Word: formosae
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...easy to view without alarm or depression the evacuation of Chinese Nationalist forces from Nanchi Island off the China coast. Nanchi has little or no military significance. If the Communists try to pursue their success by attacking the islands of Quemoy and Matsu on the way to Formosa, they are very likely to find that retreat has ended and that the air and naval strength of the U.S. Seventh Fleet stands in their...
Thus, in Dulles' view, the safety of Southeast Asia depends not only on SEATO, but also on the intertwined fate of such non-SEATO countries as Japan, South Korea and Formosa. If Japan's industrial power were allied to Communist China, the free world's position in all Asia would become precarious. The chief deterrent to Chinese aggression in Southeast Asia, he went on, is the Communist fear that such an attack would bring counterattacks from South Korea on the north and Formosa in the center. When the U.S. helps maintain an army of 20 divisions...
...invasion of the mainland as imminent, the problem of winning the friendship of the Formosans was lightly regarded. But in recent months two events-the Chinese reds increased attacks on Chiang's offshore islands and President Eisenhower's refusal to support a nationalist invasion of the mainland-have changed Formosa from an offensive base into a "beleaguered fortress," a status which it will probably hold for some time. And in this prolonged war of nerves, the strength of Formosan Chinese Nationalist relations will largely determine the future of the island...
Clriang Kai-shek's prestige on Formosa was at a low level when he was forced from the mainland in 1949. A group of Chinese "carpetbaggers," immediately after Japan's surrender, had gained control of 90 percent of the island's economic enterprises and had substituted Chinese technicians and civil officials for Formosans, irrespective of their abilities. Incited by there resulting inflation and the oppressive Chinese government, the Formosans rebelled in 1947. The uprising was brutally surprised-nearly ten thousand Formosans lost their lives-but it did lead to a more enlightened rule until 1949, when Chiang again restored martial...
...influx of over one million Nationalist Chinese in late 1949 seemed destined to heighten discontent on the island. The agricultural problem was particularly serious because Formosa had only two million acres of arable land, already fully cultivated, to feed a population which had expanded almost four times itself in the last fifty years. Foreseeing a possible scarcity of foodstuffs, Chiang sold public lands, reduced the size of many large estates, and lowered land taxes. Within almost equalled the highest pre-war figure, Industry, badly mismanaged under earlier Chinese rule, also expanded; exports rose by over a third, though international trade...