78-07-A4
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Taiwan I[edit]
Transcript[edit]As they say in the travelogues, “we took leave of Japan, setting our course for beautiful Formosa”... now known as Taiwan. I'll be right back. We flew to Taiwan from Tokyo in a China Airlines plane and that in and of itself was an advertisement of what was to come. Taipei is a modern, prosperous looking city complete with luxury hotels, smart shops and congested rush hour traffic. Industries are flourishing and exports are counted in the billions of dollars. In fact, like Japan, Taiwan has a surplus in its balance of trade with us and only recently sent a trade mission to the US to buy another $250 million worth of American of American products to reduce the imbalance. Another such mission is planned and for no other reason than to be helpful to us. Again there were meetings – a dinner with the foreign minister, a call on the minister of economic affairs and a dinner given by the president of the republic. Always, there was an undercurrent of concern about what our foreign policy really was. But there was a feeling of pride and confidence in their own capability. They reminded this American of a quality we once had and which I hope we haven’t completely lost. I renewed acquaintance with premier Chiang – soon to be president – the son of the late Generalissimo Chiang Kai Chek. He is a remarkable leader, dedicated to the welfare of his people. Others told me of how this quiet, unassuming man journeyed to the countryside visiting without warning or publicity, farmers and works in their homes. He is utterly realistic about the impossibility of mixing freedom and communism. We visited a modern steel mill adjacent to a new shipyard, fully automated and capable of building the largest supertankers. The average age of the works was 27 in the shipyard and 29 in the steel mill. They were recruited from local high schools, given 2 years training by the companies and provided with new housing and recreational facilities. Incidentally, all students in Taiwan start learning English in 7th grade. Some of those Americans who visit the mainland and return with glowing reports of how much better off the people are under their communist rulers should visit Taiwan. They justify their enthusiasm about the quality of life in Communist China, explaining away the rationing and scarcity by saying, "but the people are so much better off than they were." Are they? The Communist regime started in 1949 and so did the free Chinese who retreated to Taiwan. Taiwan had been a Japanese military staging area and as such was blasted into rubble by our B-29's. Power plants and railroads had been destroyed. As the Foreign minister put it... they had 5 things – a little brown sugar, some rice, a pannikien of tea, and earthquake and a typhoon. Today one China is totally regimented, there is no personal freedom and it can’t feed it's people without importing food. The other has a prosperous free economy and privately owned farms capable of supplying the peoples every need plus contributing to the nations exports. The roads are jammed with cars and motorcycles, the people watch TV on 3 networks, listen to about 100 radio stations and work in a dozen modern industries. "Their military is superb and of unquestioned morale. Each young man serves 2 years and is then in the reserve for 8 – 10 years. They have 550,000 in uniform and can mobilize 2.5 million on short notice, realizing that they may one day have to fight to keep their freedom. "This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening." |
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