How Free Is Formosa?
SHIH, HU
One of China's most respected scholars declares that, contrary to the charges of Dr. K. C. Wu, freedoms have been gradually expanded on Chiang's island bastion HOW FREE IS FORMOSA? Ey Hu...
...The best proof of this is found in the numerous critical articles on the May elections published in many independent newspapers both before and after the elections...
...These successive reform measures represented partial success for the movement "for the separation of the jurisdiction of the military and civil courts," a movement in which many Chinese leaders, both inside and outside the Government, have taken an active part...
...Hu Shih, the philosopher and diplomat, with his special eminence and international reputation...
...His intellectual outlook is rather limited, largely because of his long years in the Soviet Union...
...In any case, there is no possibility of his being "the heir and successor" of President Chiang...
...All other criminal offenses were under the jurisdiction of civil courts...
...These were: offenses against the internal security of the state...
...He is not popular with the armed forces, and there is absolutely no constitutional or organizational channel through which he can become his father's heir and successor...
...Wu, is "modeled after the Hitler Youth and the Communist Youth...
...I may add that the same question, among others, was earnestly discussed early last April at the home of Vice Presidentelect Chen Cheng in three evening sessions participated in by six invited members of the National Assembly and about 20 leaders of the Government and the Kuomintang, including General Chiang Ching-kuo...
...Like his father, he is free from corruption and therefore not free from self-righteousness (again not unlike his father...
...We now have a Red version of the Hitler Jugend...
...When the so-called "Young Men's Corps of Anti-Communism and National Salvation" was first organized in 1952 (apparently with the loud approval of Governor Wu), one of the wisest educators in Taipei remarked to me: "When they take in all students as members and all teachers as their officers, it means there is no secret organization, and no secret training and indoctrination will be possible...
...The success has been only partial, and the fight is still going on...
...Could it not be that the Government, by its offer of over-attractive monetary rewards, was guilty of entrapping the people to commit crimes...
...Wu calls "a Red version of the Hitler Jugend" on Formosa...
...offenses against public safety...
...There is no censorship of news, incoming or outgoing...
...One of our best wishes on his re-election is that no unconstitutional act of this kind will ever happen again during his second Presidential term of six years...
...What the President has done on a number of occasions is clearly a violation of the Constitution...
...The Constitution," says the editorial, "under Article 40 gives the President only the power of 'granting amnesties, pardons, remission of sentences, and restitution of civil rights.' But the Constitution nowhere gives him power to increase the sentence of any court...
...Wu, the "democratic" Governor and Commander of the Taiwan Peace Preservation Force, nor the "special eminence and international reputation' of the absentee publisher of Free China afforded any protection to that magazine...
...offenses against personal liberty...
...Wu will probably retort that the freedom of Free China magazine has always been an "exception...
...Gilbert and Dr...
...Freedom of the press has become a farce...
...Free China magazine certainly did not enjoy any such "exceptional" freedom in the summer of 1951, when it got into serious trouble with the Taiwan Peace Preservation Force by publishing an editorial entitled "The Government Must Not Entrap the People to Commit Crimes...
...Freedom of the press has become a farce...
...The Taiwan Peace Preservation headquarters took the unusual action of buying up all the available copies of Free China at the newsstands, and ordered the Northwest Airlines not to carry the issue out of the island...
...damage and destruction of property...
...At the end of the session, Premier Yui declared: "The new Cabinet will see to it that the constitutional guarantees of freedom of person under Article 8 and civil-court trials of non-military personnel under Article 9 are upheld...
...Hu had been Professor of Chinese Philosophy and later of Chinese Literature at the National Peking University...
...Wu regards as the "heir and successor" of the Gimo...
...Listen to his own description of the Youth Corps: "Then Ching-kuo organized his Youth Corps...
...After mediation by mutual friends in the Government, the editor was forced to print an editorial in its June 16 issue, stating that the previous editorial had implied no intentional insult to the moral integrity of the Government agencies prosecuting the case discussed...
...Have you ever known a Hitler or a Stalin so stupid as to enroll all students in his youth corps, and to order all superintendents, professors and teachers to become their officers...
...Hu Shih" come to enjoy what to Dr...
...He is a very hardworking man, conscientious and courteous, patriotic and intensely anti-Communist...
...I have known Chiang Ching-kuo for many years...
...What do you think of General Chiang Ching-kuo, son of President Chiang, whom Dr...
...Then Premier Chen Cheng intervened...
...homicide...
...As a result of public dissatisfaction and criticism of the incompetence and inefficiency of the military courts, and of known abuses of power by the military police, the Central Government, under the leadership of Premier Chen Cheng, moved toward reducing the jurisdiction of the military courts...
...In April 1951, when the "New Taiwan Currency," which had replaced the old currency in the summer of 1949, was threatened by inflation, the Government issued a series of Emergency Regulations on Currency Stabilization which gave authority to the military police and military courts of the Taiwan Peace Preservation Force to deal severely with three types of violation of the currency laws: illegal transmission of money abroad, illegal traffic in gold or foreign exchange, and high-interest money-lending through "underground banking...
...On the other hand, it was exactly those exceptions—those particular cases of criminal offenses which under the National Emergency Law were placed under the jurisdiction of military courts—which Dr...
...He honestly admitted that there were important exceptions to this general description...
...Correspondents of all nationalities come and go without let or hindrance, and the resident correspondents of the Associated Press, United Press, Reuters, and the French Press Agency send out exactly what they please...
...robbery and piracy...
...A Chinese delegate to the San Francisco Conference and the London UNESCO Conference in 1945, he has always been one of China's most respected non-partisan spokesmen...
...3. Offenses under the Law on Banditry...
...Ey Hu Shih Recently, within a single month, there appeared two contradictory estimates of the state of freedom in Formosa...
...Newspapers that annoy or offend Formosa's rulers are forced to suspend publication, and reporters and writers have often been jailed...
...offenses against public order...
...K. C. Wu, Governor of Formosa from December 1949 to May 1953...
...Wu were referring to two different groups of phenomena...
...Formosa's newspapers now print only the party line...
...How about the Youth Corps which young Chiang has organized in Formosa and which, according to Dr...
...These are all the categories of criminal offenses that were ever placed under the jurisdiction of the military courts of the Taiwan Peace Preservation Force, of which Governor Wu himself was Chief Commander and General Peng Meng-chi was Deputy Commander...
...Hu Shih could afford any protection to the magazine...
...I watched the local elections in the eastern coastal and partially aboriginal district of Taitung, and I was greatly impressed by the extraordinarily high percentage of voters of both sexes who came to the polls...
...Last month, the new Premier, 0. K. Yui, was severely questioned in Parliament (the Legislative Yuan) about the constitutional guarantees in times of national emergency, especially the right of habeas corpus under Article 8, and Article 9 which says that "No person, except those in active military service, may be subject to trial by a military court...
...He has said in his Look article: "There is no such thing as freedom of speech any more...
...But, because of the very high literacy of the Taiwan population and because the secret ballot is always the most effective weapon of democratic control, the elections have been and still are quite free...
...A decree of the Executive Yuan on October 20...
...Nevertheless, he was also "drafted" to serve as China's Ambassador to the United States from 1938 to 1942, Dr...
...There is no such thing as freedom of speech any more...
...offenses against currency stabilization" had been removed from the jurisdiction of the military police and military courts...
...My own answer is that Mr...
...In a letter which he wrote me on September 14 and sent to Free China magazine to be published in its September 15 issue, the Premier thanked me for my outspoken words, which "we accept with gladness...
...On September 1, 1951, it published on its editorial page a letter written by myself from New York, requesting that the words "Publisher: Hu Shih" be dropped from its back cover...
...Secondly, I would like to ask: How and why did the "weekly sponsored by Dr...
...After the elections, many newspapers, including the New York Times and the Hong Kong Times, editorially commented on the defeat of the Kuomintang candidates at Taipei and Chia-yi as the best evidence that elections in Formosa are free...
...Wu's resignation from the Governorship...
...At no time since the Communist conquest of the mainland have the military courts of Formosa had jurisdiction over "all cases of any nature...
...That is what Dr...
...When Formosa was declared in early 1950 to be "a region adjacent to a battle zone," ten categories of crimes were placed under the jurisdiction of the military courts of the Taiwan Peace Preservation Force...
...It existence and its influence eloquently refute K. C. Wu's charge that Formosa is a police state...
...after the war, he was named president of the university...
...In December 1952...
...1951 restored four of the original ten categories of offenses to the jurisdiction of the civil courts...
...It cited a recent case of high-interest money-lending in which $1.1 million of local currency was involved and more than twenty money-lenders were arrested by the Peace Preservation police and sent to military courts for trial...
...counterfeiting of currency and negotiable securities, and forging of official documents and seals...
...Three months later, Free China got into more trouble...
...Here is a perfect example of Dr...
...He visited Formosa in 1952 and has recently returned from another extended visit...
...In discussing this question of the jurisdiction of military courts, I have gone into some detail, not only to refute the irresponsible generalization of Dr...
...Italics mine...
...The editorial had pointed out the inherent danger of the Government policy of offering heavy monetary rewards—30 per cent of the confiscated property of the convicted offender to the "informer" and 35 per cent to the prosecuting agency—in offenses under the Emergency Regulations on Currency Stabilization...
...They are merely wasting more money and more of the students' precious time to have another parading and slogan-shouting organization to be added to the New Year's Day parade...
...The fact is that Formosa was far from the rule of law and democracy in those early years of 1949-1951, at the height of the fear of Communist invasion and infiltration and of the dangers of currency inflation, and only in the last three years, and notably since June 1952, has there been a far greater measure of civil liberties and the rule of law than at any time in the past...
...But once a person is legally on Taiwan and has a police card showing that he resides there, he can ride the railroads, the buses, the planes, or wander about by car, pedicab or on foot, as freely as though he were in Vermont, Kansas or Oregon...
...The battle for freedom and democracy has never been fought and won by craven, selfish politicians who remain silent while they enjoy political power, and then, when out of power and safely out of the country, smear their own country and government, for whose every mistake or misdeed they themselves cannot escape a just measure of moral responsibility...
...But start preaching Communism—and look out...
...The same was true of the central-west district of Chia-yi, where the Kuomintang candidate for magistrate was badly defeated by a candidate with no affiliation to any political party...
...Thus, if the "weekly sponsored by Dr...
...offenses against the external security of the state...
...It is no longer easy to get into Taiwan...
...Other freedoms which are taken for granted in Free China are those of freedom of movement and freedom of choice of employment...
...The April 1 issue of the fortnightly magazine Free China editorially questioned President Chiang Kai-shek's power of reviewing the decisions of the military courts and, in some cases, ordering an increase in the severity of the sentence...
...This logical fallacy of generalizing from particular and exceptional cases assumes a more serious form of misstatement when he makes this categorical assertion: "As Formosa had been declared under a state of siege, all cases of any nature were sent to the military courts for trial...
...he has even organized a Youth Corps modeled after the Hitler Youth and the Communist Youth...
...He [Chiang Ching-kuo] is fast building a regime that in many ways follows exactly the pattern of a Communist government...
...Hu Shih, generally known as the founder of the Chinese literary renaissance, has devoted most of his life to research in the history of Chinese thought...
...I cannot conclude this discussion without answering a few questions 1 have been asked ever since Dr...
...Since June 1. 1951...
...This statement is baseless and untrue...
...Wu utilized to build up his sweeping generalization about Formosa as a police state...
...A second decree on June 1, 1952 ordered that the jurisdiction of the military courts be henceforth limited to: 1. Offenses by military personnel...
...Or was he trying to deceive the public...
...Again, neither "democratic" Governor Wu nor the "special eminence" of Dr...
...5. Grave offenses (subsequently defined by the Ministry of Justice in minute detail) against public order and public safety...
...Let me cite an example of the present state of freedom of the press on Formosa a year after Governor Wu's resignation...
...It is a part of the fight for civil liberties and constitutional government in Free China...
...Was K. C. Wu really so ignorant...
...The "weekly" he referred to is the fortnightly Free China, edited and published by a score of my liberal friends (including a few independent members of the Kuomintang), whe, because I wrote the Principles of Faith of the Free China Association, honored me by making me its "publisher" from 1949 to 1953...
...I want to say, in the first place, that Free China is not an exception, and that this freedom of speech and the press is now shared by all who have the moral courage to speak out...
...I said in part: "I was led to ponder: If Free China could not enjoy freedom of speech and publication, if it were denied the right of responsible criticism of Government policy, that would be the greatest disgrace in the political life of Taiwan...
...His letter concluded with an assurance that there would always be freedom of the press on Formosa, which, he said, was evidenced by the publication of my letter in Free China magazine...
...There may be an exception in the case of a weekly [sic] sponsored by Dr...
...In the May 17 issue of the Freeman, we read these statements by Rodney Gilbert, who had just returned from three-and-a-half years' residence in Formosa: "An inspection of Formosa today reveals that the eight or nine million Chinese now on the island are getting the best government that any part of China has had for many generations—the freest, most efficient and, yes, most honest...
...2. Offenses under the Act on Communist Agents and the Law on Insurrection and Treason...
...What is more, he can work at any job he can find, or just sit on a rock, looking out to sea, reciting poetry and reveling in dolce far niente...
...I am happy to report that President Chiang Kai-shek has now given written instructions to his new Secretary-General, Chang Chun, that in the future, when the military tribunal requests him as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces to review the graver sentences of the military courts, he will never again order any increase in the sentences...
...Gilbert was painting a general picture of the life and freedom of the "eight or nine million Chinese now on the island" of Formosa...
...I formally resign from the titular honor of being the publisher of Free China magazine, partly because I want to express my 100-per-cent approval of the editorial entitled 'The Government Must Not Entrap the People to Commit Crimes,' and partly because I want to voice my protest against such interference with the freedom of the press by any military organ...
...The dictatorial moves [of General Chiang Ching-kuo, son of President Chiang Kai-shek] to establish a secret police and control of the Army, to rig elections and corrupt legal processes were only a start...
...This editorial so greatly enraged Governor Wu's Deputy Commander of the Taiwan Peace Preservation Force that he threatened to arrest the editor of Free China...
...His exact position is that of a faithful factotum to his father...
...While defending the urgent need for drastic measures to protect the new currency, he admitted unintentional mistakes in their enforcement...
...Wu that "all cases of any nature were sent to the military courts for trial," but also to correct the impression created by many of his statements—the impression that Formosa was "actually" achieving "the rule of law and democracy at one time in the past," but only recently "has been perverted into a police state," especially since Dr...
...Military courts of the Army, Navy and Air Force and other military establishments had no jurisdiction over crimes committed by persons not in active military service...
...It was to be expected that the Kuomintang, the powerful Government party, had great advantages over the minor parties and those candidates with no party affiliations...
...May I conclude by quoting the wise observation of Rodney Gilbert: "The very fact that there is public objection, and chance of change, is part of Formosa's pattern of freedom...
...As for common ordinary freedom of speech—unthinkable in any Communist country—nobody on Taiwan [Formosa] who has a critical word to say about this or that Government person or policy ever has to give a thought to possible eavesdroppers...
...No such open criticism of President Chiang was published at any time in the past...
...Hu Shih" has in any sense enjoyed some exceptional freedom in Formosa, it has earned it by fighting five long years and winning it —winning it not only for itself, but for all Formosa papers and for all the non-Communist and anti-Communist papers of Hong Kong which come into Taiwan every day by air transport...
...Wu was an "exceptional" freedom of the press in the "police state" of Formosa...
...Apparently, in June 1951 neither Dr...
...Which of these two sets of judgments on Formosa are we to accept...
...He ordered all superintendents, professors and teachers to become officers and all students enrolled as members...
...kidnaping for ransom...
...Has he ever known of a "police state" that permitted "exceptional" freedom of speech and the press to any individual or publication...
...Politically, he has no place in the Government and plays no important role...
...Wu's methods...
...He honestly believes that the most effective way in dealing with the Communists is to be as ruthless with them as they are with anyone opposing them...
...The editorial asked: "Why were only the lenders, and not the borrowers, named in the prosecution...
...For instance, he wrote: "You can talk yourself hoarse about the shortcomings of the municipal, provincial or national authorities and there will be no comeback...
...While I strongly disagree with Chiang Ching-kuo's methods in dealing with Communists and suspected Communists (and I said so publicly on the first day of my arrival on Formosa in 1952), I have grave doubts about the mental state of anyone who says: "Who can guarantee that, in the event of the Gimo's death and an attractive offer from Peking, he [Chiang Ching-kuo] may not turn Formosa into a rich province of Red China...
...4. Civilians conspiring with military personnel in smuggling...
...Could it not be that the borrowers were themselves the informers who enticed and entrapped the innocent victims into criminal offenses...
...The article was entitled "Your Money Has Built a Police State in Formosa," and had this to say: "Formosa has been perverted into a police state, not unlike that of Red China...
...In the recent May 2 elections, the Kuomintang candidate for Mayor in the capital city of Taipei, on whose election the party had staked all its great power and influence, was overwhelmingly defeated by a non-party candidate...
...How about the free elections which Governor Wu claims to hare initiated in Formosa and which he says are no longer free...
...Today, a program is under way to control the minds and souls of youth and suppress freedom of speech and of the press...
...Within four weeks, the newsstands were selling the June 29 issue of Look, which contained an article by Dr...
...Wu started his smear-Formosa campaign...
Vol. 37 • August 1954 • No. 33
