4 At,-a 4 V416U* f 4 - 9 In a not always too objective examination, a Formosan diplomat looks at the past, present and future of his homeland . 0 The Silence of the Si' By CHOW SHU-KAI Ambassador of the Republic of China to the United States Photographs by Robe THE PROBLEM of China in the last 100 years is how to build up a modern state through the preser- vation of the best of the old native culture and the absorption of the new foreign cultures. For this task, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Father of the Republic of China, prescribed three cardinal principles governing the protection of national integrity, the establishment of representative gov- ernment, and the improvement of the people's livelihood. The first two are the means and the last one is the end. In waging this struggle, Dr. Sun and his successor, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, had to cope in turn with the Manchu dynasty, the warlords, the Western imperialist powers, the Japanese aggressors and the Communist rebels. The conclu- sion of the Second World War should have ushered in a new era to China, in which she could put into effect the aforesaid principles of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The Chinese Communists, how- ever, embarked upon a different course. Taking advantage of the ec- onomic dislocation arising from the war and the confusion among the allies, they had no scruple in enlist- ing the help of the Soviet Union by accepting the Russian terms which had been rejected by Generalissimo Chiang, and with this aid they work- ed havoc in an already devastated country. The resultant economic col- lapse enabled them to seize the en- tire mainland. In his State of the Union Mes- sage in January this year, President Johnson made a special mention of China and expressed the hope that she should "concentrate her great energies and intelligence on improv- ing the welfare of her own people." Alas, since they are Communists first and foremost, their objective is not to build up a healthy China for the Chinese pecple but to transform her into an ultra-Communist socie- ty and use it as a base for promot- ing communism in other parts of the world. Irdo not for one moment suggest that the government I have the hon- or to represent has always been manned only by angels and saints. We have had faults and we have made mistakes. By and large, how- ever, We have been dedicated to the principles of Dr. Sun Yat-sen for the building up of a free, viable, demo- cratic and peace-loving China. We made great efforts along this direc- tion in the early 1930's with con- siderable success, which has been forgotten or deliberately ignored by certain China-watchers in foreign lands. Long years of war against overwhelming odds made the coun- try hapless after the defeat of Ja- pan. While the hands of the Chinese government were tied, the Soviet Union aided and abetted the Chinese Communists to overrun the main- land. NOW THAT MOSCOW and Peiping are quarreling violently, it is ap- propriate to point out that Mao Tse- tung once received Russian assist- ance because he accepted Stalin's terms which had been rejected by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. It may be recalled that towards the end of World War II, Stalin proposed to Generalissimo Chiang that China surrender to Russia many rights and concessions beyond what were granted by the Yalta Agree- ment. More especially, Stalin want- ed us to expel the influence of the United States from China after the war. Had Generalissimo Chiang agreed to these conditions, Mao Tse- tur qty to prove it. On the contrary, #.iey were determined first to dehu- manize the Chinese people into ro- bots, then to turn China into a huge military camp, and finally to use it to communize the rest of the world. They have militarized the national economy for the sole purpose of strengthening their capability to make wars. By depriving the people of their daily necessities, they have squand- ered resources in producing nuclear weaponry and in sending money and agents to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to stir up revolu- tions. Their avowed objective vis-a- vis the TJnited States is to drive her out completely from Asia and .the Pacific. Their grandiose ambition and their insane behavior seem to be too fantastic to be credible to ' . As a vast country rich in natural and human resources and with unlimited potentialities, the United States does not have to seek any aggrandize- ment or domination at the expense of other lands. All she needs are good neighbors to provide peace and tranquility in which she can exercise her rights. The United States desires nothing from China and the Chinese people except the reciprocation of friendship." - Ambassador Chow. :':':':............ .....:.............................. .... ......... r.......... crops. Many of these disasters could have been prevented or minimized had there been investment for vari- ous control measures. The mainland is in need of at least 25 million tons of fertilizers every year. Since money has been diverted to else- where, the Peiping regime only man- ufactures and imports about one- third of this demand. One index of the Communist agri- cultural failure is the persistent shortage of food. To support a popu- lation of 650 million, the minimum requirement of grains should be 200 million tons a year. Since 1957, the domestic production has never ex- ceeded 180 million tons. In fact, the figure for 1966 was only 175 million tons. If we bear in mind the popu- lation increase of 2 and a half per cent every year, the meagreness of the diminishing food supply can be imagined. As for the industrial program of the Chinese Communists, a similar kind of madness is also displayed. In order to attain military prowess, they are anxious to build up heavy industries overnight. They concen- trate on the production of military equipment and build transportation lines only to meet strategic needs. Certain light industries are develop- ed mainly for the purpose of expor- tation to earn foreign exchange. In carrying out these lopsided projects, the Communists are hind- ered by their own mistakes. There is the shortage of raw materials be- cause of the neglect of agriculture. There is the high cost of production due to bad planning and poor coor- dination and the uneconomical transportation system. Though the urban workers fare slightly better than the farmers, the same depri- vation of incentive results in low productivity and inferior quality. In an industrial society, the training of technicians and skilled labor is also a prerequisite. To the Chinese Com- munists, education largely consists of indoctrination. So there is a scarc- ity of competent personnel. AS THE CHINESE Communists per- sist in their insane behavior, they have encountered increasing diffi- culties at home and abroad. With- in the Peiping regime there is no such distinction between the hard- line Communist and the soft-line Communist. The Maoists and the anti-Maoists have the same objec- tive, though they may differ some- times on emphases and tactics. Since its usurpation of poweron the main- land, the Chinese Communist hier- archy has practiced a sort of collec- tive leadership. The domestic and foreign policies of the past years are joint products. When things go wrong, however, no one wants to bear the responsibil- 0 tung and his cohorts would have been driven into oblivion during the postwar period. For his patriotism to true China and his friendship for the United States, President Chiang incurred the enmity of the Soviet Union, the evacuation to Taiwan, and the in- sults by certain elements who, unlike John F. Kennedy, are "ignorant of history." Communism as a theory and the practice of the Chinese Communists are utterly repugnant to our cultur- al tradition and against the interests of our people. That the Chinese Communists were able to seize the mainland was a tragic accident. Nothing could be further from the truth than to say that communism is acceptable to the Chinese people, that Mao Tse-tung and his cohorts are interested in promoting the peo- ple's welfare, and that the Peiping regime or any regime of a similar character is a going concern. If the Chinese Communists were agrarian reformers as some people portrayed, they had ample oppor- rational people. But the blueprints for world domination of Hitler and the Japanese militarists were also dismissed as fantasies at the time. IN THEIR regimentation of man- power, the Chinese Communists want the people to behave like ro- bots and deprive them of private ownership and profit incentive. In the agricultural field, the Chinese Communists have turned the main- land into a huge slave camp through the introduction of the rural com- mune system. At the height of this insane campaign, families were broken up, and the people were treated like cattle. The consequent- disintegration. of rural life forced the Communists to relent a little. But the main features of the com- mune system have persisted. Under the collectivization scheme, the farmers simply refuse to work more than what is necessary, thus hampering the increase of produc- tion. The countryside is constantly plagued by flood, drought and pesti- lence, taking a heavy toll of the riA it.%z at Ae-A?1KIC APRIL '67 THE DAILY MAGAZiNE PAGE TWELVE APRIL '67 IHE UAILY MAUAZINE APRIL '67 THE DAILY MAGAZINE