Taiwan Strait War 1958

By 1958, the Nationalist government led by Chiang Kai-shek was firmly entrenched on Taiwan and the prospects of a Communist invasion were extremely remote so long as the US Navy was present. The Chinese government under the leadership of Mao Zedong continued to fear the possibility of a Nationalist invasion of the mainland. In the spring of 1958 China made plans to seize the Nationalist held islands of Quemoy and Matsu, located within artillery range of the mainland. American resolve to defend these islands was believed to be weak and under military pressure the United States would give up and the Nationalist would be forced to withdraw.

On August 23, 1958, an artillery barrage from about five hundred medium and heavy guns landed about 43,000 shells on the island Quemoy. For the next forty-five days, the islands of Quemoy and Matsu were subjected to one of the heaviest sustained artillery sieges in history. In effect, the artillery fire was intended to blockade the islands. Chinese air and naval patrols supported the effort too. The Nationalist government immediately sought American support. The US government made an unambiguous statement in support of Taiwanese (Nationalist Chinese) sovereignty over the islands. Air and naval reinforcements were deployed and US ships escorted Taiwanese transports to the islands. Any Chinese doubts about American determination were likely dispelled by this time.

China declared a truce on October 5th, announcing the next day that the cease-fire would last for a week if American ships stopped escorting Taiwanese vessels. After three weeks, the artillery resumed firing on October 20th; a week later China announced it would not bombard the islands on even-numbered days; on November 22, 1958 the last heavy shelling marked the effective end of the Chinese blockade. Occasional artillery strikes did continue until diplomatic relations between China and the United States were normalized on January 1, 1979.

Notes

[1] Clodfelter reports 2000 Nationalist military casualties and 101 civilian battledeaths; Li reports 600 Nationalist military killed on August 23rd.

References

Sheng, 477-507; Clodfelter, 1151-3; COW159; Dupuy and Dupuy, 1428; Elleman, 92-4; Li, 197-8; Wortzel, 244.

Bruce A Elleman. Taiwan Straits: Crisis in Asia and the Role of the U.S. Navy. Rowman and Littlefield. 2015.

Michael M Sheng. Mao and China’s Relations with the Superpowers in the 1950s: A New Look at the Taiwan Strait Crises and the Sino–Soviet Split. Modern China, 34(4). 2008.

Larry M Wortzel. Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese Military History. ABC-CLIO. 1999.

Xiaobing Li. China at War: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. 2012.

Category

Inter-State War

Region

East Asia

Belligerents

China, Taiwan, USA

Dispute

Territory

Initiation Date

August 23, 1958

Termination Date

November 23, 1958

Duration

3 months
(92 days)

Outcome

Unresolved Truce
(Taiwanese victory)

Fatalities

Total: 1,800
China: 300
Taiwan: 1,500^[1]
USA: 0

Magnitude

3.3