Kinmen (Quemoy) and Matsu: Back to the Future
By Francis P. Sempa
August 07, 2024
Writing in The Diplomat, Sam Goodman, senior policy director at the China Risks Institute, worries that China may attempt to annex the Kinmen Islands and Matsu Islands, which are part of the Republic of China (Taiwan) but are geographically located just a few miles from the People’s Republic of China. Goodman reminds readers that Mao Zedong “long viewed Kinmen and Matsu as a noose with which to bind Taiwan to mainland China and prevent Taiwan from declaring its independence.” Goodman, citing a paper by Andrew Yeh, characterizes such a move as part of China’s “gray zone” tactics that would fall short of an invasion or blockade of Taiwan and, therefore, might not produce a strong response from the United States and its allies, but which would have significant long-term consequences for America’s position in the western Pacific.
We have been here before. Twice in the 1950s, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) shelled and bombed Kinmen (then called Quemoy) and Matsu in what became known as the first and second Taiwan Strait Crises. In 1954-55, Chinese communist forces seized some offshore islands, tried to invade Big Kinmen Island, began to shell Quemoy and Matsu, and called for the “liberation” of Taiwan (then commonly called Formosa). The CCP leadership viewed (and still views) Taiwan’s de facto independence as the unfinished business of the Chinese Civil War. U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower successfully urged Congress to pass the Formosa Resolution, which stated in part that it was in the vital interests of the United States that Taiwan and its smaller islands remain in control of governments friendly to the United States. The resolution cited the Mutual Defense Treaty between the U.S. and the Republic of China (ROC)--which is still in effect today. The resolution authorized the president “to employ the Armed Forces of the United States as he deems necessary for the specific purpose of securing and protecting Formosa and the Pescadores against armed attack.”
The Joint Chiefs of Staff informed the Far East Commander Gen. John Hull and the Pacific Commander Adm. Felix Stump that U.S. air and naval units should be prepared if necessary to participate with Republic of China (ROC) forces to defend Taiwan, the Pescadores, and “some of the offshore islands.” In January 1955, Ichiang island fell to communist forces. U.S. Navy ships evacuated about 40,000 ROC soldiers and civilians from the Tachen islands. U.S. air squadrons were sent to Taiwan. Eisenhower’s Secretary of State John Foster Dulles warned China that the United States would use nuclear weapons to defend Taiwan. The Chinese Communists ended the shelling of the islands.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2024/08/07/kinmen_quemoy_and_matsu_back_to_the_future_1050002.html
