Harold Lindsell Reports from Taiwan

I recently returned from a fascinating and instructive trip to Taiwan, the Chinese bastion of freedom in the Far East. After almost four weeks of intensive investigation I have formed impressions and had opinions solidified about the state of affairs vis a vis the Republic of China in relation to Red China, to the United States, and its position in the struggle for freedom.

Taiwan is certainly not a paradise. It has slums, its educational opportunities are limited, its people work long hours, it has a lower standard of living than the industrial nations of the world, and its medical facilities appear sub-standard when compared with the United States. Sanitation facilities are somewhat primitive in suburban areas and the restrooms at some of the bus stops resemble those of Turkey. But the same things could be said about many other nations around the world. The media in the United States have treated Taiwan unfairly and it’s time someone pointed out the positive and constructive aspects of a small nation that has made astonishing progress in a few decades.

During my journey I talked to various groups in Taiwan. Just about all of them said the same things. I spoke to Taiwanese and mainlander pastors, to university students (Christian and non-Christian), to missionaries, to representatives of the media from the United States including Time, the New York Times, NBC, and the Wall Street Journal, and to government leaders. I talked with a staff member from Senator Goldwater’s office who did research for Mr. Goldwater’s strong statement to the press about the responsibility of the United States to the Republic of China (ROC).

The picture I saw is quite different from that commonly bruited about by religious agencies such as the World Council of Churches, which in its Fifth Assembly in Nairobi spanked Taiwan for lack of human freedoms, and the United Presbyterian Church whose General Assembly adopted a resolution that included an erroneous statement about the lack of freedoms in Taiwan.

The ROC constitution (Religion Article 13) guarantees religious freedom. Unlike a similar guarantee in the Soviet constitution (and none in the constitution of Red China), the people of Taiwan are genuinely free from religious oppression. There are more than eight thousand churches and temples in Taiwan, including 1,246 Buddhist and 3,746 Taoist places of worship. There are 832 Catholic churches and 2,102 Protestant houses of worship. There is a church or temple for every 2,000 people. Billy Graham recently conducted an effective evangelistic crusade in Taiwan. This he could not do in Red China.

On an island slightly larger than New Jersey, there is a population of more than sixteen million people of whom three million came from mainland China since World War II. In 1975 Taiwan ranked ninth in the world in the sale of Bibles. Last year more than six million Bibles were sold. There are 1,000 missionaries representing thirty different nationalities. I met and talked with a Finnish physician and his wife. And one acquaintance landed up in a hospital that had been built by World Vision and is providing high grade medical care not far from Sun Moon Lake, a spectacular resort area on the small island.

Not only do the ROC people have religious freedom; they also enjoy freedom of speech. It is not unlimited freedom of speech anymore than Americans have such freedom. Radio and TV broadcasts do not feature those who might advocate the overthrow of the government. But neither do the networks in America. I talked with two top men who control radio and television outlets that cover the island. They started from scratch and under free enterprise have built media outlets with approximately two thousand employees. There are virtually no houses in Taiwan that do not have television. Television aerials, in fact, are omnipresent and their existence makes it clear that electricity is to be found everywhere.

Taiwan has a mixed economic situation in which privately owned shops abound. And private industry is found everywhere. One of the truly revolutionary developments on Taiwan involved land redistribution. Interesting land reform was brought about without revolution. Approximately 38 per cent of the economic activity of Taiwan is devoted to agriculture. The farmers own their own land and work that land intensively; they produce three rice crops a year. Mechanization is gathering momentum, though the farmers do back-breaking work. Latin America would do well to follow the pattern set by Taiwan.

The island has virtually no industrial resources. Iron and coke, as well as tin, copper, and aluminum must be imported. The ROC has lifted itself up by its own boot straps and produced an industrial society from what was almost exclusively an agrarian civilization. One of the world’s shipyards has been constructed. I saw a 445,000-ton tanker that had just come down the ways. The keel for another one of the same size has been laid. I visited a major steel plant equal to anything found in the West. I visited an export center where I saw the wide variety of products manufactured for sale abroad. The ROC is fiscally prudent and enjoys a favorable balance of trade. One of the great dangers faced by this tiny nation is the possibility of economic strangulation if its sources of raw materials are cut off.

Socially, Taiwan is a mobile nation. Its main means of transportation include a good railroad system (which operates on time), a network of buses, and what seems to Westerners an almost unlimited number of bicycles and motorcycles. Automobiles are expensive and are heavily taxed. But motorcycles are the choice of the masses. I saw hundreds of motorcycles loaded with mom, pop, and/or a young child. Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung are the three major urban cities with a combined population of almost four million inhabitants. Air pollution is found in these cities as in any other modern metropolis. The temperature in the summertime rises above ninety degrees almost every day and the humidity keeps pace with the thermometer. The houses are built to let the breezes blow through, and air conditioning among the masses is limited.

Citizens and foreigners are relatively unrestricted in their travel. There are no closed areas except for military installations. I was free to roam as I pleased—by air, by bus, by railroad, or on foot. The ever-present language barrier exists for the foreigner. The written language is a baffler and makes most Westerners distrait. This is also true for the Chinese themselves. Mandarin and Taiwanese are the two major languages. I was interpreted in either of the two languages depending on the groups to which I spoke. I preached in the largest church on the island on a very hot day. It was a Taiwanese language group. I spoke on two different nights to enthusiastic audiences who sweltered under the heat. When the invitation was given at one of these two meetings a dozen people came forward; most of them were young. In a college-age conference a number of non-Christians made decisions for Christ. In Taipei, Dr. Paul Han, the president of a medical school (they have five on the island), interpreted for me at a Sunday worship service. He has a Ph.D. and an M.B.; he worked under and with Dr. John Brobeck, a Wheaton College alumnus who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Han is a second-generation believer whose father is a member of the Gideons. He has an excellent understanding of the Bible. The family fled from mainland China when the communists took over.

The political aspect of Taiwan’s life is its most complicated problem and its persistent nightmare. This is true internally as well as externally. Externally its freedom is at stake, and it wants to wrest control of mainland China from the hands of its communist foes. The communist menace is fully understood by the ROC’s governing officials and their hatred of the system is unalloyed. The perennial threat of an invasion of Taiwan by the communists exists and one military spokesman declared that if the communists were willing to pay a frightful price in the loss of life an invasion might occur.

Internally the problem of national democratic elections persists. President Chiang Kai-Shek brought his office with him when he fled the mainland and held it until his death. National elections have not been held because to do so without participation by the mainland Chinese would contradict the foremost ROC claim. The government based on Taiwan claims to be the only legal government of all China. The situation for local government is different: most of the mayors of the cities, including the three largest, are native Taiwanese. A few Taiwanese nationalists make much of this difficulty and complain abroad about mainlander rule. But most Taiwanese seem to accept the present situation. Increasingly the mainlanders are elevating Taiwanese into the national government; obviously it is desirable that this trend continue.

While I was in Taiwan two important events took place. The first was the speech given by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, a speech that alarmed the government and brought forth a spate of statements designed to keep the Carter administration from deserting Taiwan as the U.S. pursues normalization of relations with the People’s Republic of China. Vance’s failure to give any assurances to the ROC even as he opened the door wide to “normalization of relations” with Red China could only be interpreted as a drastic change in policy. The second event was the desertion of the MIG 19 jet pilot who brought his plane to Taiwan amid the plaudits of millions. It gave the nation a psychological shot in the arm at a time when the Vance speech brought dismay and an impending sense of isolation.

The ROC officials seem to be genuinely puzzled by Jimmy Carter. From their perception of America’s role in the world they see no possible gain for the nation to break diplomatic relations with the ROC and establish them with Red China. They think it incredible that Red China should make demands that the United States must first fulfill if diplomatic relations are to be established. Rather, they feel the United States should set up conditions that the Red Chinese should meet, not the least of which is to grant the people human rights, religious and political freedom. Some high officials expressed dismay about Mr. Carter’s policy for some very specific reasons.

Mr. Carter refused to grant an audience to Ambassador Shen in Washington despite a request to speak face to face with the President. The ROC takes this refusal to mean that Carter does not wish to hear both sides of the story and without the ROC’s story they think he is in no position to make a fair decision. Moreover, they feel that this approach is an inconsistent application of his Christian principles. One official, who has a Ph.D. from the United States, went even further. He expressed how unreasonable it seems to him that Mr. Carter should excoriate the Soviet Union on human rights while he has never said a word about the absence of human as well as religious rights on mainland China. He feels that this failure casts doubt on the President’s Christian profession. He said America’s enemies seem to get preferential treatment over America’s friends. The implication was plain—if you assault America and write the worst things about it and demean it as an enemy you get better treatment than if you act as its friend.

The ROC sincerely believes that the United States has a treaty with it that can be broken only at great loss to the United States. The pledged word of America would then mean less and less to other nations with whom it has treaties. They regard their treaty with the United States as sacrosanct and for a Christian to abrogate it would be eminently unfair from Mr. Carter’s own Christian perspective. Moreover, they believe normalization of relations with Red China will destabilize the Far Eastern situation whereas the status quo will at least prevent aggression in the area. They believe the Japanese will probably obtain nuclear arms if the United States breaches its treaty with Taiwan. And they do not think normalization of relations with mainland China will help the United States in its relations with the Soviet Union. They know the Red Chinese hate the Russians and hotly dispute the ownership of vast tracts of land they share as border neighbors. And while Taiwan has no use for the Russians, it is theoretically conceivable that if the United States were to break diplomatic relations with them Taiwan might be forced into some kind of rapprochement with the Soviets.

The ROC people believe they are true representatives of the free world and particularly of free Asia. Certainly they have shown the world and Red China what can be done by a hardworking, energetic people who feel themselves to be politically, economically, and religiously free, and who are willing to suffer and die for their freedom. Neither Mr. Carter nor the American people should for one moment suppose that Taiwan will capitulate or let down its guard. The ROC will endure any hardships and make any sacrifices necessary to maintain its independence and to keep its freedoms. The ROC is a militant nation and the people in high places make clear they are at war with mainland China and want to resume control of it as soon as possible. Taiwan wants no part of two Chinas any more than the Red Chinese want it. Both Red China and the ROC claim to be the real government of the whole of China. There is little sympathy in Taiwan for United States recognition of both Chinas as in the case of West and East Germany. Since the People’s Republic of China is a de facto government this fact does not seem to alleviate a sort of intransigence when it comes to the two Chinas’ situation from Taiwan’s standpoint.

Some Taiwan officials think Mr. Carter is well meaning but not fully instructed on international matters. They hope he will see the dangers of communism more clearly and keep the ROC as a linch pin in the Far Eastern policy of the nation as it finds itself facing the worldwide communist threat to all democracies. If the United States were to break relations with Taiwan and acknowledge the People’s Republic of China as the de jure and only real government of all China it would create a situation that could have catastrophic consequences. If mainland China were to invade Taiwan it would be virtually impossible for the United States to help Taiwan. It would be an internal Chinese affair in which aid to Taiwan would be considered an act of war against mainland China. And it is easy to imagine what the Third World countries would have to say about Yankee imperialism.

I think the Taiwanese have a good case. I think Senator Goldwater expressed the sentiments of the American people when he recently argued that the United States must keep its treaty agreements with the ROC. We can be sure that if Taiwan goes down the rest of the Far East likely will go down as well. And the Japanese situation will be compromised almost beyond repair. If the Christian faith has any part in molding foreign policy the least it must do is to create the understanding that morality and ethics are essential components of any national policy. It must also make clear that nations that break their word shall in their turn be broken by God’s natural laws and their impartial application by the Supreme Ruler of the universe.

It will be a sad day if President Carter carries out what seems to have been implied in Mr. Vance’s speech. The best thing he can do for the nation and for his administration is to issue a resounding endorsement of the existing Taiwanese policy that goes back several decades and has been recognized by Democrats and Republicans alike, and has proved to be a successful foil to communist desires to take over all of the Far East.

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