The Taiwan Strait Is Part of It (Read Each Starred Aanswer Counterclockwise
Milestones: 1953–1960
The Taiwan Straits Crises: 1954–55 and 1958
Tensions between the People's Republic of China (Prc) and the Commonwealth of Communist china (ROC) in the 1950s resulted in armed conflict over strategic islands in the Taiwan Strait. On two separate occasions during the 1950s, the Mainland china bombed islands controlled by the ROC. The United States responded by actively intervening on behalf of the ROC.
Map of the Taiwan Strait
The importance of the islands in the Taiwan Strait was rooted in their geographic proximity to China and Taiwan and their role in the Chinese Civil War. Jinmen (Quemoy), two miles from the mainland Chinese city of Xiamen, and Mazu, ten miles from the city of Fuzhou, are located approximately one hundred miles west of Taiwan. When the Nationalist Regime of the ROC nether Chiang Kai-shek recognized that it had lost control of mainland Communist china during the Chinese Civil War, the officials and part of the Nationalist Regular army fled to the isle of Taiwan, establishing troops on these two islands and the Dachen Islands further north. In the early 1950s, Chiang'south forces launched pocket-size attacks from Jinmen and Mazu against the coast of cathay. Leadership on both sides of the strait connected to view the islands as a potential launching pad for an ROC invasion to retake the Chinese mainland and had an interest in controlling the islands.
U.S. policy toward East asia in the early Common cold War contributed to the tensions in the Taiwan Strait. In late 1949 and early 1950, American officials were prepared to permit PRC forces cross the Strait and defeat Chiang, but after the outbreak of the Korean State of war in June 1950, the United States sent its Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to forestall the Korean conflict from spreading south. The advent of the Seventh Fleet angered the Chinese Communists, who transferred their troops poised for an invasion of Taiwan to the Korean front. This served to delay military conflict in the Strait until the Us withdrew its armada after the Korean War.
Over the next few years, the U.S. Regime took steps that centrolineal it more firmly to the ROC Government on Taiwan. In 1954, the The states led the cosmos of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, which was designed to unify the region against the perceived Communist threat. Moreover, U.S. officials openly debated the possibility of signing a Mutual Defence force Treaty with Chiang Kai-shek. The Prc viewed these developments as threats to its national security and regional leadership. In the interest of bolstering its strategic position in the Taiwan Strait, the China began to bombard Jinmen in September 1954, and soon expanded its targets to include Mazu and the Dachen Islands.
U.South. policymakers considered sending function of the U.Southward. fleet into the Strait. Discussions centered on whether this maneuver would reopen the Chinese Civil State of war and, if and so, what effect that would have on U.S. security concerns in the region. U.S. policymakers did not desire to be drawn into the conflict, simply wanted the ROC to maintain command of the islands. The loss of Jinmen and Mazu to the People's Republic might mean an irreparable blow to Nationalist Army morale and the legitimacy of the ROC authorities on Taiwan. To assert its continued support of that authorities, the Us signed the Mutual Defence Treaty with the ROC. Although the treaty did not commit the The states to defending the off-shore islands, it promised support if the ROC engaged in a broader disharmonize with the PRC.
Zhou Enlai
The situation in the Strait deteriorated in belatedly 1954 and early 1955, prompting the U.S. Government to human action. In January 1955, the U.Southward. Congress passed the "Formosa Resolution," which gave President Eisenhower total authority to defend Taiwan and the off-shore islands. The U.S. Authorities then announced its determination to defend Taiwan against communist attack, although it did not specify the territory included inside its defensive perimeter. In commutation for a private promise to defend Jinmen and Mazu, however, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to withdraw his troops from Dachen, which was strategically ambiguous and difficult to defend.
The Eisenhower Assistants considered many options, ranging from convincing Chiang Kai-shek to give up the islands to employing nuclear weapons against the Communist china. Before any of these options became necessary, at the Afro-Asian Briefing in April 1955 in Bandung PRC Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai announced a want to negotiate with the Usa. The PRC's sudden shift could take stemmed from pressure from the Soviet Union to ease tensions, concern well-nigh the very real possibility of war with the United States, or changes in internal politics. In September, 1955, the PRC and the U.s.a. began talks at Geneva to address the effect of repatriation of nationals, but also to talk over preventing the escalation of time to come conflicts.
Although there were adept reasons for the PRC to stand down in 1955, information technology resumed its bombardment of Jinmen and Mazu in 1958. This time, the PRC took advantage of the fact that international attention was focused on U.S. intervention in Lebanon and barred ROC efforts to re-supply garrisons on the off-shore islands. The People's republic of china also wanted to protest connected U.S. support of the ROC regime. In one case over again, President Eisenhower was concerned that the loss of the islands would hurt Nationalist morale and might be a precursor to the Communist conquest of Taiwan. The Usa thus bundled to re-supply ROC garrisons on Jinmen and Mazu. This brought an abrupt end to the bombardment and eased the crisis. Eventually, the People's republic of china and ROC came to an system in which they shelled each other'south garrisons on alternate days. This connected for twenty years until the China and the United States normalized relations.
The Taiwan Strait Is Part of It (Read Each Starred Aanswer Counterclockwise
Source: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/taiwan-strait-crises
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