First Taiwan Strait Crisis - The Conflict

The Conflict

While the United States recognized Chiang's government as the sole legitimate government for all of China, President Harry Truman announced on January 5, 1950 that the United States would not become involved in the dispute of Taiwan Strait and would not intervene in the event of an attack by the PRC. However, after the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, Truman declared the "neutralization of the Straits of Formosa" and sent the Seventh Fleet of the United States Navy into the Strait to prevent any conflict between the Republic of China and the PRC, effectively putting Taiwan under American protection.

On June 27, 1950, President Truman issued the following statement:

The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war. It has defied the orders of the Security Council of the United Nations issued to preserve international peace and security. In these circumstances the occupation of Formosa by Communist forces would be a direct threat to the security of the Pacific area and to United States forces performing their lawful and necessary functions in that area. Accordingly I have ordered the 7th Fleet to prevent any attack on Formosa. As a corollary of this action I am calling upon the Chinese Government on Formosa to cease all air and sea operations against the mainland. The 7th Fleet will see that this is done. The determination of the future status of Formosa must await the restoration of security in the Pacific, a peace settlement with Japan, or consideration by the United Nations.'

President Truman later ordered John Foster Dulles, then Foreign Policy Advisor to Secretary of State Dean Acheson, to carry out his decision on neutralizing Taiwan in drafting the Treaty of Peace with Japan of 1951 which excluded the participation of both the ROC and PRC. No recipient was specified in the treaty of Taiwan's sovereignty, which supporters of Taiwan independence have used to argue for their position. According to independence supporter George H. Kerr's Formosa Betrayed, Taiwan's political status was under the trust of the Allied Powers and later the UN if it could not be solved in near future as designed in the treaty.

The Kuomintang maintained as its goal the recovery of control of mainland China, and this required a resumption of the military confrontation with the Chinese Communists. Truman and his advisors regarded this goal as unrealizable, but the theme of losing China to international Communism was quite prominent in public opinion at the time, and the Truman Administration was criticized by anti-Communists for preventing any attempt by Chiang Kai-shek's forces to liberate mainland China.

Truman, a Democrat did not run in the 1952 presidential election which was won by Republican and popular war hero Dwight Eisenhower. On February 2, 1953, the new President lifted the Seventh Fleet's blockade in order to fulfill demands by anti-Communists to "unleash Chiang Kai-shek" on mainland China.

In August 1954, the Nationalists placed 58,000 troops on Quemoy and 15,000 troops on Matsu. The ROC began building defensive structures and the PRC began shelling ROC installations on Quemoy. Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China responded with a declaration on August 11, 1954 that Taiwan must be "liberated." He dispatched the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and began shelling both Quemoy and Matsu.

Despite warnings from the U.S. against any attacks on the Republic of China, the People's Liberation Army unleashed a heavy artillery bombardment of Quemoy on September 3, and intensified its actions in November by bombing the Tachen Islands. This renewed Cold War fears of Communist expansion in Asia at a time in which the PRC was not recognized by the United States Department of State. Chiang Kai Shek's government was supported by the United States because the ROC was part of the Containment of Communism which stretched from a devastated South Korea to an increasingly divided South East Asia.

On September 12, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended the use of nuclear weapons against mainland China. Eisenhower, however, resisted pressure to use nuclear weapons or involve American troops in the conflict. However, on December 2, 1954, the United States and the ROC agreed to a mutual defense treaty which did not apply to islands along the Chinese mainland. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on February 9, 1955.

After two failed attempts, the PLA seized the Ichiangshan Islands on January 18, 1955. Fighting continued in nearby islands off the coast of Chekiang, as well as around Matsu and Quemoy islands in Fukien. On January 29, 1955 the Formosa Resolution was approved by both houses of the United States Congress authorizing Eisenhower to use U.S. forces to defend the ROC and its possessions in the Taiwan Strait against armed attack.

In February, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill warned the U.S. against using nuclear weapons but in March, United States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles stated publicly that the U.S. was seriously considering a nuclear strike. In response, NATO foreign ministers warned at a meeting of the alliance against such action. In late March, U.S. Admiral Robert B. Carney said that Eisenhower is planning "to destroy Red China's military potential."