit of self-reliance.
- Maintain social morality with more emphasis on prevention than punishment.
To improve the efficiency of administrations, Premier Chiang said statistics and data gathering should be improved and attention paid to public opinion.
The Premier asked officers and men of the Armed Forces to make further efforts to bring about mainland recovery. He instructed the Ministry of National Defense to give more attention to training.
Premier Chiang met with banking leaders and was briefed on the financial performance in 1972.
The China Investment and Trust Company expanded its organization following takeover by I. L.S. Koo as president in early January. CITC now has trust, banking, development, planning, finance and general affairs departments. CITC led Taiwan's seven investment and trust companies in 1972. Pre-tax profits exceeded NT$63,000,000. CITC reported NT$1,320,000,000 in trust funds, NT$1,320,000,000 in loans, NT$320,000,000 in ordinary investments, NT$163,000,000,000 in securities investments and NT$2,100,000,000 in total assets.
Finance Minister K.T. Li announced the government would issue "reconstruction bonds." He said the ROC is no longer dependent on government bonds to balance the budget.
Minister Li said the income tax made up 13 per cent of tax revenues last year, compared with 7 per cent in 1968. Domestic savings and investment constituted 95 per cent of 1972 industrial and business capital.
C.C. Chao, director of the Department of Monetary Affairs of the Ministry of Finance, said the New Taiwan dollar will not be revalued in the near future. The rate is set at NT$40 to US$1.
Many names were in the news. These were some of them:
Madame Chiang Kai-shek received U.S. Representative O.C. Fisher of Texas.
In the Central African Republic, Liang Tien-su, a highway engineer, was honored by President Jean Bedel Bokassa. He received a medal for his contributions in the construction of four highways. Liang led a six-member road engineering team to the Central African Republic in 1970.
Karl Rankin, former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of China, was a Taiwan visitor. Rankin was the first U.S. ambassador after the government moved its seat to Taipei
Hsu Shao-chang was named ambassador to South Vietnam. He replaced General Hu Lien, who retired. Hsu is a native of Chekiang, 59 years old and a graduate of the Central Political Institute in Nanking. He served as political vice minister of foreign affairs, minister of the Chinese Embassy in Washington and ambassador to Brazil, Italy, Malta and Argentina.
Also named to serve in Vietnam was Dr. Lo Tsung-chueh, a senior specialist of the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction who became chief of the Chinese Agricultural and Technical Mission. Lo replaced Chang Lien-chun, who was invited by the Guam government to assist in its agricultural development program. Chang had served in Vietnam since 1963. Lo is a plant pathologist and served in Vietnam as crop and animal husbandry section chief of the mission.
Mayor of Taipei Chang Feng-hsu went to Guam for a gold key exchange ceremony to seal the two cities in sisterhood.
In Taipei, Chief of the General Staff General Lai Ming-tang decorated outgoing U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Barry J. Shillite with the Order of Cloud and Banner in recognition of his contributions toward promotion of Sino-American military cooperation.
General Lai also decorated 104 heroes for their outstanding service to the nation. Thirty-one came from the Army, 24 from the Navy, 25 from the Air Force, 9 from the Combined Service Forces, 9 from the Taiwan Garrison Command, 2 from the ranks of military policymakers and 4 from units of the National Defense Ministry.
General Hu Lien received his fourth star from Premier Chiang Ching-kuo.
Returning to Taipei was Ambassador to Australia Sampson Shen.
Returning from the United States after a two-month visit was Dr. Wu Ta-you of the National Science Council. He said NSC is cooperating with National Taiwan University and the Council for International Economic Cooperation and Development in industrial research, oceanography and seismological engineering studies.
Dr. Lin Yi, a 39-year-old physicist and brother of composer Lin Erh, returned from Japan after renouncing the "Taiwan independence movement."
Named to head the Rural Economics Division of the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction was Dr. Mao Yu-kang, a professor of the Agricultural Economics Department at the National Taiwan University.
The Committee for Good Men and Good Deeds selected 142 persons for recognition. The committee had received more than 200 recommendations. A total of 1,107 persons have been honored since 1958.