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Taiwan: China's Unhappy Colony By Peggy Durdin Nanking, China "What was the cause of the recent uprising in Taiwan?" a correspondent asked Chen Yi, governor of the island at the time. "The fact that we had too few troops," he said. Eighteen months ago the Nanking government had a chance to make Taiwan (Formosa) the show piece which Japan had planned it to be in the "Greater East Asia" sphere. A relatively efficient Japanese bureaucracy had monopolized the island's agriculture, trade, and industry, gearing them to Japan's economy, but in so doing, it had helped Taiwan achieve a high industrial and agricultural level. Before the war the island's annual exports were valued at $250,000,000, half the amount of the projected American loan to China. It was, and is, about thirty years ahead of mainland China in industrial development, with more factories than any Chinese province except Kiangsu. Although many plants suffered damage during the war, reserves on hand provided means for their restoration. Bank balances still existed; there were stocks of raw materials and finished products. Foreign experts calculated that with sound management and planning Taiwan industry could soon be put back on its feet. Although most top industrial positions had been held by Japanese, the Taiwanese were industrially minded and technically competent. Before the war Taiwan had not only been self-sufficient in food but had exported half its crop. Given fertilizers and government direction, it could again produce large quantities of foodstuffs. The island was served with good highways, railways, and harbors. Its standard of living was well above that of the Chinese mainland. Electric power was plentiful; every little home had electricity lights. Cities were neat and clean. Public health was good. The educational level was far above that of the average Chinese province. The people were politically alert. Japan had been forced to give them the outward form of democratic government; they had learned some of the mechanics of self-rule, and their hatred of Japan had given them a desire for the actuality. Clearly, Taiwan would be a great asset to China, and not least because the Taiwanese were happy to be reunited to the motherland. Nanking proceeded to rule Taiwan as an inferior, subjugated colony. The government it installed was feudal, incompetent, arrogant, and corrupt. Nanking's policy was not to develop the island for the benefit of the people; it was to exploit Taiwan resources for the depleted national treasury. To accomplish this purpose Nanking handed Taiwan over to an old-fashioned war lord. Governor Chen Yi was given absolute military, political, and economic power; Taiwan was not even granted provincial status. Chen Yi imported his government from the mainland. Not a single department chief and only one deputy chief was a native of the island. Most of the magistrates, mayors, and judges were mainlanders. The Taiwanese soon decided they had only exchanged one oppression for another, with the Chinese as autocratic and more greedy but less efficient than the Japanese. "There are no shoemakers left in Shanghai," runs a scornful Taiwanese saying. "They are all running the government of Taiwan." According to competent observers, corruption and nepotism riddled the administration, the operation of government-owned business, the law courts, and the police. "Take-over" of Japanese property made Taiwan a looter's paradise. Soldiers stole furniture and window panes; high officials made fortunes out of the government's strangle-hold on the economy. The Chinese mayor of one city sold the rice and cement "taken over" from the Japanese and pocketed the cash. When a local paper printed the facts of the case, the official prudently scurried to Shanghai. Several months later the government published a statement saying the matter had been "investigated" and the mayor found guiltless. The gentleman in question, whitewashed and safe, returned to Taiwan in an important army post. During the recent riots the Taiwanese reported that huge amounts of money and gold were found in officials' houses. One school principal had been signing salary sheets for a non-existent staff and pocketing the money. The manufacture and sale of cement are controlled by the government. Taiwanese are unable to get cement at the controlled price to repair their buildings and homes. Government agencies request and get greater allocations of cement than their projects require, sell the surplus on the black market, and pocket a nice profit. Taiwan courts were reputed to be moderately honest under the Japanese. Chinese justice is often venal. The only sure way to get out of jail is to use bribery, say the Taiwanese. People can be arrested on suspicion alone and too frequently have no chance of a fair trial. Many wealthy Taiwanese have been arrested simply for purposes of extortion; many corrupt mainlanders have had immunity from arrest or trial. When Japan owned or controlled the Taiwan economy, it put part of the profits back into the development of Taiwan. After the Chinese government "took over," the Taiwanese watched their country deteriorate before their eyes. "Formerly Japan got the banquet and we got the crumbs," they say. "Now there are no crumbs." A small clique around the governor completely controls Taiwan's industry, agriculture, communications, shipping, banking. The National Resources Commission runs the petroleum-refining, aluminum, and copper-mining industries for the Nanking treasury. In cooperation with the Taiwan provincial government it manages the production of sugar, electric power, chemical fertilizer, cement, paper, and alkalis. Nanking gets 40 percent of the profits, the Taiwan treasury the rest. The Taiwan provincial government owns and operates almost all other industries -- building, coal, iron and steel, textiles, electrical supplies, glass, soap, tea, shipbuilding, printing. It owns and operates life insurance, navigation, transportation. The government has continued the Japanese Monopoly Bureau, which controls the production and sale of such popular commodities as tobacco, liquor, camphor, slat, and matches. A Board of Trade controls the island's import and export trade. This complete economic power has been used by Chen Yi's government mainly to fill official coffers -- not, except to a very limited extent, to rebuild and rehabilitate the island. Bank reserves and other assets of industry were seized by the government, and only small sums have been made available for reconstruction. Take the sugar industry. The war's end found half a million tons of sugar in Taiwan. This the Nanking government confiscated and is transporting to the mainland to sell. The proceeds go into the Nanking treasury while sugar factories lack funds for necessary repairs. Cement factories are unable to operate fully because China prefers to sell Taiwan's coal for high prices on the mainland. Since many factories have not been repaired or are operating at low capacity, there is much unemployment. Repatriation of overseas Taiwanese has aggravated the problem, which the government has made no real effort to resolve. During the war the Japanese built at Chiayi a large factory for making high-octane gas. Now it is closed, and one-fifth of the town's population are out of work. It is not surprising that at Chiayi last month there was fierce fighting against the mainlanders. Only a program of immediate and generous reform can rehabilitate China in the eyes of the Taiwanese. But it is doubtful whether the present Nanking government is capable of establishing an honest, liberal, competent administration. What the Taiwanese really want is to be a United Nations mandate, under the United States. If they cannot get this status, three things are likely to happen: economic conditions will further deteriorate; the Taiwanese will revolt again against mainland rule; and the United States will lose its popularity and prestige as it has lost them on the mainland and for the same reason -- that it supports bad government. PEGGY DURDIN is The Nation's correspondent in China. An article describing the March uprising and terror in Taiwan appeared two weeks ago.
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