Taiwan in Time: Sept. 21 to Sept. 27
After nearly a year of preparations, more than 230 delegates from 64 countries and regions descended upon Taipei on Sept. 25, 1967 to take part in the World Anti-Communist League’s (WACL) inaugural conference. Also in attendance were 12 anti-communist organizations and observers.
As a founding member of the league’s predecessor, the Asian People’s Anti-Communist League (APACL), Taiwan was chosen to host the event during a meeting to discuss the APACL’s expansion in November 1966.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
A recap of the conference published by WACL stated that the league decided to meet in Taiwan because it was the “most resolute in its anti-communist position” and “showed the most vigorous anti-communist spirit.”
The APACL was started in 1954 by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) leader Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), Philippine president Elpidio Quirino and South Korean president Syngman Rhee.
By November 1966, as the APACL had expanded to Australia and Africa with 27 members, it decided to go global during a meeting in Seoul.
Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei Times
“To defeat the communist threat to the world, the anti-communist frontlines of the free people must be expanded to the entire world,” then-South Korean president Park Chung-hee announced during the opening ceremony.
Representatives from 11 countries and three anti-communist organizations met the following week and drafted the WACL charter, which took effect April 1967. The charter called for regional organizations in six regions: Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America and Latin America.
The charter clearly states that communists are “evil” beings who plan to “enslave the world” and anti-communists as “lovers of freedom,” with a mission to “push for true freedom based on justice and human dignity.”
Furthermore, it states that communist thought is “anti-humanity, anti-rationality, anti-society and anti-science” and can only bring disaster and pain to the world. To the league founders, co-existing with communists is no longer possible and they must be eradicated.
The first conference opened with Ku Cheng-kang (谷正綱) as both event and organization chairman. According to his biography, Ku, who was born in China, joined the KMT in 1924 and rose to the post of the Republic of China’s minister of social affairs. He followed Chiang to Taiwan after the KMT retreat in 1949, serving as minister of the interior and also becoming involved in Chinese refugee activities. Ku remained honorary chairman for the WACL until he died in 1993.
In a speech, Ku described Taiwan as “a lighthouse of freedom in the Pacific Ocean.”
“All anti-communists in the world now see Taiwan as an important stronghold, as a place to cultivate hope for the future,” he added. “A lot of attendees have never been to Taiwan before, but after seeing what we’re doing here, I’m sure they now have more courage and determination to continue the battle against the communists.”
The meeting officially began on the morning of Sept. 25 at the recently-completed Sun Yat-sen Hall (中山樓) in Yangmingshan (陽明山), with Chiang delivering the opening speech. Seven meetings were held over the next five days at the Ambassador Hotel (國賓飯店). Attendees worked on electing officials, approving new members, setting up committees, sharing reports on communist activities in various countries, devising anti-communist methods and denouncing communist ideals.
Taiwan representatives also screened a self-produced documentary and put together a photography exhibit, both depicting how terrible life in China was under communist rule.
During the closing ceremony on Sept. 29, Ku announced that the next meeting would be in Saigon — now Ho Chi Minh City.
“I want to invite everyone to the frontlines of the fight against communism,” he said. “I want everyone to witness or experience firsthand communist actions. We hope to, both spiritually and materially, help strike a fatal blow to communists worldwide.”
The league wasn’t without its controversies over the next decades, having been linked to neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and allegedly included people connected to war criminals and death squads.
In 1989, the end of the Cold War began as communist regimes in Europe started to collapse, highlighted by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the destabilization of the Soviet Union.
In response to the changing political scene, on Jan. 1, 1991, the league officially changed its name to the World League for Freedom and Democracy.
Taiwan in Time, a column about Taiwan’s history that is published every Sunday, spotlights important or interesting events around the nation that have anniversaries this week.
When the weather is too cold to enjoy the white beaches and blue waters of Pingtung County’s Kenting (墾丁), it’s the perfect time to head up into the hills and enjoy a different part of the national park. In the highlands above the bustling beach resorts, a simple set of trails treats visitors to lush forest, rocky peaks, billowing grassland and a spectacular bird’s-eye view of the coast. The rolling hills beyond Hengchun Township (恆春) in Pingtung County offer a two-hour through-hike of sweeping views from the mighty peak of Dajianshih Mountain (大尖石山) to Eluanbi Lighthouse (鵝鑾鼻燈塔) on the coast, or
Charges have formally been brought in Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) bribery, corruption and embezzling of campaign funds cases. Ko was briefly released on bail by the Taipei District Court on Friday, but the High Court on Sunday reversed the decision. Then, the Taipei District Court on the same day granted him bail again. The ball is in dueling courts. While preparing for a “year ahead” column and reviewing a Formosa poll from last month, it’s clear that the TPP’s demographics are shifting, and there are some indications of where support for the party is heading. YOUNG, MALE
Her greatest fear, dormant for decades, came rushing back in an instant: had she adopted and raised a kidnapped child? Peg Reif’s daughter, adopted from South Korea in the 1980s, had sent her a link to a documentary detailing how the system that made their family was rife with fraud: documents falsified, babies switched, children snatched off the street and sent abroad. Reif wept. She was among more than 120 who contacted The Associated Press this fall, after a series of stories and a documentary made with Frontline exposed how Korea created a baby pipeline, designed to ship children abroad as quickly as
Taiwanese persimmon farmer Lo Chih-neng stands on a ladder in his sprawling orchard using pruning sheers to cut the golden-yellow fruit still hanging from branches after enduring a tough season. Persimmons are popular in Taiwan where people travel hours to buy bags and boxes of the sweet dried fruit to take home to their families or give away to friends. But changing weather and an aging population are posing a threat to the century-old industry, forcing some farmers to look at alternative ways to maximize returns — or get out altogether. Lo’s harvest was down by more than a third last year, the