Word: formosae
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...official reaction of the United States to the course of recent world events is reminiscent of the advice to an unfortunate, "Cheer up; things could be worse." So he did and they were. At present, any developments in the Formosa crisis offer alternatives which can turn out only bad or worse for U.S. interests. Unfortunately, the Administration has chosen what seems to be the worse path...
...speech to the nation on the Formosa Straits situation, President Eisenhower committed the country to the defense of Quemoy and Matsu should negotiations prove fruitless, and declared simultaneously that any such parleys could lead to no agreement "prejudicing" the position of Chiang Kai-Shek. Little else could be said in a public pronouncement, for surely the U.S. could not announce that it would yield to Red China's show of force. But no public pronouncement would have been better than one in which the President hamstrung the country between the militarism of Mao Tse-Tung and the intransigence of Chiang...
...crisis. But the coastal islands three miles off the mainland cannot be compared in strategic or moral importance to what in 1938 was the most democratic and strongest free nation in Central Europe. Military experts have testified that Matsu and besieged Quemoy are not important to the defense of Formosa, which lies about 100 miles further east. They possess significant military value only as offensive bridgeheads...
...outside of Formosa only the most reactionary visionaries can conceive of a successful invasion of the mainland. Chiang has affirmed that he believes total war is the only way to deal with the Communists; in the holacaust of a large-scale conflict involving the United States, he gambles on retaking China...
...Administration's blindness to reality that is primarily responsible for our dilemma in the Far East. Chiang rules Formosa and Mao, the mainland. Americans and Allies would probably agree to defend Taiwan. Aside from the Kuomintang exiles, seven million Formosan natives and Chinese refugees, who fled from the despotism of the Communist government, deserve to be protected from conquest and annexation. Drawing the line, however, over two tiny outposts at swimming distance from mainland China is tragically inane. American diplomats should pressure Chiang to withdraw his coastal forces to Formosa and concede to the Communists...