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Chiang's new land is no mean property. With the 2,000,000 Nationalists added to its native population of 8,000,000 (most of them descended from Chinese refugees from the Manchus in the 17th century), Formosa is about as big in area and population as either Belgium or The Netherlands. Before the war, its standard of living was second only to Japan's in the Orient; it was the world's second largest exporter of sugar, and its total exports (rice, tea, fruits) exceeded Turkey's or Yugoslavia's. With big help from U.S. experts and greenbacks, Formosa's economy has thrived. Electric power has been doubled, production of fertilizer increased sixfold, textiles twelvefold. The Formosan dollar has proved more stable than the Japanese yen, has been nearly stable since 1950. Nine out of ten Formosan children are now in schools (v. 71% under Japanese), and public schools were established in the mountainous regions where Formosa's 150,000 aborigines dwell.
Politically, Formosans are getting a bigger and bigger hand in their own government: four years ago, elections were instituted for local posts. Last year the provincial assembly itself was elected by popular vote. In many elections, "independents" opposed the Kuomintang's candidates, and recently in some important instances, e.g., mayor of Taipei, the independents have won.
There are still difficulties. The Nationalists crowd the island, they have an air of superiority, they find it hard to understand the Fukienese dialect the Formosans speak, and Formosans dislike having to learn Mandarin just a few years after having to learn Japanese. Formosans and Nationalists still tend to have different clubs, live in different sectors (the Nationalists largely moved into the quarters the Japanese evacuated), seek different diversions. But intermarriages are on the increase. Most significantly, beginning last year native Formosan boys were drafted into the army to replace the Nationalists' aging veterans. There was no trouble, and the Nationalist army now has 90,000 such troops.
Would Chiang Kai-shek win a plebiscite on the island?—a favorite British Laborite proposal. The answer is probably, though not certainly, yes. But as London's Spectator recently pointed out: "Why stop with Chiang Kaishek? [Why not] call for the exile of Mao Tse-tung and a plebiscite in China; the exile of Khrushchev and a plebiscite in Russia?"
The One Man. Chiang Kai-shek still runs a one-party national government, and in many respects a one-man government. He is President of China, director-general of the Kuomintang, and commander in chief of the armed forces. But primarily, his power rests on the reverence, respect and fear which he inspires and commands in his own person.
Chiang cannot always have his way. Often he must cajole and buy his way. Sometimes he must submit to pressures, as he did in 1950 when the younger Nationalist generation forced him to retire hundreds of old Kuomintang wheelhorses to sinecures. Chiang accepted and compelled the evacuation of the Tachen Islands only over the violent protests of many of his ministers.