Opening the discussion, the United States representative again referred to the statements on Formosa by the President, explaining the reasons for the emergency measures for a temporary military neutralization of Formosa and denying any aggressive intentions or territorial ambitions of the United States in respect of the island. He discussed the Chinese Communist charges within the context of the traditional friendship between the governments and peoples of the United States and China. He directed a series of questions to the Chinese Communist representative concerning Chinese Communist intervention in Korea and concerning Formosa. He reported that United States military personnel on Formosa numbered only 44 persons, including no combat units but only military attachés and liaison personnel. He denied that there existed a blockade of Formosa as charged by the Chinese Communists, stating that no United States naval vessel had interfered in any way with the entry into or departure from any Formosan port of any vessel. The sole mission of the United States Seventh Fleet, he pointed out, was to prevent any attack on the mainland from Formosa or upon Formosa from the mainland. He stated that this action in no way compromised the future status of Formosa. He inquired of the Chinese Communist representative what the intentions of the Communist regime were toward Formosa and whether it was prepared to pledge itself to accept a peaceful settlement of the question.

General Wu, representing the Chinese Communist regime, charged that the United States, simultaneously with the announcement of its decision to prevent by force the "liberation" of Formosa, began a "full scale open invasion" of the island. Such act, he said, constituted an armed aggression and a gross violation of the United Nations Charter. He claimed that Formosa had become de jure and de facto an inalienable part of Chinese territory and that that had been the situation since 1945. He further charged that the United States had violated Chinese territorial waters and the territorial air of China. He termed the United States proposal that the General Assembly consider the question of Formosa an act aiming "at stealing the name of the United Nations to legalize its illegal acts of armed aggression against Taiwan and to consolidate its actual occupation of Taiwan." The United States action, he charged, was taken in accordance with "the MacArthur plan," which allegedly treated Formosa as a vital base for the United States and a center of the United States Pacific front. He further accused the United States of intervention in China's domestic affairs and domination of Formosa's economy. The United States had, he said, in reality taken over the military role of Japan in Asia aiming at the enslavement of Asian

people. He proposed that the Security Council apply sanctions against the United States, condemn the United States Government for its "criminal acts of armed aggression" and armed intervention in Korea, and adopt measures to bring about the withdrawal of United States forces from Formosa and Korea.

In the ensuing debate the representative of the Republic of Korea pointed out that the Chinese Army had intervened when a reunited, free Korea was in sight. He branded the act of the Chinese Communists as lawless aggression.

The representative of China declared that the United States did not hold a single square inch of Chinese territory and did not own or control, in any part of China, any port, railway, or mine on the mainland or on Formosa. The United States, he said, had not asked for the right to obtain any air, naval, or military bases or any specific economic or military privileges on Formosa. The mission of the Seventh Fleet, he declared, had the consent of the Chinese Government.

The representative of France was concerned lest the Peiping authorities might, as a result of their insufficient acquaintance with the facts or with the intentions of the United Nations, take action leading to terrible consequences. He urged the Council to concentrate on the six-power draft resolution expressing the United Nations objectives in Korea.

Branding General Wu's charges as false and slanderous, the United States representative agreed that the Council should not be delayed in its efforts to prevent the spread of war in Asia. The representative of the Soviet Union supported the charges of General Wu that the United States took the place in China of the Japanese and German imperialists. He charged that the United States had seized Formosa for political and strategic reasons and primarily in order to extend its line of defense as far as possible from its own frontiers; that the Security Council had taken no action legalizing United States measures with respect to Formosa; and that United States action was a gross violation of both international law and the United Nations Charter. The representative of the United Kingdom expressed the hope that the Chinese Communists would emerge from the dark propaganda world in which they had been living and see the facts in their true light. He pointed to the changes which had taken place in the colonial policies of great powers in Asia, in the direction of favoring the emergence of independent states and of assisting these new states. In his view the Chinese Communist representative had completely failed to substantiate any accusation that Formosa was being converted into a United States base and that the United States was in control of the island. There was, he said, little prospect of a peace

ful settlement as long as the Chinese Communist regime was engaged in large-scale military operations against the United Nations.

The representative of Yugoslavia thought that the question of Formosa was secondary in importance to the all-important problem of Korea. He suggested consultations between the parties directly concerned with a view to a peaceful settlement of the Formosan problem.

The Indian representative, Sir Benegal N. Rau, regretted that there was hardly any meeting ground between the representatives of the United States and of the Peiping regime, with one exception. Even the representative of the Peiping government, while complaining of what he called-the "cunning aggression of the American imperialists," conceded that in the entire history of China's foreign relations the people of the United States and China have always maintained friendly relations. He invited General Wu to see as many Americans as possible to judge for himself that the Americans are "warm-hearted, kindly, the very reverse of imperialistic and only anxious to live in peace . . . their own way of life. They are of course apprehensive of aggression and resolved to resist it if it should come."

...

On November 30, 1950, the Security Council rejected by a vote of 9 to 1 the Soviet resolution which would have condemned the United States Government for aggression and intervention in the internal affairs of China and proposed the withdrawal of the United States forces from Formosa and from "other territories belonging to China." Only the Soviet Union voted in the affirmative. By the same vote the Council rejected a similar draft resolution submitted by the representative of the Chinese Communists and sponsored by the Soviet Union. Stating that he lacked instructions, the Indian representative did not participate in the voting.

In this clear and unmistakable manner the Council refused to sustain the charges of United States aggression against Formosa.

Soviet Complaint of United States Aggression
Against China

A complaint by the U.S.S.R. of "aggression against China by the United States of America," which had been placed before the General Assembly on September 20, 1950, was intended to refer to Formosa as well as to other charges which the Soviet Union had already made in the Security Council. The General Assembly included the matter on its agenda, the United States voting in the affirmative. Stating

that since the United States was a party to the case it wished other members to decide whom they wished to hear, the United States representative abstained from voting in the First Committee on the proposal that a representative of the Chinese Communists be present at the meeting of the Committee for the purpose of participating in the discussion of this question. In accordance with this decision the representative of the Chinese Communist regime was seated at the Committee table.

The Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Vyshinsky, speaking for the Soviet Union, advanced the following principal accusations against the United States: (1) an invasion of the island of Formosa by the armed forces of the United States; (2) blockade of the shores of Formosa for the purpose of barring the island to the armed forces and authorities of the Chinese Communist regime; (3) intervention in the internal affairs of China; (4) "economic aggression" in Formosa, through economic exploitation of the island with the assistance of the Chinese National Government and to the detriment of the Chinese people; and (5) systematic violations by the United States Air Force of Chinese air space and territory in the vicinity of the Korean-Manchurian border. The Soviet representative submitted a proposal which would have noted the "invasion by the United States armed forces" of Formosa and the "blockade of the coast" of Formosa and would have requested the Security Council to take necessary steps to insure the immediate cessation of the aggression against China by the United States.

In his preliminary reply the representative of the United States, John Foster Dulles, saw a great tragedy in the effort by the Soviet Union to kill the historic record of friendship between the United States and Chinese peoples by using every means to make the Chinese people hate and fight the United States. He traced the past efforts of the United States to maintain the political and territorial integrity of China, to promote its well-being, and to aid its cultural and humanitarian endeavors.

With respect to the specific charges, the United States representative once more pointed out that United States military personnel in Formosa consisted of only 44 persons. He denied the existence of any blockade of Formosa, pointing out that the commercial traffic moved without the slightest interference on the part of the United States naval forces. He explained the reasons for the neutralization measures taken by the United States, noting that Formosa lay on the flank of the United Nations forces in Korea and that events in Korea had demonstrated the wisdom of the precautionary steps. He

reaffirmed the President's declaration that the United States had no territorial ambitions and wished no special privileges in Formosa. After examining the specific list of alleged violations of Chinese territory which was circulated by the Soviet Union, the United States representative explained that 61 of these alleged violations were thought to consist of flights of a reconnaissance nature only, not resulting in any damage or bombing. Twenty-two cases of alleged bombings were supposed to have occurred at points of bridge crossings on the Yalu River where Chinese Communist troops poured across to engage the United Nations forces in Korea. The United Nations air force had been instructed to attack only the Korean side of these bridges, he said. However, it was difficult, he pointed out, to be certain in every case that bombs did not fall on the Manchurian side. The United States representative recalled that the Soviet Union had vetoed in the Security Council a proposal for a neutral investigation of these charges on the spot because obviously it did not favor such investigations, since it was far simpler to make propaganda speeches than to have the facts verified. The United States representative denied with equal emphasis the other charges against the United States and said he would make a full reply after study of Mr. Vyshinsky's statement.

When, a few days later, the Soviet Union vetoed a resolution in the Security Council designed to deal with the intervention by the Chinese Communists in Korea (see p. 39) and when this question was referred to the Assembly, the First Committee decided to interrupt its debate on the Soviet charges in order to concentrate on the new emergency. This postponement was vigorously opposed by the Soviet group. General Wu, the chairman of the Chinese Communist delegation, released to the press the statement which he said he had intended to make in the First Committee in support of the Soviet charges against the United States. In this statement, he proposed a resolution essentially the same as that proposed in the Security Council requesting the Council to condemn and to apply sanctions against the United States for its "criminal acts of armed aggression" against the territory of China and Formosa and armed intervention in Korea and to adopt measures to bring about complete withdrawal of American forces from Formosa and from Korea. Following the release of this statement to the press the Chinese Communist representative departed from Lake Success.

By the end of the year the First Committee had not returned to this question, having been occupied with the question of Chinese intervention in Korea.