The United States Taiwan Defense Command was a sub-unified command of the United States armed forces. It was originally formed as the Formosa Liaison Center (founded in 1955 after the signature of the US-Taiwan Mutual Defense Pact of December 1954 and the first Straits crisis of Sept. 1954). In November 1955, the FLC become the Taiwan Defense Command. The command reported directly to the Commander-in-Chief Pacific (CINCPAC). The command was composed of personnel from all branches of the U.S. armed forces and had its headquarters in Taipei. The first commander of the USTDC was Alfred M. Pride (command of the U.S. Seventh Fleet).
USTDC was a planning headquarters for the defense of Taiwan and the Pescadores. In the event of hostilities, the USTDC commander would have coordinated with the Government of the Republic of China in the defense of Taiwan and the Pescadores. In the event of such a contingency, three existing service commanders would have reported to the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command commander. The 327th Air Division commander would be the air component commander, the Taiwan Patrol Force commander would be the naval component commander (the Taiwan Patrol Force being drawn from the United States Seventh Fleet), and the Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) would be the Army component commander. The 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing, Thirteenth Air Force, at Clark Air Base in the Philippines had reinforcement air defence functions for Taiwan for a period.
In May 1967, Carlos Talbott of the U.S. Air Force became chief of staff of the command. In September 1970, Clarence J. Douglas, also of the Air Force, assumed duties as chief of staff.
The Command held its final flag retreat ceremony during the afternoon of 26 April 1979. Rear Admiral James P. Linder was the last military officer to depart Taiwan on 28 April 1979.
The former site of the USTDC headquarter became the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 1983.
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, defense and/or command:
“A sincere and steadfast co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and happiness of the United States.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The people of the United States have been fortunate in many things. One of the things in which we have been most fortunate has been that so far, due perhaps to certain basic virtues in our traditional ways of doing things, we have managed to keep the crisis of western civilization, which has devastated the rest of the world and in which we are as much involved as anybody, more or less at arm’s length.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“The sick man is taken away by the institution that takes charge not of the individual, but of his illness, an isolated object transformed or eliminated by technicians devoted to the defense of health the way others are attached to the defense of law and order or tidiness.”
—Michel de Certeau (1925–1986)
“‘Tis not in mortals to command success,
But we’ll do more, Sempronius, we’ll deserve it.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)