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Problem of Formosa
Report Outline
Dimensions of Conflict Over Formosa
Strategic, Political, Legal Aspects of Problem
Search for Interim and Final Solutions
The Formosa Controversy, simmering since the Chinese Communists drove the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek from the China mainland more than five years ago, rose to crisis proportions in mid-January when Red forces stepped up air and artillery attacks against Nationalist-held offshore islands. Although sporadic harassment of the sort had been going on for several months, threats of the Peiping regime to "liberate" Formosa were assuming new force and substance. The United States, on record against any Red invasion of Formosa since the start of the Korean war, responded by reiterating its firm intention to oppose by force any Communist assault from the mainland.
Peiping's sharp rebuff of United Nations efforts to arrange a cease-fire added to the growing tension and to fears of a general war. To the Chinese Communists the United States was aggressively intervening in what was "entirely a matter of China's internal affairs." But in placing the question before the U.N. Security Council, the New Zealand representative had made plain the international character of the conflict. "There are here involved," Sir Leslie Knox Munro said, "two governing authorities, each claiming the same territory, each disposing of powerful forces, and each in alliance with one of the most powerful countries in the world."
American Stand on Defense of Pacific Islands
President Eisenhower gave warning in a special message to Congress on Jan. 24 that a situation was developing in the Formosa Strait that seriously imperiled world peace and American security. "Communist China," the President explained, "has pursued a series of provocative political and military actions, establishing a pattern of aggressive purpose. That purpose, they proclaim, is the conquest of Formosa." Eisenhower emphasized that it was "important that these islands [Formosa and the Pescadores] should remain in friendly hands." In unfriendly hands they would create "a breach in the island chain of the Western Pacific that constitutes for the United States and for other free nations the geographical backbone of their security structure in that ocean."
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Mar. 15, 1967 Hong Kong and Macao: Windows into China
Apr. 27, 1966 China and the West
Nov. 25, 1964 Relations With Red China
Oct. 05, 1960 Russia and Red China
Mar. 18, 1959 Red China's Communes
Oct. 22, 1958 Overseas Chinese
Jul. 24, 1957 China Policy
Apr. 24, 1957 Passport Policy
Feb. 16, 1955 Problem of Formosa
Sep. 15, 1954 Red China and the United Nations
Apr. 28, 1953 Status of Red China
Apr. 03, 1953 War in Indo-China
Mar. 13, 1952 Chinese-Soviet Relations
Jun. 20, 1951 Blockades and Embargoes
Aug. 29, 1950 Formosa Policy
Mar. 09, 1950 Aid to Indo-China
Nov. 24, 1948 China's Civil War
Aug. 06, 1945 Government of China
Feb. 17, 1945 Development of China
Jun. 07, 1943 Oriental Exclusion
Oct. 26, 1936 Chino-Japanese Relations
Jan. 02, 1928 The Position and Problems of Chinese Nationalism
Apr. 15, 1927 Foreign Intervention in China
Feb. 04, 1927 China and the Great Powers
Dec. 18, 1925 Extraterritoriality in China
Sep. 24, 1924 Military and Civil Aspects of the War in China
BROWSE RELATED TOPICS:
Conflicts in Asia
Regional Political Affairs: East Asia and the Pacific
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