Problems of Age

It was an official day of celebration throughout the island. Shops were decked with flags, soldiers and schoolchildren marched through the streets, and exploding strings of firecrackers forced bystanders to clap hands to their ears. Nevertheless, there were overtones of concern in Formosa last week when the National Assembly went through the motions of electing Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek to his fourth consecutive six-year term as President of Nationalist China.

The Gimo is now 78. Even he complains that his memory is beginning to fail, and he finds it increasingly difficult to keep his temper in front of foreign diplomats. "A man of my age ought to retire," he told the National Assembly recently, "but our lost mainland has not yet been recovered, and our nation has to continue to prosper. I cannot but redouble my efforts to finish our unfinished tasks until I die."

As a necessary precaution, Chiang sought a Vice President who could take on more of his administrative and diplomatic burdens and take over interim control of the country if he died in office. His choice was balding, Western-educated Premier Yen Chia-kan, 61, a vigorous administrator and the author of many of Formosa's dramatic economic reforms—and yet, surprisingly, a controversial figure in the Kuomintang. Unlike most Nationalist leaders, Yen is neither a military man nor a faithful party professional; he is even accused of being ill informed about Kuomintang "party history." So wary of him is the party hierarchy, in fact, that nearly half of the members of the National Assembly invalidated their ballots rather than cast their votes for him as Vice President.

In any case, Yen will be no more than an interim leader. The real power of the Kuomintang is now held by Chiang's eldest son, General Chiang Ching-kuo, 56, who is destined to take over eventually from his father.