CHIANG Ching-Kuo Jiǎng Jīngguó 蒋经国 1910–1988 Former President of Taiwan
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◀ Chengdu Comprehensive index starts in volume 5, page 2667. CHIANG Ching- kuo Jiǎng Jīngguó 蒋经国 1910–1988 Former president of Taiwan Chiang Ching-kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek political and economic corruption in Shanghai, which (also a former president of the Republic of was rife with powerful mafia-like gangs. China, i.e., Taiwan, 1949– ), was arguably the When Chiang Kai-shek went into exile in Taiwan in most influential political leader in Taiwan un- 1949, Chiang Ching-kuo was at his father’s side and be- came a powerful force in Taiwanese politics. til his death in 1988. In a public opinion poll Chiang Ching-kuo was chairman of Taiwan’s Guo- reported by Shijie Ribao (World Journal) in mindang (Kuomindang, Chinese Nationalist Party) 2007, 65 percent of Taiwanese citizens sur- provincial headquarters from 1949 to 1950 and director- veyed ranked Chiang as the president who general of the political department of Taiwan’s military made the greatest contribution to Taiwan. from 1950 to 1954. He then rose in rank in the govern- ment over the years, becoming first vice premier (1969– 1972), then premier (1972– 1978), and finally president (1979– 1988). hiang Ching-kuo was born in Fenghua, Zhejiang Province, in 1910. As a young man in 1926 he was sent by his father to the Soviet Union where he Priorities as President at first studied at Sun Yat-sen University for foreigners in Moscow as well as at USSR Military & Political Insti- Chiang made developing a modern economic infrastruc- tute. After relations between Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ture a priority, emphasizing power, transportation, com- and Chiang Kai-shek soured, the younger Chiang was munications, and irrigation systems. He also expanded sent to labor camps on the Soviet Union’s frontiers. He the influx of foreign investments. In 1965 direct foreign was allowed to return to China, with his Russian bride, investments amounted to only $10 million. By 1979 direct in 1937. foreign investments showed a net balance of $121 million. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937– 1945, Other inflows of long-term private capital amounted to known in China as the War of Resistance against Japan), more than $300 million in 1979. Chiang held a number of key administrative positions, In foreign relations Chiang tried to reverse the de- including institutional administrative commander of cline of his government’s international standing after the southern Jiangsu Province from 1939 to 1945 and foreign United States switched course and sought better relations affairs administrator for the northeast administration with mainland China. When Richard Nixon announced of the Republic of China during the Chinese Civil War in 1971 his intention to visit the People’s Republic of (1945– 1949). In 1948 he was sent by his father, who had China, where he signed the Shanghai Communiqué on become president of the Republic of China, to “clean up” 27 February 1972, the negative impact on Taiwan was 318 © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC C CHIANG Ching-kuo n Jiǎng Jīngguó n 蒋经国 319 immediate. Taiwan was expelled from the U.N. in 1971 and athletes from Taiwan to participate in international after the announcement of Nixon’s proposed trip, Japan competitions with their counterparts from the mainland. switched its recognition from Taiwan to China in 1972, Then, on 26 July 1987, Chiang allowed Taiwan residents and twenty-five other nations followed suit between 1971 to travel to Hong Kong to meet their Chinese relatives and 1972. from the mainland openly (although “direct” contact on Then when U.S. president Jimmy Carter formally nor- mainland soil was still officially forbidden). Finally, on 15 malized relations with China and invited Deng Xiaoping, October 1987, under his orders the Kuomintang’s Central general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, to Standing Committee lifted the thirty-seven-year ban bar- visit on 1 January 1979, Chiang, who was now Premier, ring Taiwan’s residents from visiting their relatives on the launched his most intensive public relations outreach in mainland. the United States ever and strengthened his pro-Taiwan Chiang’s new policy had a profound effect on the Chi- lobby in the U.S. Congress. His campaign succeeded on nese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The first 10 April 1979, when Congress passed the Taiwan Rela- week after the travel ban was lifted, some twenty thou- tions Act, which provided the legal basis for the defense sand people in Taipei filed applications for permission to of Taiwan by the United States for years to come, thus visit the mainland. As for indirect trade, Taiwanese busi- promising U.S. military intervention should mainland nesses invested more than $50 million in fifty enterprises China try to “retake” Taiwan by force. in Fujian Province alone during the first three months of 1988. China in 2008 was Taiwan’s largest trading partner; exports to China have accounted for one-third of Tai- Political Policy wan’s total exports since 2004; and more than 2 million Taiwanese maintain permanent residences in China. Chiang also liberalized Taiwan’s domestic political sys- Although Chiang’s reforms were substantial, histo- tem, which helped lead to Taiwan’s eventual democra- rians believe Chiang was making plans for the reunifica- tization. His initial domestic political policy was the tion of Taiwan and the mainland just before his death. same as his father’s, that is, authoritarianism under one- Chiang’s confidante and former student, Lee Huan, who party (Kuomintang) rule. However, he eventually insti- was also the Kuomintang’s secretary-general, revealed tuted U.S.-style “affirmative action” programs to bring after Chiang’s death that Chiang was prepared to begin Taiwanese-born administrators into the ruling Kuom- negotiations with China’s Communist leaders to find a intang and all levels of government. way to reunify the two governments and had sent envoys In 1986 Chiang Ching-kuo repealed the “Emergency to “test the waters” for such negotiations in the years im- Provisions” law, that is the martial law that limited civil mediately preceding his death. liberties that had been in effect since his father Chiang Winberg CHAI Kai-shek had become President of Taiwan in 1950. Thus, for the first time on the island it became legal to orga- nize opposition parties whose candidates could run for Further Reading elected office. Hsiung, J. C. (Ed.). (1981). Contemporary Republic of Chiang Ching-kuo, like his father, absolutely opposed China: The Taiwan experience 1950– 1980. New York: any demand for Taiwan’s independence. But unlike his The American Association for Chinese Studies. father, Chiang Ching-kuo took significant steps to relax Leng Shaochuan. (1993). Chiang Ching-kuo’s leadership tensions with the mainland government. In 1987 he per- in the development of the Republic of China on Taiwan. mitted Taiwan residents for the first time since the 1950s to Lanham, MD: University Press of America. conduct indirect trade and to make personal visits to the Sih, P. K. T. (Ed.). (1998). Taiwan: A history. Armonk, NY: mainland; he permitted scientists, professional experts, M.E. Sharpe. CHIANG Kai-shek ▶ © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC.