The "Other China" Stands Fast

Its mood as the shock wears off: ever greater resolve

"Do not be disquieted during times of adversity. Remain calm with dignity." So urged President Chiang Ching-kuo, dusting off a slogan that his father, Chiang Kai-shek had used during the 1971 crisis when the Republic of China was expelled from the U.N. As the "other China" recovered from the shock of learning that Washington and Peking would normalize diplomatic relations this week, the island's mood was one of ever greater resolve and patriotism. Two days after Carter's announcement, Premier Y.S. Sun announced that the government was increasing the defense budget and stepping up a development program for major weapons. Since the U.S. was terminating its 1954 mutual defense treaty with Taiwan, said Sun, the republic had no choice but to "establish a more self-sustaining defense industry." It was a popular move. In front of the main Buddhist temple in Taipei, nuns began collecting contributions for national defense from passersby. In just a week the public donated a total of $17 million to the government for the purchase of weapons.

Taiwan's defense forces stayed on alert, and police continued a round-the-clock guard of the U.S. embassy and of Taipei residential areas favored by foreigners. There were a few anti-U.S. demonstrations by students, but Americans otherwise were treated courteously and without ill-will. Ostensibly out of fear that normalization would become a burning campaign issue, the government postponed elections for vacant seats in both the National Assembly and Legislative Council scheduled for December 23. Up to that point, the campaign had been the most open in the island's history, with opposition candidates freely criticizing the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government. With unwitting prescience, one independent office seeker, mainland-born Chen Ku-ying, had planned to cap his campaign by erecting a billboard in Taipei that contained the simple inscription: WHERE ARE WE GOING?

It is not a new question for Chiang Ching-kuo and his fellow veterans of China's Nationalist Party. More than half a century has passed since Chiang Kai-shek made the fateful decision to engage in bloody civil war with China's Communists. For nearly 22 years that bitter struggle raged back and forth across China. Many Americans perceived Chiang Kai-shek as an architect of potential stability in Asia. The disillusionment was thus especially bitter on both sides of the Pacific when Communist forces crushed Chiang's demoralized armies in 1949 and Mao proclaimed the People's Republic.

Taiwan's present dilemma really began in 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek and his central government in exile moved to Taipei. After Peking entered the Korean War in 1950, President Truman helped secure the island from Communist conquest by interposing the U.S. Seventh Fleet between Taiwan and the mainland--an act incidentally that also prevented the Nationalists from trying to reconquer China. American support, both military and economic, eventually encouraged the Kuomintang to enact many of the reforms it had failed to carry out while in power on the mainland. Today, Taiwan is one of the best-run and least corrupt countries in Asia; per capita income has risen from $280 in 1968 to $1,400 now, more than three times that of China. An effective land-reform program, which eliminated rural destitution and absentee landlords in the 1950s, is he envy of Asia.

The most immediate question facing Taiwan last week was the future of its booming economy; the island's annual trade of $24 billion ranks it among he world's top 20. Many large American corporations, including Ford, RCA and Goodyear, announced that they would continue their investments, but not everyone was reassured. Said Robert Parker, president of Taiwan's American Chamber of Commerce: "There's no use pretending that normalization on the terms we got won't hurt. It will." Still, Taipei was partially reassured by Washington's statement that more than 50 accords between Taiwan and the U.S., dealing mostly with economic and cultural matters, would remain in effect.

The Taiwanese were openly mistrustful of conciliatory words from Peking, which for years had blasted Taipei's rulers as "the Chiang clique" and "U.S. imperialist lackeys." Earlier this month, eight top Taiwanese athletes were invited by Peking to join China's national team trials for last week's Asian Games in Bangkok. All refused. After Carter's normalization announcement, Radio Peking trotted out two elderly former Nationalists, Liu Fei and Li Chung-lung, who said they would like to visit the island to "exchange views" with "old friends, including Mr. Chiang Ching-kuo," if the "Taiwan authorities" agreed. That offer was also flatly rejected by the Nationalists. Said Chiang Ching-kuo: "[There is] no way for me to allow these two traitors to come to Taiwan." Other Taiwan officials remained highly skeptical of Vice Premier Teng Hsiao-p'ing's assurance to Columnist Robert Novak that China did not intend to lower Taiwan's standard of living after reunification. Said one: "We don't believe a word Teng says. He's a shrewd man, but what he is saying is just baloney." Added another: "Don't believe what Peking says. We know its ultimate aim is to destroy us."

Washington remained optimistic that Peking would not seek to capture Taiwan by force, although it had nothing but vague hints from the Communists to that effect. In fact, Taiwan's well-trained military, 474,000 strong and equipped with 316 combat aircraft, including F-5A/E interceptors, air-to-air and ground-to-ground missiles, is an effective deterrent for the present. Meanwhile, State Department experts were debating some of the options that Taiwan might now take. At an emergency meeting of the Nationalists' Central Committee last week one member even raised the prospect of playing a "Russia card" in answer to America's "China card"--meaning Taiwan would seek ties with the U.S.S.R. This suggestion was flatly rejected. Washington, actually, was worried about a grimmer prospect. Taiwan has a host of talented scientists and an accelerated nuclear reactor program; predictions were that it could produce an atomic bomb in two years.

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