Chiang Ching-kuo
Chiang Ching-kuo (Chinese: 蔣經國) (27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a Chinese politician who served as the president of the Republic of China from 1978 to 1988. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT), he was the party's chairman from 1975 until his death. Son of Chiang Kai-shek, his presidency was defined by the end of martial law in Taiwan.
Quotes
[edit]- Asia is an issue for the world. The issue with Asia is China. China’s problem is the existence of the Chinese Communist Party, which is a snake that has turned its back on the wishes of the Chinese people and causes pain for the rest of the world.
- The fierce conflict confronting us will decide our fate - whether it is to be "glory or humiliation, freedom or slavery.
- We must make use of every minute, value every unit of our material power and pool the wisdom and talent of all so that we can accentuate both our visible national defense combat capability and our invisible political, social and cultural vitality, and combine these into a powerful, compact and undivided force.
- We must enlarge political participation, safeguard freedom and human rights, and assure that democracy and freedom are based on the will of all the people.
- We can say positively and clearly that the Republic of China will never change its determination to remain in the democratic camp and oppose Communism. We shall never change our position of not negotiating or compromising with the Communist enemy. Our fundamental policy and attitude in international politics is to strengthen friendly and moral relations with free nations and fulfill all of our obligations and responsibilities under the preconditions of anti Communism and national recovery.
- I shall from now on try my best and most sincerely and call on all my wisdom and ability to face the challenge of reality with fortitude and determination in company with all my compatriots of the nation. I shall make careful plans and seek judicious judgments to attain the goals of national construction. I shall make every sacrifice to demonstrate my loyalty and give myself to the service of winning the final victory for national recovery and reconstruction together with all the people of the country
- Since the Restoration of Taiwan, we have suffered the buffeting of adverse international political tides and economic upheavals. But we have never been worried or apprehensive. We have followed the course of our principles. We have striven to fulfill our national responsibility with one will and one heart, and have carried out political, economic, social and cultural development step by step. We have regarded the great devotion shown by our mainland compatriots in recovering Taiwan 33 years ago as our spiritual lodestar for the national recovery today. We have built a psychological Great Wall and persisted in our confident waging of the struggle against Communism with total sincerity and the fortitude essential to success.
- "The Month in Free China" in Taiwan Today (1 March 1980)
- Our progress toward democracy should be evolutionary and not imprudent; democracy must be adapted to our own national environment so it can strike root in our own soil.
- "The Month in Free China" in Taiwan Today (1 March 1980)
- We must have determination to eliminate violent elements if we want to bring peace and prosperity to the citizenry. The violent elements are few, but if we don't eliminate them, we cannot bring prosperity and peace to the millions of people.
- "The Month in Free China" in Taiwan Today (1 March 1980)
- To talk peace with the Chinese Communists is to invite death. This is an agonizing, bloodstained lesson that we and many other Asian countries have learned.
- 'To the Communists, peace talks are another form of warfare. Although the two look different, the aim is identical.
New Year Speech (1981) (excerpts)
[edit]Documents: President Chiang Ching-kuo's New Year's Day message (1 January 1981)
- At this moment, every one of us greets the new era with matchless excitement, joy, optimism and hope. And all of us are convinced that the seventies of the Republic is bound to be an era for the reign of the Three Principles of the People and the recovery of the Chinese mainland.
- During the last 69 years, the Republic of China has lived in suspense, shocks, disturbances and uncertainty. The people have endured various ordeals and suffered from all sorts of humiliations in their struggle for national independence, freedom, prosperity and happiness. They have sweated themselves and shed their blood heroically. They have never shown the white feather under any challenge, surrendered to any force, or bowed to any enemy. This immortal record registered by the Republic of China in modern history for national independence, freedom and equality will shine eternally in the world.
- In this historic course, the Chinese Communists staged a nationwide insurgency, resulting in the fall of the mainland into Communist hands. The Communist rule of the last more than 30 years has brought a catastrophe to the Chinese people and has testified to the fiasco of the Communist system. Although the Chinese Communists are plagued by ideological contradictions, political corruption, economic destitution and military disintegration, their power struggle has never stopped. As long as this tyrannical Communist rule is allowed to go on, millions upon millions of our compatriots on the mainland will remain in the crucible of poverty and darkness.
- Facts are more eloquent than words. The certainty of the reign of the Three Principles of the People was affirmed long ago by the contrast between the political stability, economic prosperity, social harmony, and educational popularization evidenced in the free area of China and the totalitarian dictatorship, impoverished life, bleak backwardness, and widespread uncertainty found on the Chinese mainland. The unanimous aspirations of the Chinese across the world today are to remove Communist evils from Chinese soil, to save the people on the mainland from the deep waters, and to restore to the Chinese mainland the benevolent rule of the Three Principles of the People at an early date. This historic task lies squarely on the shoulders of every Chinese living in freedom.
- The seventies of the Republic of China is an era of crucial test to see whether we are up to this historic task. All Chinese must treat one another with love and sincerity, unite as one for the common cause, and march forward courageously and hand in hand on the avenue of victory in carrying out this sacred task.
- As long as we can uphold democracy, remain firm on the side of the free world, work hard for self-reliance without laxity, unite as one, and take the implementation and glorification of the Three Principles of the People as our personal responsibility, we are sure to succeed in laying a firm foundation for national renaissance and win the great undertaking of resisting Communism and national recovery.
- Dear fellow countrymen: Our beautiful land is still stained with blood by the Communists, and the turbulent Yangtze and Yellow Rivers still flow day and night toward the vast seas in the east. Like the continuing flow of the Yangtze, our goal of anti-Communism and for national recovery will never change. The "helm of history," so crucial to the destiny of our people, is in our hands.
