The 11th National Congress of the Kuomintang (the Nationalist Party of China) was held at the Chungshan Building on Yangmingshan in suburban Taipei beginning November 12. A total of 1310 delegates and observers from home and abroad, as well as from the Chinese mainland area, took part in the seven-day conference. Chairman Chiang Ching-kuo told the opening ceremony that the congress was being convened at a most crucial point in the history of the party. He declared that every member's perseverance and judgement was required, and particularly every cadre's courage, faith and sense of responsibility in showing revolutionary spirit and carrying out instructions of the late President Chiang Kai-shek to accomplish our historic mission.
Major topics taken up at the congress included: amendment of the party charter, the party platform, measures to strengthen the party structure, guidelines governing anti-Communist operations for national recovery, furtherance of ideological education based on the Three Principles of the People and the party's plan of action aimed at carrying out President Chiang Kai-shek's last will and testament. The congress also heard and discussed reports on political, military and party affairs and on mainland operations. It elected the Chairman of the Kuomintang and members of the Central Committee and issued a manifesto. Chairman Chiang Ching-kuo invited 184 senior party members to serve on the Advisory Committee, a group much respected for its members' experience.
Observers at the congress included cadres of different categories at the party's various levels, youths, students and freedom-seekers from mainland China. They were very happy to have the opportunity to observe the congress in session. They were particularly excited by the revolutionary stand of the Kuomintang in the adopted party platform, pledging itself to remain in the democratic camp, and to unite all the people's strength from at home and abroad, as well as from behind the enemy lines, for the final victory of national recovery against the Communists. Meanwhile, the election of Chiang Ching-kuo as Chairman of the Kuomintang was regarded as the best choice to unite the nation for further progress and for the realization of the teachings and instructions of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and President Chiang Kai-shek.