Word: matsue
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...question arose from a new military estimate of the situation in the Far East. U.S. leaders are convinced that the Chinese Communists are about to attack the offshore islands now held by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces. The Reds are expected to hit the Matsu group between April 15 and April 30, the Quemoys a month or so later. To inform and prepare the Congress and the people, the White House this week scheduled a series of bipartisan conferences on the danger and the problems the new estimate presents...
...small islands held by the Chinese Nationalists along the coastline of Communist China present the most pressing illustration of the conflicting aims of U.S. policy. Quemoy and Matsu, within the range of artillery from the mainland, could easily ignite a general conflagration. Here the dilemma is clear: in a sudden crisis, the U.S.--almost certainly without aid from her allies--could intervene to support Chiang's forces to untenable positions and a strong enemy. But either choice would be ruinous; war over indefensible islands without allied support would be folly in our own eyes and aggression in the eyes...
...issues in the struggle over Quemoy and Matsau. Red China eventually wants to assert its dominance in Asia, while the U.S. and its allies must at all costs contain Red China within its present boundaries. When military solutions leave the United States in an impossible predicament in Quemoy and Matsu, diplomatic weapons--still backed by rifles and regulars--must take precedence. One of the strongest weapons that the U.S. now has for negotiation is recognition of the Chinese Communist government. The United States should extend such diplomatic recognition as part of an over-all settlement and thus help cement...
Good Impression. In private talks with the Cabinet, Dulles was even more forceful. He directly attacked the proposal often made by Canadian and British leaders that the islands of Quemoy and Matsu off China should be meekly surrendered to the Reds, with no truce concession in return, in order to have, as they put it, "a hundred miles of clear water between you and the Communists." If that is the thing to do, Dulles asked, why not withdraw all the way to the U.S. mainland, behind 6,000 miles of water? The proposal might seem sensible to someone who looked...
...picked up by the anti-Communist peasant underground and passed along to the coast. Shih's friends cannot get him a boat, but they find him a log. One chill autumn night, an offshore wind blowing and the tide ebbing, Shih drifts with his log back toward Matsu and the territory of Free China...