81. See, for example, Taylor, The Generalissimo, 362.
82. Chiang Kai-shek to Madame Chiang, January 17, 1949, PCKSC/JZJ, vol. 3.
83. Madame Chiang to Chiang Ching-kuo, letters, December 28, 1948 and February 6, 1949, PCKSC / JXWZ.
84. CKSD, diary entries for January 11, 18, and 22, 1949, Box 47.
85. See, for example, K. C. Wu, Ye Lailin: Wu Guozhen Jianzheng di Guo Gong Douzheng [The night cometh: A personal study of Communist techniques in China] (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2009), 255–259.
86. See, for example, Elizabeth Converse, “Formosa: Private Citadel?” Far Eastern Survey 18: 21 (October 1948): 249–250.
87. A careful analysis of the U.S. policy choice debate on Taiwan in early 1949 can be found in David M. Finkelstein, Washington’s Taiwan Dilemma, 1949–1950: From Abandonment to Salvation (Fairfax, VA: George Mason University Press, 1993), 109–132.
88. “Note by the Secretaries to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the Current Position of the United States with respect to Formosa,” February 3, 1949, NARA, RG 218, Geographical File 1948–50, Entry: UD 7, 190:1; “Note by the Secretaries to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the Strategic Importance of Formosa,” February 7, 1949, ibid.
89. For a careful discussion of this issue, see Jonathan Fenby, Chiang Kai-shek: China’s Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003), 473–498.
90. “Note by the Secretaries to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Supplementary Measures with respect to Formosa,” March 3, 1949, NARA, RG 218, Geographical File 1948–50, Entry: UD 7, 190:1.
91. The British observed that Admiral Oscar Badger, commander of the U.S. Western Pacific Fleet, as well as Roger Lapham and Allan Griffin of the Economic Cooperation Administration in China, was also in Taiwan around the time of Merchant’s visit to the island. See E. T. Biggs (British consul in Tamsui), “Summary of Events in Formosa during February 1949,” in Taiwan Political and Economic Reports 1861–1960, ed. Jarman, 8:484–486.
92. Finkelstein, Washington’s Taiwan Dilemma, 134–135. See also Tai Wan-chin, “The U.S. Policy toward Taiwan in 1949 and the Mission of Livingston T. Merchant,” Tamkang Journal of International Affairs (Taipei), 9, no. 3 (2006): 93–125.
93. U.S. Consulate General in Taipei to State Department, March 6, 1949, no. 894A.00/3–649, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2.
94. Finkelstein, Washington’s Taiwan Dilemma, 136–137.
95. Robert Griffin, deputy chief of ECA in China, who advocated that drastic means be used to prevent Taiwan from falling into either Nationalist or Communist hands, went over the situation in Taiwan closely with Merchant on the eve of the latter’s mission to the island. See Griffin to Roger Lapham (chief of ECA in China), February 25 and March 19, 1949, Robert A. Griffin Papers, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, Box 1.
96. Zhu Hongyuan, “Sun Liren yu Mai Shuai: Yi-jiu-si-jiu nian” [Sun Liren and MacArthur: 1949], in Yi-jiu-si-jiu nian: Zhongguo de Guanjian Niandai Xueshu Taolunhui Lunwenji [Symposium on the crucial year of China, 1949], ed. Academia Historica (Taipei, Taiwan: Academia Historica, 2000), 305–311; Shen, Sun Liren Zhuan, 2:694–696.
97. Acheson to Merchant, March 6, 1949, no. 894A.00/3–649, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2.
98. Merchant to Acheson, enclosed in U.S. Consulate General in Taipei to State Department, March 9, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.00/3–949; U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai to State Department, March 11, 1949, 893.50 Recovery/3–1149.
99. Here Chen Cheng might have been playing a double game. On the one hand he informed Kenneth Krentz that if Washington was interested in Sun Liren becoming governor of Taiwan, he could accomplish this by appealing to Chiang Kai-shek not to block such a transfer. On the other hand, sensing that the Americans did not favor supporting him, Chen was eager to display his loyalty to Chiang. See Stuart to State Department, March 14, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.01/3–1449; Donald Edgar (U.S. consul in Taipei) to State Department, March 19, 1949, 893.00/3–1949.
100. Stuart to State Department, April 10, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.00/4–1049.
101. U.S. State Department, “Implementation of NSC 37/2 regarding United States Policy toward Formosa,” May 12, 1949, no. 894A.00/5–1249, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2.
102. Policy Planning Staff, “A Possible Course of Action with respect to Formosa and the Pescadores,” draft memorandum, June 23, 1949, FRUS 1949, vol. 9, The Far East: China, 359.
CHAPTER 4 ▪ Chiang Kai-shek in Eclipse
1. CKSD, diary entries for December 27, 1948 and January 18, 1949, Box 47; Chiang Kai-shek to Yu Hanmou, instruction, January 13, 1949, CB, 10–0858; Stuart to Dean Acheson, January 4, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.00/1–449; Stuart to Acheson, January 22, 1949, 893.00 Chiang Kai-shek/1–2249; F. van de Arend (U.S. consul general in Chongqing) to State Department, March 11, 1949, RG 84, 350/Chungking.
2. The move to transfer national reserves out of Shanghai began around the second week of November 1948. See Chiang Kai-shek’s secret instruction to Yu Hongjun (governor of Central Bank of China), November 10, 1948, CB, 10–0783.
3. Wu Xingyong, Huangjin Dang’an—Guofu Huangjin yun Tai Yi-jiu-si-jiu nian [Gold file: Transfer of Nationalist China’s gold reserve from Shanghai to Taiwan in 1949] (Taipei: Taiwan Elite, 2007). According to the CIA’s estimation, the total reserves being moved to Taiwan amounted to 106 million USD. See CIA memorandum, August 5, 1949, CIA Research Reports: China, 1946–1976, reel 1.
4. Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, ed., Bai Chongxi Xiansheng Fangwen Jilu [The reminiscences of Mr. Bai Chongxi] (Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, 1984), Part 2, 864–865.
5. CKSD, diary entries for December 31, 1948 and January 2 and 3, 1949, Box 47.
6. For a detailed narration of Chiang’s daily activities at Xikou, see Chiang Ching-kuo, Fengyuzhong de Ningjing [Calm in the eyes of a storm] (Taipei: Liming Wenhua, 1974), 117–189; Zhang Ling’ao, Wo zai Jiang Jieshi Shicongshi de Rizi [My days of serving at Chiang Kai-shek’s Office of Aides] (Hong Kong: Mingbao chubanshe, 1995), 418–453.
7. Edwin W. Martin, who served in the U.S. consulate in Hankou in 1948–1949, recalled that by late 1948 the Guangxi Clique was in control of Central China, and Chiang Kai-shek was most reluctant to call on Bai Chongxi for support. See Tucker, ed., China Confidential, 33.
8. Stuart to Acheson, January 20, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.00/1–2049.
9. Stuart to Acheson, January 25, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.00/1–2549; U.S. Consulate in Hankou to Acheson, February 7, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.00/2–749; Lewis Clark to Acheson, February 22, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.00/2–2249.
10. Tong and Li, The Memoirs of Li Tsung-jen, 511–513.
11. CKSD, diary entry for June 27, 1948, Box 47.
12. CKSD, diary entries for June 19, 21, 24, and 26, 1948, Box 47.
13. CKSD, diary entries for June 13 and 27, 1948, Box 47.
14. CKSD, diary entries for January 1 and 11, 1949, Box 47.
15. On Chiang’s strategic thinking about this territorial triangle, see CKSD, diary entries for January 22, February 25, and March 18, 24, and 26,1949, Box 47.
16. John M. Cabot, (U.S. consul general in Shanghai) to Dean Acheson, May 19, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.00/5–1949.
17. Tong and Li, The Memoirs of Li Tsung-jen, 508–509.
18. Roger Lapham to Paul Hoffman (economic cooperation administrator), “Recommendations Regarding China Policy,” memorandum, March 9, 1949, Robert A. Griffin Papers, Box 1.
19. Lapham to Griffin, letter, March 17, 1949, Robert A. Griffin Papers, Box 1.
20. George Kerr, “Elements of the Formosan Problem,” memorandum enclosed in Kerr to W. W. Butterworth, January 7, 1949, no. 894A.00/1–749, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 1; Kerr to Butterworth, January 23, 1949, no. 894A.00/1–2349, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 1.
21. CIA, “Probably Development in Taiwan,” China Research Report ORE 39–45, March 14, 1949, CIA Research Reports: China, 1946–1976, reel 1.
&nbs
p; 22. Lapham to Griffin, letter, March 22, 1949, Robert Griffin Papers, Box 1.
23. Wedemeyer, Wedemeyer Reports! 325; U.S. Senate Committees on Armed Services and Foreign Relations, Hearings to Conduct an Inquiry into the Military Situation in the Far East and the Facts Surrounding the Relief of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur from His Assignments in That Area, 82nd Congress, 1st Session, 1951, 56–57, 183. On the other hand, Shen Keqin, General Sun’s aide-de-camp in 1949–1950, pointed out that the “Virginia connections” were exactly what would preclude Sun from replacing Chiang Kai-shek’s status, as most of the Nationalist higher-ranking military officers were from Whampoa lineage and would not accept Sun’s leadership. Shen Keqin, interview with author, December 6, 2007.
24. Sun to MacArthur, March 5, 1949. Shen Keqin Papers, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, Box 1.
25. Ibid. For more about Sun Liren’s visit in Tokyo in 1949, see Howard Schonberger, Aftermath of War: Americans and the Remaking of Japan, 1945–1952 (Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 1989), 80–85, 264–265.
26. Edgar to Acheson, May 11, 1949, no. 894A.00/5–1149, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2.
27. Spence, The Search for Modern China, 510. There has been a debate as to whether, in early 1949, Stalin discouraged Mao from crossing the Yangtze for fear of being dragged into a direct confrontation with the United States. Apparently Mao ignored Stalin’s advice, if given. See Westad, Decisive Encounters, 216–218; Donggil Kim, “The Crucial Issues of the Early Cold War: Stalin and the Chinese Civil War,” Cold War History, 10 no. 2 (2010): 185–202.
28. Westad, Decisive Encounters, 240–243; Tong and Li, The Memoirs of Li Tsung-jen, 515–517.
29. CKSD, diary entries for April 22 and 23, 1949, Box 47; Lewis Clark (U.S. minister-counselor in embassy) to Acheson, April 25, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.01/4–2549.
30. Lloyd Eastman, Jerome Ch’en, Suzanne Pepper, and Lyman P. van Slyke, The Nationalist Era in China, 1927–1949 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 350–351.
31. Yu Hongjun to Chiang and Chen Cheng, telegram, May 14, 1949, GW / ZZS, Part 2; British Consulate in Tamsui, “Recent Developments in Formosa,” April 25, 1949, in Taiwan Political and Economic Reports 1861–1960, ed. Jarman, 8:395–396; Edgar to Acheson, April 10, 1949, no. 894A.00/4–1049, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2; Edgar to Acheson, April 11, 1949, no. 894A.00/4–1149, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2.
32. Chiang Kai-shek to T. V. Soong, May 2, 1949, GW / ZZS, Part 2.
33. Albert Wedemeyer to Chiang Kai-shek, May 10 and June 1, 1949, Albert C. Wedemeyer Papers, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, Box 100.
34. Chiang to Wedemeyer, May 22, 1949, letter, Albert C. Wedemeyer Papers, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, Box 100.
35. See Tong and Li, The Memoirs of Li Tsung-jen, 514–515; Chiang, Fengyuzhong de Ningjing, 190–192; Lewis Clark to Acheson, April 25, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.01/4–2549; Clark to Acheson, May 1, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.001 Chiang Kai-shek/5–149.
36. CKSD, diary entries for May 9, 12, 13, 14, and 16, 1949, Box 47.
37. CKSD, diary entry for May 12, 1949, Box 47.
38. Clark to Acheson, April 29, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.00/4–2949.
39. Clark to Acheson, May 1, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.001 Chiang Kai-shek/5–149; CIA, memorandum, June 1, 1949, CIA Research Reports: China, 1946–1976, reel 1.
40. Clark to Acheson, April 29, 1949, no. 894A.01/5–2049, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 3.
41. CKSD, diary entries for May 18, 20, and 21, 1949, Box 47.
42. Edgar to Acheson, April 29, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.50/4–2949.
43. Lewis to Acheson, June 2, 1949, no. 894A.02/6–249, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 3. The Chinese Maritime Customs Service was a Chinese government tax collection agency from its founding in 1854 until its 1949 bifurcation into services operating in Taiwan and in the Communist Chinese mainland. It was an international, predominantly British-staffed bureaucracy under the control of successive Chinese central governments. In January 1950, Lester Little, the last inspector-general, resigned and the responsibilities of the service were divided between what eventually became the Customs General Administration of the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of China Directorate General of Customs on Taiwan. For more about the history of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, see Donna Brunero, Britain’s Imperial Cornerstone in China: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, 1854–1949 (London: Routledge, 2006).
44. Chen Cheng, Chen Cheng Xiansheng Huiyilu—Jianshe Taiwan [The Memoirs of Chen Cheng: The Development of Taiwan] (Taipei, Taiwan: Academia Historica, 2005), 1:63–64.
45. For more information about the Taiwan Production Board and its significance, see Chen Siyu, Taiwan qu Shengchan Shiye Guanli Weiyuanhui yu Jingji Fazhan Celue, 1949–1953 [The Taiwan Production Board and the strategy for economic development] (Taipei, Taiwan: SMC Publishing, 2002).
46. Chen, Chen Cheng Xiansheng Huiyilu—Jianshe Taiwan, 1:65–66; Copper, Taiwan, 136–137.
47. Chen Li’an, Cheng Chen’s eldest son, informed the author that his father disagreed with Chiang Kai-shek about how to govern and defend Taiwan, and that his father was by no means a protégé of Chiang. Chen Li’an, interview with author, August 2, 2010.
48. Thomas B. Gold, State and Society in the Taiwan Miracle (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1997), 53–55; Peter Chen-main Wang, “A Bastion Created, A Regime Reformed, An Economy Reengineered, 1949–1970,” in Taiwan: A New History, ed. Rubinstein, 324.
49. Liu Jinqing, Zhanhou Taiwan Jingji Fenxi [An analysis of postwar Taiwan’s economy] (Taipei, Taiwan: Renjian chubanshe, 1992), 73–74.
50. See Taiwan Xinsheng Bao (Taipei), May 1 and 14, 1949.
51. Chen, Chen Cheng Xiansheng Huiyilu—Jianshe Taiwan, 1:21–26.
52. CKSD, diary entry for May 22, 1949, Box 47.
53. CKSD, diary entry for May 25, 1949, Box 47.
54. Xue Qingyu, Sun Liren Jiangjun Zhuan [A biography of General Sun Liren] (Hohhot, China: Neimenggu Daxue chubanshe, 2000), 318; Shen Keqin, interview with author, December 6, 2007.
55. CKSD, diary entries for June 6, 7, and 11, 1949, Box 47.
56. CKSD, diary entries for May 29 and June 4, 1949, Box 47.
57. Edgar to Acheson, June 3, 1949, no. 894A.00/6–349; State Department, top secret memorandum, June 8, 1949, no. 894A.00/6–849, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2.
58. CKSD, diary entries for June 11, 12, July 16, 19, 31, and August 12, 1949, Box 47.
59. State Department to National Security Council, top secret memorandum, June 15, 1949, no. 894A.00/6–1549; Edgar to Acheson, August 24, 1949, no. 894A.00/8–2449, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2.
60. CKSD, diary entry for August 13, 1949, Box 47; Edgar to Acheson, August 19, 1949, no. 894A.00/8–1949, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2.
61. CKSD, diary entry for June 15, 1949, Box 49.
62. Wilson D. Miscamble, George F. Kennan and the Making of American Foreign Policy, 1947–1950 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 106–111.
63. U.S. Senate, Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976), 4:132.
64. Finkelstein, Washington’s Taiwan Dilemma, 224.
65. Ibid., 226–227; MacDonald to State Department, November 25, 1949, no. 894A.00/11–2549, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2.
66. CKSD, diary entries for June 15 and 17, 1949, Box 47.
67. CKSD, diary entries for June 18 and 20, 1949, Box 47.
68. British Consulate in Tamsui, “Summary of Events in Formosa during April, 1949,” May 8, 1949, in Taiwan Political and Economic Reports 1861–1960, ed. Jarman, 8:503.
69. MacDonald to Acheson, September 15, 1949, no. 894A.00/9–1549, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 2.
70. British Consulate in Tamsui to Foreign Office, “Tamsui telegram No. 12,” May 21, 1949, in Taiwan Political and Economic Reports 1861–1960, ed. Jarman, 8:
402.
71. British Consulate in Tamsui to Foreign Office, “Tamsui telegram No. 44,” May 27, 1949, in Taiwan Political and Economic Reports 1861–1960, ed. Jarman, 8:403.
CHAPTER 5 ▪ Last Gasp on the Mainland
1. Clark to Acheson, July 1, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.00/7–149; Clark to Acheson, July 6, 1949, 893.00/7–649.
2. CKSD, diary entry for July 20, 1949, Box 47.
3. Zhou Hongtao, Jianggong yu Wo—Jianzheng Zhonghua Minguo Guanjian Bianju [Chiang Kai-shek and I: witnessing the critical moments of the Republic of China] (Taipei, Taiwan: Tianxia Wenhua, 2003), 123–125; Tong and Li, The Memoirs of Li Tsung-jen, 522.
4. Clark to Acheson, July 19, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.01/7–1949.
5. “Meeting with President Li Tsung-jen,” memorandum by Griffin, May 22, 1949, Robert Griffin Papers, Box 3.
6. Chiang Kai-shek to Chen Zhiping (Chinese minister to Philippines), telegram, July 8, 1949, TD / FF, vol. 73, no. 54848; minutes of meeting between Chiang and Quirino, July 11, 1949, TD / FF, vol. 73, no. 54852.
7. Clark to Acheson, July 11, 1949, NARA, RG 59, 893.001, Chiang Kai-shek/7–1149.
8. State Department Office of Chinese Affairs, “Chiang-Quirino Proposal for a Pacific Union,” memorandum, July 19, 1949, ROCA, reel 7.
9. CIA, “Chiang-Quirino Conference,” memorandum, July 21, 1949, CIA Research Reports: China, 1946–1976, reel 1.
10. Edgar to Acheson, July 18, 1949, no. 894A.00/7–1849, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 1.
11. Edgar to Acheson, July 14, 1949, no. 894A.00/7–1449, Formosa 1945–1949, reel 1.
12. CKSD, diary entry for July 13, 1949, Box 47.
13. Ralph Stevenson to Foreign Office, September 20, 1949, FO 371/75733, F1533/1533/10. For more about the details of Chiang’s trip to Jinhae, see Shao Yulin, Shi Han Huiyilu [My mission to Korea] (Taipei, Taiwan: Biographical Literature Press, 1980), 112–135. Shao was Nationalist China’s ambassador to South Korea at the time of Chiang’s visit.
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