Shortly before his death in 1975, Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Taiwan Kuomintang (KMT) authorities, entrusted Chen Li-fu, a senior KMT member and follower of him, with a private mission -- to invite Mao Zedong, chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), to visit Taiwan through a secret channel. Mao instructed Deng Xiaoping to go on the trip on behalf of him. Regretfully, Chiang passed away on April 5 of the year. Thus Mao and Chiang, two of the most influential figures in contemporary Chinese history, missed the opportunity to hold another round of their historic talks.
After the KMT retreated to Taiwan in 1949, Chiang swore again and again that he would re-conquer the China?s mainland. Mao?s success in the mainland brought humiliation to Chiang and, until the last minute in his life, the KMT leader and military commander never gave up his ambition to launch a punitive expedition against Mao. On the other side of the Taiwan Straits, however, Mao began to call Chiang ?old friend? in a manner of his own.
In March 1972, when assuming the office of the fifth president of the KMT government in Taiwan, the 86-year-old Chiang vowed: ?As long as Mao and his party exist, our revolutionary task would not be finished. We shall balk at nothing, not even thousands of great frustrations and defeats.? Nonetheless, Chiang?s deteriorating health did not get any support from his great aspiration. Suffering all kinds of illnesses, in addition to a traffic accident, Chiang only made three public appearances during his last three years.
During the civil wars between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CPC), the two leaders of each side were implacable foes. Several members of Mao?s family sacrificed their lives during the long years of confrontation. The superstitious Chiang even sent his troops to destroy the graves of Mao?s ancestors. In contrast, after he won the Liberation War (1946-49) throughout the country, Mao had Chiang?s ancestral tombs in Xikou, Zhejiang Province, protected with the utmost care. During the ?cultural revolution? (1966-1976), Premier Zhou Enlai instructed repeatedly that Chiang?s ancestral tombs should be exempted from the ?olds? which were supposed to be ?destroyed.? However, in 1968, some people still broke into the cemetery and blew up the Ci?an Nunnery. Fortunately the remains were not removed. Learning about this, Chiang exhorted his sons and grandsons to ?harbor the hatred forever? and to ?avenge the insult and wipe out the humiliation.? Nonetheless, the Chinese central government immediately renovated the cemetery and brought it under strict protection. On February 21, 1972, Mao said to Richard Nixon when the two of them were shaking hands: ?Our common friend Chairman Chiang may not agree with this.? In a humorous way, he hinted that Chiang was also part of the era-making dialogue between China and the United States.
The next year following the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, Mao tried again to open the rusty door shut up between the KMT and CPC. He used sports intercourse as the pathbreaker. Athletes and coaches from Taiwan were invited to Beijing to take part in games such as the Asian, African and Latin American Friendship Invitational Table-tennis Tournament, Selecting Competitions for the Asian Games and the National Games. Overseas Chinese of Taiwan origin from Japan and the United States were warmly received during these games. They were invited to a series of forums and gatherings and were thus exposed to the CPC policies. Meanwhile activities commemorating the February 28th Uprising, which took place in Taiwan in 1947, were resumed on the mainland. Important figures popular on both sides, like Liao Chengzhi and Fu Zuoyi, made statements one after another, emphasizing that ?personalities of various circles from Taiwan are welcomed to come to the mainland to visit their relatives and friends, and their personal safety will be guaranteed and they are free to come and go.? In 1975, 293 war criminals captured during the Liberation War, 95 Taiwan spies and 49 armed special agents from Taiwan were granted a special pardon. Obviously, Mao, though in his sickbed, spared no effort in making history again..
Another episode should be mentioned too. After eight years? interval, in mid-May 1973, an airliner of CAAC from Beijing landed at Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong.
Zhang Shizhao, 92 and wheelchaired, was carried down from the plane. Zhang was a renowned emissary of peace talk between the KMT and CPC and his arrival made a great stir in Hong Kong, re-triggering the course of peaceful reunification across the Taiwan Straits that had been suspended for seven years. The first day he arrived in Hong Kong with the mission trusted by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, Zhang managed to meet friends from various circles, trying to establish contact with Taiwan as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Zhang passed away in Hong Kong on July 1 of this year.
Chiang?s Invitation to Mao in His Old Age
Unlike Mao, Chiang was not able to address his rival ?old friend.? He declared repeatedly that he would never make contact with the Soviet Union and the CPC.
However, the ?nation? had been kept in Chiang?s mind all the time. On New Year?s Day in 1974, South Vietnam sent warships to invade China?s Xisha Islands in the South China Sea.
This angered Chiang and he immediately instructed his ?foreign ministry? to declare: ?The territory of China brooks no encroachment.? To avoid unnecessary clashes, as a rule, when commuting between the East China Sea and the South China Sea in the past, the Chinese warships always took a devious route in the open sea southeast of Taiwan. However, after the battle broke out in the South China Sea, four guided missile frigates dispatched from the East China Sea to reinforce the naval forces on the Xisha Islands were anchored beside the Dongyin Island in the Taiwan Straits. Hearing the news, Chiang who was taking a siesta on the armchair simply said: ?The Xisha battle is of vital importance.? That very night, the KMT army turned on the searchlight, and the mainland warships passed through the Taiwan Straits smoothly.
In his old age, Chiang became even more homesick than before.
On the 1975 New Year?s Day, Chiang made the last ?Restoration Announcement? in his life. Around the Spring Festival of this year, Chiang entrusted Chen Li-fu with a secret mission to invite Mao through private channels to visit Taiwan. In response, Mao instructed Deng Xiaoping, then vice-premier, to go ahead to make such a trip on behalf of him, so as to realize the ?three direct links? (in mail, transport and trade) across the Taiwan Straits as soon as possible. Later, Chen Li-fu published an article ?If I Were Mao Zedong? in a Hong Kong newspaper, making it clear that Mao or Zhou was welcomed to visit Taiwan and negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek for the well-being of both the country and the people. In particular, Chen appealed to Mao to ?follow the example of the KMT-CPC cooperation during the Northern Expedition (1926-1927) and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945) so that the two sides can create a new situation for the cooperation.?
Nonetheless, before receiving any reply from Beijing, Chiang departed this life.
Testament of History
On April 5, 1975, the day of Pure Brightness Festival, a traditional festival for commemorating the dead in China, 89-year-old Chiang passed away 10 minutes before the midnight.
Chiang departed regretfully from this world with an unrealized dream. Year after year he passionately announced the timetable of ?counterattack? and worked out over 1,000 strategic plans. To restore the KMT rule on the mainland of China was Chiang?s sacred ?conviction?, though probably he knew better than anybody else that his hope of ?restoration? could never be materializes. It was Chiang?s obstinacy, pride and self-esteem that had resulted in his withdrawal from the mainland, but at the same time, his dream of ?counterattack? made him inseparable from the mainland. Chiang?s goal of this lifelong struggle is best reflected in his testament:
?My spirit will be with my comrades and compatriots forever to implement the Three Principles of the People (Nationalism, Democracy and the People?s Livelihood, which was put forward by Dr. Sun Yat-sen -- leader of China?s modern democratic revolution and founder of the KMT and the Republic of China) and recover the mainland??
Weighed down by a heavy political burden, Chiang blocked the channel from Taiwan to the mainland, though he became increasingly homesick during his aging years.
But Chiang was not the only one who suffered this. Tens of thousands of Chinese families became victims of the politics and suffered separation from their dear ones.
General Chang Hsueh-liang was one example. A native of Northeast China, he had never been back home since was taken under escort to Taiwan in 1946 according to Chiang?s secret order. After Chiang?s death, General Chang went to visit the Quemoy Islands. Looking across the Straits with high-powered binoculars, Chang was so excited that he was insomnious for the following couple of days. Later General Chang told American reporters, ?I miss my hometown in the mainland?Peaceful reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Straits is my greatest wish.?
The family of Soong Ching-ling (wife of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Honorary President of the People?s Republic of China) experienced the same tragedy. In April 1971, T. V. Soong, Ching-ling?s only brother, died in San Francisco, the United States. Among his three sisters, only Soong Ai-ling, the eldest, was able to attend the funeral. Afraid of falling into the ?united front trap of the CPC,? Soong Mei-ling (wife of Chiang Kai-shek) returned to Taiwan midway. Soong Ching-ling had to give up her trip to the United States because she could not get a charted special plane. On May 29, 1981, Soong Ching-ling passed away in Beijing. When she was in a critical condition, Ching-ling requested to meet her younger sister, Mei-ling, for the last time. But Soong Mei-ling, who was in the United States, gave no response. After Soong Ching-ling?s death, the Taiwan authorities not only rejected the invitation from the Soong Ching-ling Funeral Committee to Ching-ling?s relatives in Taiwan, including Chiang Ching-kuo (son of Chiang Kai-shek and succeeding leader of the KMT in Taiwan after Chiang Kai-shek), to attend the funeral in Beijing, but described the invitation as a ?united front plot.?
In January 1976, Premier Zhou Enlai, a key figure in the history of the KMT-CPC cooperation and conflicts, died. In his deathbed, Zhou was still concerned about the Taiwan affairs. After his death, Deng Yingchao, Zhou?s wife, who knew her husband?s wish the best, put Zhou?s cinerary casket in the Taiwan Hall of the Great Hall of the People for one night, before his ashes were scattered to the seas and mountains.
The year 1976 was plagued by frequent disasters in China. On July 6, Zhu De, Mao?s another intimate comrade-in-arms and one of the founders of the People?s Liberation Army (PLA) passed away. On July 28, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake took place in Tangshan, Hebei Province, killing more than 240,000 people overnight. Mao Zedong, whose health was deteriorating, began to hand over his responsibilities to his successors. ?As an ancient Chinese proverb goes, the final judgment on a person can be made only when he lies in his coffin,? Mao said. ?Probably now it is time for me to make the final verdict by myself. In retrospect, I have done two major things during my whole life. One is the years-long struggle with Chiang Kai-shek, which resulted in Chiang?s running to Taiwan?. The other one is the ?cultural revolution.??
On September 9, 1976, the 49th anniversary of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, which marked the beginning of Mao?s armed revolutionary career, Mao departed this life. He must have been regretful for not having realized the reunification of the motherland.
?It requires both time and the next generation?s efforts to resolve the Taiwan issue,? Mao once said.
(光明日报 [Guangming Daily], translated by Shao Da for china.org.cn, October 11, 2002)
