Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, China and Japan, Volume XIV, Part 1

Eisenhower Library, Eisenhower papers, Whitman file

No. 198
Memorandum of Discussion at the 199th Meeting of the National Security Council, Washington, May 27, 1954¹

top secret
eyes only

Washington, May 27, 1954

Present at the 199th meeting of the Council were the President of the United States, presiding; the Vice President of the United States; the Secretary of State; the Acting Secretary of Defense; the Director, Foreign Operations Administration; and the Director, Office of Defense Mobilization. Also present were the Secretary of the Treasury; the Attorney General (for Items 1 through 6); the Director, Bureau of the Budget; the Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission (for Items 5 and 8); Assistants Attorney General Barnes and Rankin; Mr. Herbert Hoover, Jr., Department of State (for Item 2); the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Director of Central Intelligence; Mr. Robert Cutler, Special Assistant to the President; the Deputy Assistant to the President; Mr. Robert Amory, Jr., Central Intelligence Agency; the White House Staff Secretary; Mr. Bryce Harlow, Administrative Assistant to the President; the Executive Secretary, NSC; and the Deputy Executive Secretary, NSC.

There follows a summary of the discussion at the meeting and the chief points taken.

. . . . . . .

4. Increased Communist Chinese Threat to the Tachen Islands

Mr. Allen Dulles briefed the Council, with the aid of a map, on the three groups of islands still held by the Chinese Nationalist Government and stretching north of Formosa along the Chinese coast. Some of the smaller and uninhabited islands had already fallen to the Communists, but the larger ones were still held by the rather strong Chinese Nationalist forces. It seemed plain that the Chinese Communists were making preparations for a possible attack on the Tachen Island group.

Admiral Radford pointed out that it was the United States which last summer had persuaded Chiang Kai-shek to put a regular division, which had been trained by the U.S. and equipped with U.S. arms, in the Tachen Islands.

Mr. Cutler then read to the Council the President’s authorization, made the previous Saturday,² with respect to the U.S. Seventh Fleet. The Council noted this action, and Admiral Radford stated that U.S. naval vessels were about to pay visits to the Tachen Islands as called for by the President’s decision.

The National Security Council:³

a. Noted and discussed an oral briefing by the Director of Central Intelligence on the situation regarding the Tachen Islands, with particular reference to the increased Communist Chinese threat thereto.

b. Noted that the President had authorized elements of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, as a routine incident to their patrol of the Formosan area, to pay friendly visits to the Tachen Islands lying off the east coast of China, which are held by the Chinese Nationalist Government and are an integral part of the defense of Formosa, in order to make a show of strength that might deter the Chinese Communists from attacking these islands.

Note: The action in b above subsequently transmitted to the Secretary of Defense for implementation.

. . . . . . .

S. Everett Gleason

1. Drafted by Gleason on May 28.
2. May 22.
3. The lettered subparagraphs constitute NSC Action No. 1136. (S/S–NSC (Miscellaneous) files, lot 66 D 95, “Record of Actions by the National Security Council, 1954”) This action was amended by the National Security Council on June 3; see footnote 3, Document 207.