Second Taiwan Strait Crisis

Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
Taiwan Strait
Date 1958 Location Strait of Taiwan Result Ceasefire, status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Republic of China United States Navy	People's Republic of China
Commanders and leaders
Chiang Kai Shek, Chiang Ching-kuo, Hu Lian, Ji Xingwen, Zhao Jiaxiang, Zhang Jie	Mao Zedong, Peng Dehuai, Xu Xiangqian
Units involved
155 mm Long Tom, M115 howitzer, North American F-86 Sabre, North American B-25 Mitchell, etc.	Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9, Mikoyan MiG-15, etc.
Strength
92,000	215,000

The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a conflict that took place between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) governments in which the PRC shelled the islands of Matsu and Quemoy in the Taiwan Strait in an attempt to seize them from the Republic of China.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Aftermath 3 See also 4 Further reading 5 Citations 6 References 7 External links

Overview

The crisis started with the 823 Artillery Bombardment (translated from Traditional Chinese: 八二三炮戰; Simplified Chinese: 八二三炮战; pinyin: Bāèrsān Pàozhàn) at 5:30pm on August 23, 1958, when People's Liberation Army forces began an intense artillery bombardment against Quemoy. ROC forces in Quemoy dug in and returned fire. In the heavy exchange of fire, roughly 2,500 ROC troops and 200 PRC troops were killed.

This was a continuation of the First Taiwan Strait Crisis, which had started immediately after the Korean War. Chiang Kai-shek had begun to build on the two islands of Matsu and Quemoy. In 1954, PRC began firing artillery at both the islands of Quemoy and Matsu focusing most of the attack on Quemoy.

The United States Eisenhower Administration responded to ROC's request for aid according to its obligations in the 1954 U.S.-ROC defense treaty by reinforcing US naval units and ordering US naval vessels to help the Kuomintang Nationalist government protect Quemoy's supply lines. Under a secret effort known as Operation Black Magic, the US Navy modified some ROC air force F-86 Sabres with its newly introduced AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile to provide an edge against more advanced PRC MiG fighters, which had an altitude advantage over the Sabre. Recent research from the National Archives also indicates that the Air Force was prepared for a nuclear strike against the PRC. Also 12 203mm long range artillery guns and other 155mm guns were transferred from US Marines to ROC Army and sent to Quemoy/Kinman to help turn the tide of the artillery duel there. And the PLA thought that the Taiwan/ROC and US forces had started to use nuclear weapons on them.^[1][2][3]

The Soviet Union dispatched its foreign minister, Andrei Gromyko, to Beijing to discuss China's actions.

On 22 September 1958, the Sidewinder was used for the first time in dogfights with 32 Sabres against over 100 MiGs. Faced with a stalemate, and having run out of artillery shells on the PRC side, the PRC government called a ceasefire on October 6.

Aftermath

Afterwards, both sides continued to bombard each other with shells containing propaganda leaflets on alternate days of the week. This strange informal arrangement continued until the normalization of ties between the US and PRC in 1979.

The question of "Matsu and Quemoy" became an issue in the 1960 American Presidential election when Richard Nixon accused John F. Kennedy of being unwilling to commit to using nuclear weapons if the People's Republic of China invaded the Nationalist outposts.

The PRC fired around 450,000 shells at the Quemoy islands in the conflict. The shells have become a recyclable resource for steel for the local economy. Since the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, Quemoy has become famous for its production of cleavers made from PRC bomb shells. A blacksmith in Quemoy generally produces 60 cleavers from one bomb shell and tourists often purchase Kinmen knives as souvenirs together with other local products.

See also

• First Taiwan Strait Crisis
• Third Taiwan Strait Crisis
• List of battles over Quemoy
• Chinese Civil War
• Military of the Republic of China

Further reading

• Bush, R. & O'Hanlon, M. (2007). A War Like No Other: The Truth About China's Challenge to America. Wiley. ISBN 0471986771
• Bush, R. (2006). Untying the Knot: Making Peace in the Taiwan Strait. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 0815712901
• Carpenter, T. (2006). America's Coming War with China: A Collision Course over Taiwan. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1403968411
• Cole, B. (2006). Taiwan's Security: History and Prospects. Routledge. ISBN 0415365813
• Copper, J. (2006). Playing with Fire: The Looming War with China over Taiwan. Praeger Security International General Interest. ISBN 0275988880
• Federation of American Scientists et al. (2006). Chinese Nuclear Forces and U.S. Nuclear War Planning
• Gill, B. (2007). Rising Star: China's New Security Diplomacy. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 0815731469
• Shirk, S. (2007). China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195306090
• Tsang, S. (2006). If China Attacks Taiwan: Military Strategy, Politics and Economics. Routledge. ISBN 0415407850
• Tucker, N.B. (2005). Dangerous Strait: the U.S.-Taiwan-China Crisis. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231135645

Citations

• http://www.generals.dk/general/Qiu_Qing-quan/_/China.html
• Ministry of National Defense R.O.C [1]
• US Naval War College
• http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/bjorge_huai.pdf

References

External links

• http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/quemoy_matsu-2.htm
• Mao Zedong's handling of the Taiwan Straits Crisis of 1958
• Khrushchev's Nuclear Promise to Beijing During the 1958 Crisis
• First and Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, Quemoy and Matsu Islands of Taiwan from the Cold War Museum
• The Communist Threat in the Taiwan Area Contemparary US government reaction

Main events pre-1945	Main events post-1945	Specific articles
First United Front (1924) Shanghai massacre of 1927 Nanchang Uprising Autumn Harvest Uprising Guangzhou Uprising Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) Encirclement Campaigns (1930–1934) Chinese Soviet Republic (1931–1934) Long March (1934–1936) Xi'an Incident (1936) Second United Front (1937–1946)	Part of the Cold War Full-scale Civil War (1946–1949) Kuomintang Islamic Insurgency in China (1950–1958) Campaign at the China–Burma Border (1960–1961) First Taiwan Strait Crisis (1955) Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958) Third Taiwan Strait Crisis (1996) Pan-Blue visits to mainland China (2005–)	Political status of Taiwan Legal status of Taiwan Chinese reunification Taiwan independence Cross-Strait relations Primary participants Kuomintang of China Communist Party of China

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