In 1950, the 650,000-strong army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army went south, under the leadership of General Su Yu, preparing to recover Taiwan and complete reunification, but in the end there was no action. Who prevented China from liberating Taiwan? How important is Taiwan to China?
This video leads you to uncover the story of China's liberation of Taiwan.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1945, Taiwan returned to the motherland. After the Battle of the River Crossing in the War of Liberation in 1949, the Kuomintang was in a position to lose, and the remnants of the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan and attempted to make a comeback in Taiwan. The Central Committee has realized that conquering Taiwan will be the most crucial and difficult battle in the War of Liberation.
In fact, as early as March 1949, Su Yu was tasked with liberating Taiwan. But the people's navy, which had just been established at that time, was simply unable to compete with the Kuomintang at sea. Therefore, military assistance to the Soviet Side was extremely important.
In July, a Chinese delegation led by Liu Shaoqi visited the Soviet Union and secretly met with Stalin, who agreed to provide Chinese aircraft and train a group of pilots. There is no explicit statement that military assistance will be provided directly to the Air Force and Navy.
In December, Chairman Mao visited the Soviet Union and once again hoped that the Soviet Union would provide direct military assistance to help the Chinese Communists liberate Taiwan. But Stalin's attitude was ambiguous, and he did not refuse or agree. He feared that if the Soviet Union came to China's aid, it would inevitably trigger a conflict with the United States, and the gains would outweigh the losses.
By 1950, former U.S. President Harry S. Truman declared that both China and North Korea were outside the U.S. defensive circle. Stalin finally made up his mind to provide China with the corresponding weapons and equipment and technicians. With the assistance of the Soviet Union, china's air force and navy began to take shape, and the recovery of Taiwan was just around the corner. China bought two cruisers, four minesweepers and five destroyers from the Soviet Union for $150 million, while the Soviets pledged to china with 200 aircraft to liberate Taiwan's air power.
Most of the Kuomintang troops who fled to Taiwan were soldiers who had been defeated from the mainland, and Chiang Kai-shek also realized that his strength was too weak, so he began to recruit troops, forced and strong, and even recruited 20,000 Japanese troops. Soon, the Kuomintang troops expanded to a staggering 500,000 men. In addition, Chiang Kai-shek also owned 743 aircraft of various types, 220 ships, and purchased a number of small ships from the United States to defend Taiwan.
After Su Yu learned of the relevant movements of the Kuomintang, he urgently increased the number of troops to 650,000 troops and applied to the central government for 6 billion catties of grain for military food reserves. Everything is ready, and as long as the order for the general offensive is issued, the vast army, navy, and air force will cross the Taiwan Strait and realize reunification.
At this time, North Korea, which borders northeast China, also longed for reunification, hoping that other countries would help it achieve it, and the CCP agreed to help North Korea after the liberation of Taiwan. However, the Soviet Union did not think so, and since the United States had ceased to interfere in China's reunification of Taiwan, the United States would not care much about the North Korean issue. As a buffer zone between the Soviet Union and Japan, the Korean Peninsula was of great strategic significance. Stalin, without informing the Chinese side, stopped aiding China and reached a consensus with North Korea to give priority to the resolution of the North Korean problem.
Just as Su Yu's army was about to start a war of reunification, on June 25, 1950, North Korea, with the support of the Soviet Union, launched a war to unify the Korean Peninsula. On June 27, the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet entered the Taiwan Strait, and Truman said that he would let the Chinese Communists stop the liberation of Taiwan first, and would not allow Taiwan to counterattack the mainland. As for the Taiwan issue, we will wait until the Asian region stabilizes before making plans. On June 28, Zhou Enlai, then Chinese foreign minister, publicly denounced the Us rebellion and said that the US Navy's move was an armed aggression against China and a violation of the original intention of the United Nations. In any case, there is no doubt that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.
Although the mainland morally condemned the United States, it is an undeniable fact that the newly established Chinese Navy and Air Force are simply unable to compete with the powerful fleet of the United States.
Subsequently, the United States openly entered the Korean battlefield in the name of the United Nations, and North Korea, which had the advantage, was gradually defeated after the arrival of American troops. Even the so-called UN forces crossed the 38th Parallel and bombed industrial towns in northeastern China. At this time, New China was in ruins waiting to be rebuilt, and the three northeastern provinces were also China's important industrial bases, and there was no room for mistakes; under the difficult discussion of the central authorities, Chairman Mao decided to send Chinese volunteers to fight in the DPRK, and thus the vigorous War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was officially launched. Because the mainland's military strength at that time was weak, it was unable to support a two-sided war, so the plan to liberate Taiwan could only be terminated.
The main reason for the stranding of the plan to liberate Taiwan was the intervention of the US Seventh Fleet, so why did the United States suddenly turn its face and prevent the mainland from liberating Taiwan after joining the Korean battlefield? What is the reason behind the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea that had to be fought? The answer to all this is hidden in the fog of politics.
In fact, there have always been main war factions and conservatives in the United States toward China, and the core problem of the two factions is on Taiwan. Conservatives believe that New China has been established and that the United States should not continue to intervene directly in China's politics. At this time, the United States and the Soviet Union were in the middle of the Cold War, and they should no longer offend the socialist camp countries like the Soviet Union. The main war faction, on the other hand, believes that the United States should be tougher on the China issue, assist Chiang Kai-shek in preserving Taiwan, and then use Taiwan as a basis to gradually influence the socialist countries along the coast of Southeast Asia and curb their development.
In the early 1950s, when conservatives took the initiative, President Harry S. Truman and Secretary of State Acheson publicly stated that they would not be involved in the internal problems of China and North Korea. But by May 1950, the main war faction had the upper hand in disagreement, and the new US Secretary of State Dulles said that New China was a communist-led country and had joined the socialist camp led by the Soviet Union. After World War II, the peaceful situation built by the United States and the Soviet Union was slowly tilting, and socialism was in a state of gradual strengthening, which was not conducive to the development of the United States. If the Issue of Taiwan and North Korea continues to be ignored, it is very likely that the Soviet Union will control the entire Asia-Pacific region, and even the Middle East will fall into the Soviet Socialist camp. In order to prevent the occurrence of the above situation, the United States must adopt tough measures in its treatment of China and the DPRK issue.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Defense received relevant suggestions from MacArthur, commander of the Far East. Taiwan is an aircraft carrier of the United States in the Pacific, and if China recovers Taiwan, it will greatly affect the status of the United States in the Far East, and the United States should first use force to organize China's liberation of Taiwan. At this time, the majority of the us high-level people agreed with MacArthur's proposal and jointly reported it to the president to change the previous US strategy. Just at this time, the Korean War broke out, and the United States found an excuse for its own rebellion, and at the same time changed its policy toward China.
So what is the significance of Taiwan? First of all, Taiwan has been China's territory since ancient times and is the largest island on the mainland. Located on the southeast coast, Taiwan is China's first line of defense in the southeast direction and is of vital significance to the defensive layout of China's coastline. In addition to the guarantee of national security, Taiwan has had such sayings as "four provinces left protection" and "southeast lock key" since ancient times, as long as Taiwan is controlled, it is equivalent to controlling the maritime trade between Japan and South Korea. As an important transportation hub in the western Pacific, Taiwan is also an indispensable part of the world economy. China's economic and trade exchanges with the Pacific coastal countries, as well as the ships from all continents to China, need to pass through Taiwan. Therefore, no matter from the political, economic and military aspects, Taiwan is the focus, so it is imperative to liberate Taiwan.
The Taiwan issue has always belonged to China itself, but China was not strong enough at that time to be subject to others repeatedly. Therefore, only being strong in itself is the last word.