| First Taiwan Strait Crisis | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theCold War and the aftermath of theChinese Civil War | |||||||
 
Taiwan Strait | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Republic of China United States |  People's Republic of China | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Chiang Kai-shekLiu YuzhangDwight D. Eisenhower | Mao ZedongZhou EnlaiPeng DehuaiXu Xiangqian | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 519 killed[1] 2 killed[2] | 393 killed[1] | ||||||
TheFirst Taiwan Strait Crisis (also known as theFormosa Crisis, the1954–1955 Taiwan Strait Crisis, theOffshore Islands Crisis, theQuemoy-Matsu Crisis, and the1955 Taiwan Strait Crisis) was a brief armed conflict between thePeople's Republic of China (PRC) and theRepublic of China (ROC) focused on several ROC-held islands a few miles from the Chinese mainland in theTaiwan Strait.
The crisis began when the PRC initiated heavy bombardment ofKinmen (Quemoy) island in September 1954. Shelling was subsequently extended to theMatsu andTachen (Dachen) islands. In response, the United States and the ROC agreed to theSino-American Mutual Defense Treaty in December 1954. In January 1955, the PRC seized theYijiangshan Islands. Later that month, theFormosa Resolution was approved by both houses of theU.S. Congress, authorizing PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower to defend the ROC and its possessions. TheU.S. Navy helped ROC troops evacuate from the Tachen Islands.
The crisis de-escalated in April 1955 after PremierZhou Enlai articulated the PRC's intention to negotiate with the United States at theBandung Conference, and in May 1955 thePeople's Liberation Army ceased shelling Kinmen and Matsu. Ambassadorial-level discussions between China and the U.S. began in Geneva in August 1955. The fundamental issues of the conflict remained unresolved, which led toanother crisis three years later.
TheUnited States recognizedChiang Kai-shek'sNationalist (Kuomintang) government as the sole legitimate government for all of China. On 5 January 1950, United States PresidentHarry S. Truman issued a statement that the United States would not become involved in "the civil conflict in China" and would not provide military aid or advice to the Nationalist forces on Taiwan.[3]: 125
As theKorean War broke out, the United States resumed military aid to the ROC and sent the US Navy'sSeventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait.[4]: 50
On 27 June 1950, Truman issued the following statement:[5]
Theattack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt thatcommunism has passed beyond the use ofsubversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war. It has defied the orders of theSecurity Council of the United Nations issued to preserve international peace and security. In these circumstances the occupation ofFormosa 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 the7th 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 withJapan, or consideration by theUnited Nations.
President Truman later orderedJohn Foster Dulles,[a] the Foreign Policy Advisor toU.S. Secretary of StateDean Acheson, to carry out his decision on "neutralizing" Taiwan in drafting theTreaty of San Francisco of 1951 (the peace treaty with Japan), which excluded the participation of both the ROC and the PRC. Each self-claimed legitimate government of China was excluded from the treaty because the question of China's legitimate government remained unresolved afterWorld War II and theChinese Civil War, and this was considered an intractable sticking point in otherwise comprehensive and multilaterally beneficial peace negotiations.
Japan ceded control of Taiwan in the treaty but did not specify a recipient for Taiwan's sovereignty. This situation has been used by supporters ofTaiwan independence to argue for their position that the sovereignty status of Taiwan was undetermined, despite the Japanese having already agreed[dubious –discuss][citation needed] to return Taiwan to Republic of China through theirInstrument of Surrender signed at end of the War.[6] According to the authorGeorge H. Kerr, a supporter ofTaiwanese independence, in his bookFormosa Betrayed, the political status of Taiwan was under the trust of the Allied Powers (against Japan). It would be the responsibility of the United Nations if this could not be resolved in near future as designed in the peace treaty.
TheROC Nationalist Government (now based in Taiwan) maintained as its goal the recovery of control of mainland China, and this required a resumption of the military confrontation with theRed Chinese. Truman and his advisors regarded that goal as unrealizable, but regret over losing China tointernational communism was quite prominent in public opinion at the time, and the Truman Administration was criticized byanticommunists for preventing any attempt by Chiang Kai-shek's forces to liberate mainland China.
Truman, a member of theDemocratic Party, did not run for reelection in thepresidential election of 1952, even though he was eligible to do so. This election was won by theRepublicanDwight D. Eisenhower, aGeneral from World War II.
On 2 February 1953, the new president lifted the Seventh Fleet's blockade in order to fulfill demands byanticommunists to "unleashChiang Kai-shek" on mainland China, hence theKuomintang regime strengthened itsClosed Port Policy of the aerial andnaval blockade on foreign vessels on Chinese coast and thehigh seas,[7][8] whereas the privacy activities intensified in the summer 1953 afterJoseph Stalin's death and theKorean Armistice Agreement till summed up to 141 interference incidents as per theRoyal Navy escort reports.[9][10]
TheCIA briefing on 13 July 1954 for theWhite House andNSC indicated theshipping insurance increase across theSouth China Sea after theTuapse Incident on 23 June, and certaininternational liners being deterred midway atSingapore, or had to change plans.[11][12] ThePLA Air Force moved in theHainan Island to clear another transport route throughYulin andHuangpu ports, but accidentallyshot down aDouglas DC-4 (VR-HEU)airliner of theCathay Pacific Airways with 10 deaths on 23 July, then 2US aircraft carriers,Hornet andPhilippine Sea arrived for a rescue mission on 26 July and shot down 2 PLAAFLavochkin La-11fighters .[13] On 2 August, Commander ofPLA in theCentral Military Commission (CMC),Peng Dehuai convened an executive meeting to establish the tactical command on theEast China Military Region as perCMC chairmanMao Zedong's directive to open another front from the north.[14]
In August 1954, the Nationalists placed 58,000 troops on Kinmen and 15,000 troops on Matsu. The ROC began building defensive structures and the PRC began shelling ROC installations on Kinmen.Zhou Enlai,PRC premier responded with a declaration on 11 August 1954, that Taiwan must be "liberated." He dispatched thePeople's Liberation Army (PLA) to the area, and it began shelling both Kinmen and theMatsu Islands.
Despite warnings from the U.S. against any attacks on the Republic of China, five days before the signing of theManila pact, the PLA unleashed a heavy artillery bombardment of Kinmen on 3 September, during which two American military advisers were killed.[2]Mao Zedong sought to avoid United States involvement in the conflict and gave repeated orders that the PLA should avoid engaging with the American forces off the coast.[4]: 162 In November, the PLA bombed theTachen Islands. This renewed Cold War fears of Communist expansion in Asia at a time when the PRC was not recognized by theUnited States Department of State.Chiang Kai-shek's government was supported by the United States because the ROC was part of the United States'policy of containment of communism which stretched from a devastated South Korea to an increasingly dividedSoutheast Asia.
The PLA initially planned to attack theYijiangshan Islands in late 1954, but delayed the attack while American forces were conducting military exercises in that area.[3]: 162 On 18 January 1955, the PLA seized the islands. Fighting continued on nearby islands off the coast ofZhejiang, as well as around Kinmen and the Matsu Islands inFujian. On 29 January 1955, theFormosa Resolution was approved by both houses of theU.S. Congress authorizing Eisenhower to use U.S. forces to defend the ROC and its possessions in the Taiwan Strait against armed attack. The U.S. Navy then assisted the Nationalists in evacuating their forces from theTachen Islands.[15]
During the crisis, Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons against PRC military targets inFujian.[16]: 89 On 12 September 1954, theU.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended the use ofnuclear weapons against mainland China. On 2 December 1954, the United States and the ROC agreed to theSino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, which did not apply to islands along the Chinese mainland. This treaty was ratified by theU.S. Senate on 9 February 1955. In February 1955, British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill warned the U.S. against using nuclear weapons, but in March,U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Foster Dulles stated publicly that the U.S. was seriously considering a nuclear strike.[17] On 6 March, Eisenhower also reaffirmed his willingness to use nuclear weapons.[18]: 74 In response, theNATO foreign ministers warned at a meeting of the alliance against such action. In late March, U.S.AdmiralRobert B. Carney said that Eisenhower is planning "to destroyRed China's military potential."[19]
At the April 1955Bandung Conference, China articulated itsFive Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and PremierZhou Enlai publicly stated, "[T]he Chinese people do not want to have a war with the United States. The Chinese government is willing to sit down to discuss the question of relaxing tension in the Far East, and especially the question of relaxing tension in the Taiwan area."[20] A month later, Mao likewise told Indonesian Prime MinisterAli Sastroamidjojo that all problems, including the status of Taiwan, could be resolved through negotiation.[4]: 163 The crisis de-escalated, and the United States and China began ambassadorial-level discussions in Geneva on 1 August 1955.[20] Two years of negotiations with the United States followed, and covered many issues, although no agreement was reached on the primary issue, Taiwan.[20]
Some scholars hypothesized the PRC backed down in the face of Americannuclear brinksmanship and in light of the lack of willingness by theSoviet Union to threatennuclear retaliation for an attack on the PRC. Others see the case as an example of effective application of extended deterrence by the United States. On 1 May the PLA temporarily ceased shelling Kinmen and Matsu. The fundamental issues of the conflict remained unresolved, however, and both sides subsequently built up their military forces on their respective sides of the Taiwan Strait leading toa new crisis three years later.[citation needed]
Eisenhower's threats to use nuclear weapons during the crisis prompted Mao to begin China's nuclear program.[16]: 89–90 The first ofChina's nuclear weapons tests took place in 1964 and its first successfulhydrogen bomb test occurred in 1967.[citation needed]
The Kinmen Defense Command (KDC) unveiled a cenotaph on Tuesday to commemorate the late Lieutenant Colonel Frank Lynn of the US, who died in a Chinese artillery bombardment on Sept. 3, 1954, on Kinmen.{...}It was placed next to the cenotaph of Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Medendorp, which was installed at the wharf in August 1992. Medendorp was killed in the same bombing.
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