Word: formosae
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Formosa, his last stop, a shadow fell over his substantial achievement. By definition no plan for anti-Communism can ever be put in motion unless Communist aggression is halted where it is on the military march. Dulles had good reasons for refusing to state categorically whether the U.S. would or would not defend the Nationalist Chinese islands of Quemoy and Matsu, but his refusal plunged the Nationalists into gloom and considerably dimmed the bright new hopes he had kindled in the rest of Asia...
Down the Line. Before Formosa his trip had been little short of historic. The first U.S. Secretary of State to travel in continental Asia, he began by flying from the SEATO conference in Bangkok (TIME, March 7) to neutral Burma (where Premier U Nu received him with considerably more coolness than he had shown to Red China's Chou En-lai eight months before). After a day in Burma, he traded his big Constellation for a lighter C-47, so he could land in the Indo-China kingdom of Laos. Cambodia came next day; there he listened attentively...
...forces will not be parceled out among Communist-menaced nations; rather, they will be poised to strike back at attacking Communist China forces on three fronts-from Korea, Formosa, and an unspecified point in Southeast Asia...
Lunch on the Mountain. At the last minute, on request of the Chinese Nationalists, Dulles added Formosa to his schedule. His Constellation made several passes at the field before the pilot was able to find a way down to the runway through the mist. Foreign Minister George Yeh met Dulles at planeside, escorted him to Taipei's City Hall for formal signing of the treaty that binds the U.S. to defend Formosa and the Pescadores from attack. Then Dulles was driven out to Grass Mountain, 20 minutes from Taipei, for luncheon with the Generalissimo and Madame Chiang...
...lunch lasted two hours. Chiang, pointing out the difficulty of maintaining morale on Formosa in the face of retreat from the islands, asked for a specific commitment on Quemoy and the Matsus. Dulles refused; the treaty, he said, does not bind the U.S. to defend the islands. Are there any conditions under which the U.S. would defend them? asked Chiang. Possibly, replied Dulles. If President Eisenhower were to conclude that the islands are essential to the defense of Formosa and the Pescadores, then they might be defended. Chiang was bitterly disappointed and did not bother to see Dulles...