Taiwan Today

The late President built up and defended the Taiwan bastion to assure that all China would one day be unified under free and democratic auspices so as to serve the cause of peace and progress

April 5, President Chiang Kai­-shek passed away as lightning flashed, thunder boomed and rain poured down in the Taipei suburb of Shihlin. This was the way President Chiang Ching-kuo, the Generalissimo's elder son, recalled the events of that April 5 in his diary. "I entered Father's bedroom early in the morning to ask how he was feeling. He was already up, sitting in his chair. Smiling, he asked me if I had slept well. I said that I had, and Father said he also had slept well. He remarked that this was Tomb­-sweeping Day and spoke of the centenary observance for Dr. Chang Poling. Just before I left, Father said: 'You must get as much rest as you can.' His words gave me a strange feeling and I felt uneasy through the rest of the day.

"After attending the meeting to mark Dr. Chang Poling's centenary, I went alone to Kuanyinshan to pay my respects at the tombs of General Ch'en Ta-ch'ing, General Cheng Chieh-min, General Cheng T'ing-feng and General Kou Yun-sen. The road was crowded with vehicles and pedestrians, so I got out of the car and walked for more than an hour, exchanging greetings with many people along the way. From Pali and Kuantu, I took the ferryboat. Aboard the boat I talked to my fellow passengers about small matters of family interest. After reaching Kuantu, I drove back to Shihlin to see Father again. It was a little after 4 in the afternoon. Father said he was feeling slightly indisposed. He bade me go home and rest.

"At 8:30 in the evening, Father's doctor tele­phoned and asked me to come to Shihlin immediately. When I arrived, I learned that Father's heart was beating irregularly and that his blood pressure was falling. The situation was critical. This had happened while Father was asleep. In spite of the emergency measures taken during the next few hours, he failed to rally and finally passed away. Members of the family fell to their knees at Father's bedside, profoundly grieved and crying uncontrollably. Mother and I lost consciousness. At this very moment, a thunderstorm broke overhead and heavy rain fell. As the old saying goes, 'The winds howl and the clouds darken as heaven and earth grieve' for a fallen leader. By midnight, the responsible leaders of the Party, the Government and the Armed Forces had arrived to pay their respects at Father's bedside. Father's face wore a look of perfect peace, as though he were only asleep. When, in my capacity as President of the Executive Yuan (Premier), I put my name to the last will and testament that Father had dictated March 29, 1975, my hand trembled so much that my signature was scarcely recognizable."

Even after half a decade, the nation still has difficulty in accepting the loss of President Chiang Kai-shek. April 4, 1980, was dedicated to the opening of the Chung Cheng Memorial Hall in the heart of Taipei. (Chung Cheng is the late Presi­dent's Chinese name.) The buildings remain to be completed. But the beauty of the site and the memorial structure give indication of the place the Generalissimo holds in the hearts of the Chinese people. One day there will be another and more magnificent memorial on the Chinese mainland. The mortal remains of Chiang Kai-shek will be moved from the sarcophagus at Tzuhu in north­western Taiwan to final interment at Mt. Tzu Chin in Nanking, which is also the resting place of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Republic of China's Founding Father. Meanwhile, the feelings of the 17 million people of Taiwan continue to afford some idea of what is really in the hearts of the multitudes on the mainland.

Taiwan and its people have special reason to be thankful to the Generalissimo. Without Presi­dent Chiang Kai-shek's determination to carry on the struggle against the Chinese Communists, there would be no free island province. The Republic of China would not have had its bastion and redoubt. All of the Chinese would be Communists; the prospects for freedom and democracy would be virtually nonexistent.

On May 25 of 1949, as Shanghai was falling to the Communists, Chiang Kai-shek first came to Taiwan. He had laid aside the office of the presidency temporarily to make way for peace efforts involving the United States, the Chinese Communists, some members of the government and some oppositionists. As leader of the Kuomin­tang but a private citizen, he declined official quarters and established himself in a former guest house of the Taiwan Sugar Company atop Yang­mingshan in suburban Taipei. This simple but lovely place was to remain one of his favorite Taiwan residences, perhaps closer to his heart than the official residence at Shihlin where he breathed his last.

Having failed to make peace between the Kuomintang and the Communists, the United States decided to stand aside. Dean Acheson announced that the U.S. government would wait until the "dust settled" before making a further move. The Generalissimo remained hopeful, however, and thought American public opinion would come to the rescue of the Republic of China. Madame Chiang Kai-shek was in the United States talking to people of influence, some of whom were members of the administration.

Chiang Kai-shek decided on a policy of Asia for Asians and against Communism. If East Asia could be alerted and united, the Communists could be defeated. The Generalissimo hoped a plan for regional security would appeal to the United States.

Pursuing this objective, which was later to take partial shape in the establishment of the Asian People's Anti-Communist League, President Chiang Kai-shek flew to the Philippines to consult with President Elpidio Quirino. They met in Baguio, and on July 11 issued a joint statement calling for an anti-Communist alliance of all independent and non-Communist Asian countries.

Soon afterward, Chiang Kai-shek journeyed to Chinhae, Korea, to meet with President Syng­man Rhee. These two leaders joined in a letter to President Quirino endorsing the concept of an Asian alliance to combat international Communism. The Philippine president was asked to "take all necessary steps to bring about the birth of the proposed union. For this purpose we are asking President Quirino to convene in the immediate future at Baguio a preliminary con­ference to devise concrete measures for its organi­zation."

Unfortunately, President Quirino made a trip to Washington in August of 1949 and was talked out of calling the conference. Nor did President Rhee issue further calls at that time. On May 18 of 1950, Secretary of State Acheson announced U.S. opposition to an alliance of Pacific nations. The Korean War might never have been fought if the Americans had shown the foresight to allow the three Asian leaders to unite their peoples and their armed forces in the cause of freedom.

As 1949 drew to a close, the National Forces were still fighting in some mainland enclaves and on Hainan, the Chusan Islands at the mouth of the Yangtse, Kinmen (Quemoy) opposite Amoy and Tungshan Island. But the bastion of Free Chinese strength was Taiwan and the Army, Navy and Air Force elements that had been concen­trated there through the wisdom and preparations of the Generalissimo. The Army had been built up from the small force under General Sun Li-jen to about 800,000 men. Of these, at least 300,000 were first-line combat troops. There was a tank force under the command of General Chiang Wei-kuo, the Generalissimo's younger son. Equipment was deficient but had been augmented by shipments from the mainland and final U.S. shipments of supplies under the US$125 million grant of 1948. Most of the Air Force remained loyal and flew several hundred planes to Taiwan. The aircraft were obsolete and spare parts and fuel were hard to come by, but the National Forces had an operable Air Force, and this was more than the Communists could say. The Navy was nearly intact. The cruiser Chungking defected and was sunk from the air. That still left about 70 major vessels, including destroyers, destroyer escorts minesweepers, LSTs and other craft. Personnel numbered some 45,000, including two regiments of Marines.

Although these forces were not strong enough to assault the mainland or lend support to faltering anti-Communist resistance there, they did inflict heavy damage on the enemy through air raids and the blockading of ports. From the beginning of this stage of the struggle against Communism, Chiang Kai-shek recognized that Taiwan had to be held at any cost. He declined to fritter away the national strength required to defend the island province by engaging in military enterprises of dubious worth. Slowly, advance positions and offensive tactics had to be relinquished. In the end, Taiwan, the Pescadores, Kinmen and Matsu saved the day for the Republic of China and the cause of Chinese freedom.

On February 24 of 1950, the Legislative Yuan voted unanimously to ask Chiang Kai-shek to resume the presidency, and he did so March 1 with this statement: "For more than forty years I have dedicated my life to the revolutionary cause and long ago banished from my mind any thought of life or death, of honor or humiliation. My participation in or withdrawal from state affairs depends solely upon the wish of the people. At this critical moment I cannot shirk my responsibility. So I have decided to resume the presi­dency on March 1 of this year. All that I can do now is make up for the things in which I have failed in the past, and do my best in planning for the future. It is my earnest hope that the rank and file of the three armed services will be imbued with enthusiasm for service, and that the officials of all ranks will be loyal to the duties assigned them. Thus we fight together for the recovery of China's sovereignty."

The Korean War had not yet begun, and the Chinese Communists recognized that if Tai­wan were to remain free, it could become a nail in their coffin. Throughout the spring of 1950, Communist forces were assembled in Fukien Province across the Taiwan Straits. A fleet of 400 planes, many of them civil aircraft, was brought together. Landing boats and other vessels were massed at Amoy, Foochow, Swatow and other ports. As summer neared, Taiwan braced for the assault. Then, on June 25, came the North Korean strike into the Republic of Korea and President Tru­man's order to the U.S. 7th Fleet to patrol the Taiwan Straits. The Communist timetable was disrupted and the Generalissimo was given more time to build up the Taiwan bastion militarily and economically. Despite the weakness of Taiwan's defenses, the Generalissimo realized the pressing necessity for ground forces to help save South Korea. He offered General Douglas MacArthur 33,000 Free Chinese troops to augment the United Nations defense of South Korea. MacArthur counseled acceptance but President Truman and the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff declined.

General MacArthur flew to Taipei July 31 to confer with the Generalissimo. Although no state­ments were issued, it was clear that the hero of America's war against the Japanese supported the Free Chinese cause and backed U.S. assistance for the defense of Taiwan. In a message to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, MacArthur called on the United States to make clear that Taiwan would not be allowed to fall into unfriendly hands. President Truman at least abandoned the idea that the national bastion should be turned over to the Communists by default. After many months of neglecting the ROC, the United States sent Karl L. Rankin to Taipei as minister and named Rear Admiral Harry B. Jarrett as naval and military aide.

In August, General MacArthur established a permanent liaison with Taipei. Congress allocated US$71 million for military assistance to the National Government. In May of 1951, the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group was sent to Taiwan under Major General William C. Chase, who had specific orders to build up the National Armed Forces. General MacArthur had repeatedly pointed to the assistance given to North Korea by the Chinese Communists. In November of 1950, he revealed that 60,000 Chinese Communist forces were fighting with the North Koreans. Disaster along the Yalu followed.

The Korean War following the loss of mainland China to Communism gave many Americans a new outlook on the Republic of China and its continued defiance of the Communists. The support for the ROC was consistent and relatively strong through the 1950s and down to the end of the 1960s, when Richard Nixon — for so long an anti-Communist and a good friend of the General­issimo and the Free Chinese people took his in­explicable turn toward Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese left.

In 1951, Dean Rusk, then the American assistant secretary of state, spoke of U.S. support for Chiang Kai-shek because he "more authentically represents the views of the great body of the people of China." More authentically, Mr. Rusk was saying, than the Chinese Communists. Fifty-six members of the U.S. Senate pledged themselves to oppose the recognition of Red China and its designs on Taiwan. In a U.S. Mutual Security ap­propriation approved in 1951, the Republic of China received a large share of nearly US$800 mil­lion in economic and military funds. The Ameri­cans were back where they had been since Yankee trading ships rust coasted along China shores — on the side of a progressive Chinese nation devoted to freedom, democracy and human rights.

Although international complications and du­plicity kept the Republic of China from attending the Japanese Peace Conference at San Francisco, the leadership of the Generalissimo and the high regard in which he was held by Japan's leaders led in April, 1952, to the signing of a peace treaty between the Republic of China and Japan nearly eight hours before the San Francisco accord came into force. This is the document which Japan was later to ignore in its eagerness to open relations with the Chinese Communists. But at the time, the triumph for Chiang Kai-shek was history-making. To this day, elder statesmen of Japan are apologetic for the way in which the Generalissimo was treated.

In the 1950s, 60s and through half of the 70s, it was President Chiang Kai-shek who stood at the Republic of China's helm and inspired the steps toward survival and then the strength that today keeps the goal of mainland recovery and reconstruction very much alive. Nearly everything was rebuilt: the Armed Forces, the Kuomintang, the civil service and the economic basis of China's is­land province. Taiwan was a poor place during the Japanese occupation from 1895 to 1945. When the National Government regained possession in 1945, not much could be done. The government re­turning to Nanking from Chungking was preoc­cupied with the war-wrecked mainland and the rising tide of Communist insurrection. Taiwan was comparatively far away and out of sight, its problems little known and not much understood. In a matter of only some four years, Taiwan had become the cynosure of the government's attention and the sine qua non of hope for the future.

Chiang Kai-shek did not forget the long-neglected people of Taiwan. They were given land reform and the beginnings of industrialization. The government and its leaders had learned from the mistakes of the past. These were not repeated in Taiwan. Political as well as economic motiva­tions were provided for the people. Under the Japanese, the Chinese of Taiwan had no political rights. They had no voice and no vote. Their lot was to raise food for the Japanese, and their rewards were scanty. President Chiang and the main­landers who accompanied him to Taiwan took nothing from the islanders. No properties were sequestered. All were equal before the law. Politi­cal power was temporarily in the hands of main­landers because there wasn't any alternative. The governmental organs of the mainland were transferred to Taiwan intact, and Taiwan was a land without political experience. From the first, there was awareness that adjustments had to be made. Chiang Kai-shek insisted on the first steps toward self-government at the grass roots. Later he was even to find the constitutional inspiration to see that Taiwan's representation was increased at the national level of government.

Hollington K. Tong, a biographer of Chiang Kai-shek, summed up the Generalissimo's contribu­tion at the time when he wrote in the early 1950s:

"The climax of his brilliant career came in 1950 when he snatched the opportunity for continued resistance to Communism out of the jaws of total defeat. That there is a Free China today ... is due to the farsightedness and determination of the Generalissimo at a time when most of his Kuomin­tang colleagues were ready to throwaway the last military and economic assets of China on a doomed defense of Canton. Had the strategy of Li Tsung-jen and his co-workers prevailed in 1950, Taiwan would have been plucked by the onrushing Communists like an overripe plum. In such a case, no organized voice of opposition to Red rule would now be heard in China. The Communist vic­tory would be final.

"That the Generalissimo recognized that the concentration of Kuomintang assets in Taiwan was necessary, in the baffling confusion of 1950, is in character with his past. Always intent upon the long view, he recognized that Free China would survive if it based itself upon the chain of outlying islands which are within the American sphere of defense. He recognized that the rich island of Taiwan could sustain economically the life of a resisting anti-Communist government. Once he recognized these facts he acted with lightning speed, and Taiwan survived while the rest of South China crumbled. The wisdom of Chiang's course is now transparently obvious to the world, but it was not so easy to recognize these facts in 1950. Without Chiang Kai-shek, Free China today would be but a memory...

"It is on this island that the Generalissimo has given his tacit pledge to recover the mainland. As in his famous utterances during the dark days of the war against Japan when he assured the people of ultimate victory over the enemy, his remarkable vision is still charting the future path of the Chinese people. In contemplating the tomorrow of the Republic of China, one should have renewed confidence in this man's conviction that has almost invariably been proved right by the events in the past."

There is another contribution that has rarely been mentioned by anyone, yet is of supreme importance. This was his genius for cultivating successors who would take over when he was gone. Not many leaders have such ability. Chinese emperors were not noted for it. The Founding Father of the Republic, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, thought of the Generalissimo as one of his favorites and undoubtedly as the most likely successor. But Dr. Sun did not always heed Chiang Kai-shek's counsel and especially not his warnings against the Soviet Union.

In 1923, Chiang Kai-shek wrote in a letter: "From what I have observed, the Russian Com­munist party has absolutely no sincerity. As I have told you earlier, the words of the Russians are only 30 per cent dependable. Even that is an overstatement. The sole objective of the Russian Commu­nist party is to communize China under its protective wing. I can never believe our party and the Communist party could successfully cooperate from the beginning to the end. With regard to her policy to China, Russia wants to bring Manchuria, Mongolia, the Moslem and Tibetan dependencies, into the orbit of the Soviet Union. As regards China proper, I am not convinced that Russia does not want to grab it, too. It would be against logic if we should give up our spirit of self-reliance in favor of dependence on others. Are our people, plagued by such an inferiority complex, willing to let aliens rule us and then worship them like gods? The in­ternationalism and the idea of the world revolution which the Russians propagate is actually not different from the imperialism preached in the Kaiser's days. The only difference is that the Rus­sians are clever enough to change slogans for the purpose of bewildering the public. It pains me to say that my report was not given even the slightest attention. I feel ashamed of myself for having lost both confidence and pride. But I wish to add here that while I was in Russia, my activities, I believe, should have been no theme for slander. Nor did I do anything which would be a discredit to our party. But on the subject of our arbitrary association with the Communist party, I have ventured to speak my mind to Dr. Sun. As a loyal subordinate, I felt it was my duty to make my views known to my superior." If Dr. Sun had lived beyond 1925, he would have quickly learned the accuracy of his lieutenant's assessment.

Most who stood by President Chiang's side were not only loval but recognized his exceptional genius. One such was Yen Chia-kan, who became President upon the Generalissimo's death. Another was former Premier and now President Chiang Ching-kuo, the elder son who himself went to Moscow and found out how right his Father had been. Of this experience, President Chiang Ching-kuo has written: "When I was in Russia and unable to return, Father wrote in his Diary: 'I fervently hope to see Ching-kuo back home. But to obtain his return, I shall never do anything, no matter how trivial, that would be detrimental to the na­tional interest. I would rather go without descendants.' From this, I could understand the kindly love of Father for his son and also recognize the firmness and determination of his patriotic will and dedication. This sums up Father's unswerving loyalty and his fortitude in serving the nation. It is something I shall never forget. And I also hope that this will be understood by my children and my children's children."

What he had to teach, he taught well. President Chiang Kai-shek was Father and mentor not only to the Republic of China's chief executive of today but also to the nation. The mil­lions of Chinese in Taiwan Province wept openly and unashamedly as they passed by his bier or stood on the street to watch the cortege on its way to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Center for the lying in state and then to the temporary resting place at Tzuhu. Millions of others on the Chinese mainland cried in their hearts. A whole generation there had been robbed of the Generalissimo's expressions of affection.

The filial feelings of the late leader have not been surpassed since the time of Confucius and Mencius. On one occasion, Chiang Kai-shek said: "We should have filial piety toward our parents, respect for elder brothers and sisters and love for younger members of the family. We should have similar feelings toward our friends and neighbors. In this way, mutual love and respect will prevail not only among our own families and between them and their friends and neighbors, but also among entire family clans and communities. All should feel obliged to help and encourage others in need, share one another's fate and take care of one another in time of illness or other misfortune. As guardians of the family, parents are duty-bound to teach their children how to comport themselves and to develop in them the habit of hard work. They should not allow children to become indolent and lead a parasitic life harmful to the nation."

Who knows a man better than his wife? In her book The Sure Victory, which confidently proclaims the triumph of God and the spirit through faith and prayer, Madame Chiang Kai-shek has written: "I ... found that my husband was being faithful to the promise that he had made to my mother before our marriage, to study the Bible. Although she had converted him to Christianity just before her death, he was still studying daily by himself, trying to understand the complexities of Old Testament history. It was tedious work and seemingly unrewarding, for there were few comprehensive Chinese biblical histories which made sense to one who was not brought up a Christian. When r saw him struggling, I knew I should help him as Mother always had ... Oftentimes I believe God has a plan in minutiae and we do not see the pattern until years later. The daily session between the Generalissimo and myself, which started out to be devotional, has come to be a source of common strength and an integral part of our lives. Every morning since then, at six-thirty, we have prayed together and have shared devotional reading and discussion. Every night before retiring, we also pray together...

"The habit of daily morning devotions proved to be a rock of sustaining strength to my husband when he was taken captive in Sian in 1936 by some of his officers who were secretly in league with the Communists. Despite dire mental distress and a physical injury from a fall when he was captured, he was spiritually at peace as a prisoner although death faced him at any moment. His captors held him incommunicado for ten days while newspapers of the world reported his plight in bannerlines, and the nation clamored for his return to safety.

"A few days previous to his capture, I was in Loyang with him to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. There illness forced me to fly to Shanghai to see my doctor, while the Generalissimo went to Sian. It was in Shanghai, therefore, that I first learned of his capture. On the same night I made haste for Nanking, the capital, where the ideas and opinions of responsible people on how to deal with the situation conflicted with one another.

"Finally, I succeeded in flying to Sian to be at his side. When his captors conducted me to him, he was as startled as though I were an apparition. Re­covering from his surprise, he showed me a verse in the Bible which he had read that same morning: 'The Lord has created a New thing on earth: a woman protects a man.' (Jeremiah 31:22.)

"I do not intend to convey here the impression that I could literally protect him from the im­minent physical danger that existed. In fact, by flying to his side I had exposed myself to share his fate, whatever that might be. The remarkable thing is that I think God, through the Bible, used these words as a signal to convey to him the double mes­sage of 'All is right,' and my impending arrival in Sian.

"Is it any wonder that he and I should believe so strongly in the power of prayer?"

Chiang Kai-shek was a man of great faith. His conversion to Christianity and his deep conviction and dedication to that religion were important to him and to Chinese history. But the Generalissimo also had faith as a Buddhist and Confucianist. His Mother had hoped that he might join the Buddhist priesthood. He chose instead the order of the military, and she never demurred. To the service of soldiering he also brought a faith strong enough to support himself and millions of others: faith in a righteous cause that had to be fought for and never compromised.

He once said, "We are guardians of justice and democracy. We have the conscience to distinguish right from wrong and good from bad, and the courage to endure all sufferings and tests. We must learn from Jesus the fortitude to bear the Cross without fearing danger of calamity. In spite of the devil's oppression, we shall never yield to him. In the face of the enemy's cruel temptation and persecution, we shall never lose our heart and faith." He also said: "To have faith is to wait and hope for a future which is invisible to the human eye. However, with faith one may come to see what lies ahead more clearly than with one's eyes."

President Chiang Kai-shek saw clearly that the future would bring a free, democratic and united China serving the cause of peace and process for all mankind. He saw the slow and patient steps from Taiwan to the mainland that would be essential in bringing this to pass. He took many of the first steps himself, and he trained and prepared others to take the steps that would come after he was gone. These steps are being taken today by President Chiang Ching-kuo, other leaders and the people of the Republic of China in Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek did not live to see the culmination of his efforts but the credit will be writ large in his name at the Chung Cheng Memorial Hall in Taipei. There his towering statue smiles down on the people he served so well. They will carry to completion the tasks at which he worked so long and ultimately so successfully.