Ready & Waiting

Almost as palpable as the grey, bone-chilling rain that gusted over Taiwan last week was the pervasive mood of concern about the furious happenings only 100 miles across the strait. In downtown Taipei, Chinese huddled in raincoats and overcoats discussing the latest news out of Red China. Business men at the smart Golden Dragon restaurant traded reports over lunch. In thousands of homes, mainland exiles tuned in their radios and television sets and pored through newspapers for the latest hints of hope. The Nationalist Chinese on Taiwan are sharing in Red China's convulsions as only those can who have left behind on the mainland their relatives, their memories--and many of their hopes.

At another time, the Nationalist Chinese might have rattled their rockets and threatened to take advantage of Red China's chaos by invading the mainland. Now, though a few officials gave in to the temptation to threaten, the response was remarkably restrained. The Nationalists know that they cannot move without U.S. aid and that, in any case, the Communists may destroy themselves without outside interference.

For the moment, they are watching and waiting--and stressing politics rather than military force as the most effective current weapon against Red China. "Our present task," says Chiang Kaishek, "is to adapt ourselves to the changes in the world situation and create new opportunities for ourselves. Though we are convinced that our military counteroffensive will be the decisive force to roll back the tides of treachery and suffering, we must bear in mind that as far as the present situation is concerned, politics must not only precede military action but politics must be considered as surpassing military action in importance."

Mainland Sabotage. Nonetheless, Chiang stands ready for any eventuality. The country's 600,000-man army is well trained and well equipped, and Chiang keeps 80,000 troops poised and battle-ready on Taiwan's sister islands of Quemoy and Matsu, which are still bombarded now and then by Communist shore batteries. His high-flying U-2s regularly overfly the mainland taking pictures of Red China's defenses. Nationalist agents still cross the Strait of Taiwan to infiltrate the mainland. Chiang's government claims that 40 anti-Communist incidents occurred on the mainland between March and October 1966, most of them involving highway and railway bombings and industrial sabotage organized by pro-Nationalist guerrillas under Taiwan control. A modern force of 500 planes could be off the country's runways at a moment's notice.

Chiang is also preparing his government for whatever may come. At a time when Red China is mired in economic troubles along with its seemingly endless series of purges, he and his lieutenants are quietly building Asia's strongest government, its second strongest economy (after Japan) and, despite 17 years of exile, an esprit that somehow continues to embody the tenuous dream of mainland recovery. To improve the government, Chiang recently called for "new policies" and "modernized governmental mechanisms." In an obvious dig at Peking's harangues about "revisionism," he is also pushing a "revision" of the Kuomintang, Taiwan's ruling body and one of Asia's oldest political parties. The revision is aimed at chopping out some of the deadwood and older party hacks and broadening Kuomintang membership to include more classes of people, particularly young new leaders with fresh ideas. "Our struggle with Red China is not just dialectic," insists Ku Cheng-kang, a member of the Kuomintang's 19-man Standing Committee. "Our political system and reforms have shown results, and we take pride in this as a viable alternative to Communism."

One Hope. Just how far things will go on the mainland, Chiang can only guess like everyone else. His one hope is that he will still be around when--and if--the Nationalists ever return. In case he is not, Chiang, now 79, has already made provision for the transfer of power to his oldest son and political heir: Chiang Ching-kuo, 56, Taiwan's Defense Minister. Late last month, at the annual meeting of the party's Central Committee, 600 KMT delegates voted Chiang--and hence his successor--the right to appoint a special national security council with sweeping emergency powers. Such a council would act as a built-in power structure, waiting only for the day when either Chiang or Ching-kuo might decide to activate it.

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