Office of the Historian

55. Memorandum From the Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Formosa (Chase), to the Acting Chief of General Staff of the Republic of China (Peng)1

Taipei, 29 January 1955.

SUBJECT

  • GRC Offensive Operations
1.
During the current period in which the evacuation of Tachen is under consideration, it is considered offensive operations of your armed forces should be suspended except as indicated in paragraph 2 below.
2.
There is no objection to the continued attack by your air force of Chinese Communist islands and surface forces in the immediate vicinity of Tachen due to their threat to Tachen. You should continue combat patrol type operations in the vicinity of other off-shore islands to gain intelligence of the enemy facing you in those areas. There should be no radical alteration of the pattern or tempo of both types of operations mentioned in this paragraph.
3.

In the event of United States participation in an evacuation of Tachen, and there is no Chinese Communist military opposition to that evacuation, you should suspend all offensive operations except combat patrol actions. The obvious purpose of this is based on the undesirability of encouraging the enemy to interpose military opposition to the successful evacuation of Tachen.2

4.
As in the past, the best interest of your government and my government will be served by complete consultation prior to initiating military operations.
William C. Chase
  1. Source: Department of State, Taipei Embassy Files: Lot 62 F 83. Top Secret.↩

  2. Telegram 242025Z from CNO to CINCPAC, January 24, sent to Chief, MAAG Formosa for information, states in part:

    “If and when the Tachen evacuation with US participation is initiated and in the absence of ChiCom opposition it is essential that ChiNat offensive operations anywhere be so restricted as not to invite that opposition in Tachen area.” (JCS Records, CCS 381 Formosa (11–8–48) Sec. 18)

    ↩