894A.00/12–849
The Consul General at Taipei (Macdonald) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 28.]
No. 120
I have the honor to enclose a translation of the draft70 of the principles governing the enforcement of self-government in hsien and municipal areas in Taiwan as drawn up by the Governor’s Self-government Research Committee and recently published in the local press.
The Governor’s committee was organized some three months ago under the chairmanship of Chang Li-sheng, former Vice President of the Executive Yuan and Minister of Interior.
If these proposals are adopted by the Provincial Government they would, according to local officials, in the normal course of events be returned to the Governor for submission to the National Government through the Ministry of Interior. From the Ministry of Interior they would go to the Legislative Yuan then to the Executive Yuan and finally receive the signature of the President of the Chinese Republic. To insure more rapid action and in view of the uncertainties in the mainland at present Taiwanese administrative conference is recommending that they be put in force immediately and subsequently sent to such National Government establishments as can be found.
[Page 444]Chinese citizens of twenty years of age and over will have the rights of suffrage, recall, initiative and referendum. Councils will be set up in each hsien and municipal area, their size being determined by the population concerned. One-tenth of the members will be female. Each hsien will have a Magistrate elected by the people and each municipality a Mayor. The smaller political divisions known as hsiang and chen will also be entitled to elect their public officers.
Although the proposals appear to be in accordance with the usual procedures of democratic self-government, unfortunately the Taiwanese reaction in many quarters is not optimistic. The Taiwanese point out that they had little or no part in developing the desired procedures and that so long as the unpopular Chinese officials must be looked to for the implementation of the program corruption and political chicanery will be inevitable and a true expression of Taiwanese desires impossible. Although there is undoubtedly much justification for the doubts expressed by the Taiwanese, their attitude is typically defeatist, and more satisfactory results might be obtained if something could be done to arouse their interest and obtain their cooperation and full participation.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩