Word: formosae
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...shek called a cabinet session. Decisions: 1) resistance to the Communists on the mainland would go underground; 2) headquarters for some 600,000 Nationalist irregulars would be established in the rugged Tibetan border province of Sikang; 3) the Nationalist capital would move to Taipei on the island redoubt of Formosa...
...stubborn, aging (63) leader, the flight across the sampan-flecked Strait of Formosa was a time for bitter remembrance. For China, and the world, it was the end of an era. A quarter of a century ago, with Sun Yat-sen's mantle on his shoulders, young Chiang had marched up the mainland to Nanking and into a new Nationalist China. He had embraced Christianity. According to his lights, he had sought to guide his nation into the mainstream of modern civilization. He had broken the warlords, checked an early international Communist conspiracy, survived Japanese aggression-only...
...Greatest Threat. Chiang would try to fight on from Formosa, though the U.S. and British governments had written off the strategic island. Actually, Formosa (the size of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, pop. 7,200,000) could be a strong redoubt; it is one of Asia's most prosperous areas, carefully developed by the Japanese in half a century of colonial rule. Its paddy fields can grow three rice crops a year. It has large sugar and tea plantations, banana groves,, camphor forests. Its Jap-built industry includes sugar mills, waterworks, hydroelectric stations, an aluminum plant...
...Formosa, the Nationalists at last held a good defensive position. Chiang had an estimated 300,000 troops on the island, small air and naval forces to garrison and guard it, and the Communists lacked an air force and navy to help them hurdle the moat that surrounds the island. But Chiang could not count on the loyalty of Formosa's people, disgusted by Nationalist carpetbaggers who rushed to Formosa after the war's end. Probably the greatest threat facing the Nationalists on Formosa was Red fifth-column tactics within the island stronghold...
...same time, the noted news analyst called upon the United States to repel with force if necessary any attempt to annex Formosa. Terming Formosa vital to U.S. military security in Asia, Kaltenborn said, "We have a naval force in the Pacific and should make it known immediately that we are prepared to use it should Formosa be invaded...