The Korean War saved Taiwan?
preface
Whenever we talk about the Korean War, the most well-known is the fearless performance and heroic story of the Chinese volunteers on the battlefield to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and the forced signing of an armistice agreement by the United Nations forces led by the United States.
However, little attention and discussion was given to and discussed how the Taiwan authorities viewed the Korean War and what they did during the war.
Although Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula were geographically far apart, the outbreak of the Korean War gave Chiang Kai-shek's government hope for a counterattack on the mainland. So what did Taiwan do in the Korean War?
First, the desire to send troops for the first time
On June 25, 1950, when the Korean War broke out and South Korea was defeated under the attack of North Korea, when Chiang Kai-shek heard the news, he immediately asked Ambassador Gu Weijun to the United States to express his attitude of sending troops to the United States to reinforce, and would stand on the same front with the United States and take this opportunity to gain the favor of the US government.
Taiwan has become the first region in the international community to say after the United States that it will send troops to South Korea. Moreover, Taiwan can be said to have invested enough money, as long as it can participate in the battle, such as aircraft, warships and artillery can be put into the Korean battlefield.
Not only that, the Taiwan side also said that in addition to equipment, it would invest more than 30,000 troops from three armies to participate in the Korean War.
Chiang Kai-shek's purpose in doing this was nothing more than to win the favor of the Americans, and at the same time show his face more in front of the international community and the United Nations, so as to suppress and squeeze out the newly founded New China.
The Taiwan Government was very anxious to show its performance, and the ambassador to the United States submitted a memorandum of understanding to the US Government for three consecutive days.
However, Taiwan seems to have miscalculated, and the Americans did not pay attention to his set, and the US State Department immediately poured cold water on the Taiwan authorities.
The reason given by the US government is that when Taiwan sends troops to North Korea, its defense forces on the island will be seriously insufficient, and if the mainland sends troops to attack the island at this time, Taiwan alone has no chance of victory.
Such reasons made Chiang Kai-shek very angry, he felt that he was insulted, but at this time the United States could not be divided, and even drove the Seventh Fleet directly into the Taiwan Strait to help Taiwan assist in defense.
At this point, the Taiwan authorities had nothing to say, and just like that, Taiwan's intention to send troops to the DPRK for the first time was stillborn.
Second, for fear of being abandoned, he proposed to send troops for the second time
In 1950, the volunteer army officially started, crossed the Yalu River, entered the Korean battlefield, helped the Korean People's Army to jointly resist the attack of the United Nations Army, the joining of the volunteer army directly changed the situation in the Korean battlefield, the United Nations army was defeated by the volunteers in the first three battles can not find the north.
The change in the situation of the war led some countries to think of an armistice, and under the guise of inviting New China to join the United Nations, they intended to promote an armistice on the Korean battlefield.
Now the Taiwan authorities will not be able to hold their breath, and if New China joins the United Nations, then Taiwan will inevitably be swept away.
In this matter, the United States, because it suffered successive defeats on the battlefield, showed an ambiguous attitude towards the proposal of New China to join the United Nations and then promote an armistice.
This made the Taiwan authorities even more anxious, so they urgently proposed to send troops to reinforce the Korean battlefield again.
At that time, the United Nations army was very passive on the battlefield, and if Taiwan injected new forces at this time, it would actually be a good thing for the United Nations army.
But the Americans had other ideas, and after careful consideration, again refused Taiwan's request for troops.
The reason is that the United States believes that although Taiwan's 30,000 fresh troops have rich combat experience and are familiar with the tactics of the volunteers, what they are most worried about is that if they put these 30,000 people on the Korean battlefield and defect on a large scale, it will be a big trouble, because in the three major battles of the Liberation War, the experience of defection and surrender of the Kuomintang troops is really numerous, and the Americans are completely afraid. If there were to be another large-scale defection and surrender on the Korean battlefield, it would have a devastating impact on the war situation.
Another reason is that if the United States allows Taiwan to send troops to participate in the Korean War, then this will undoubtedly be an extreme provocation to the mainland regime, and the United States is afraid of provoking the mainland government and losing the opportunity for armistice negotiations. Therefore, Taiwan's request for troops was once again rejected.
But then, something interesting happened, the US military suffered repeated setbacks on the battlefield, which made ordinary people in the country resentful and anti-war sentiment increasingly high. Only then did the Americans think of letting the Taiwan army go to the battlefield to be the substitute ghost of the United Nations army.
However, Chiang Kai-shek was not happy.
He told Taiwan's ambassador to the United States that if the United States wants Taiwan to send troops, they will only send one division, the other division as a reserve, and two divisions in turn. In just two years, the reason why the Taiwan authorities' attitude toward sending troops was diametrically opposed from three armies of more than 30,000 people to two perfunctory divisions was that at the beginning of the war, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to expand his combat objectives and hoped to take the opportunity of the Korean War to "counterattack the mainland."
"Throw three corps into the Korean battlefield, land behind enemy lines, and make a decisive settlement of the Korean War, so as to enhance Taiwan's international status."
In 1952, the United Nations Army lost one after another on the battlefield, and at this time it could only be used as cannon fodder, so after Chiang Kai-shek's two proposals to send troops were rejected, and Taiwan had no interests at all in this situation, he also lost his enthusiasm for sending troops to participate in the war.
Third, the crazy robbery of prisoners of war
Taiwan has lost its enthusiasm for sending troops, but it has shown special enthusiasm for the volunteers captured on the Korean battlefield, and Taiwan has repeatedly proposed to the United States that it hopes to accept all volunteer prisoners of war from the Korean battlefield who do not want to be repatriated.
As early as January 1952, the Taiwan side received intelligence that 20,740 volunteers were captured, most of whom were the old troops of the Nationalist army that surrendered that year.
Therefore, throughout the war, Taiwan showed great enthusiasm for the prisoners of volunteers, repeatedly inquired about the situation of prisoners of war, and Taiwan wanted to accept all prisoners of war. And the American side is not happy, all the prisoners of war are given to you, so what about the prisoners of war captured by volunteers in our UN army?
However, in order to accommodate the feelings of the Taiwan side, the United States claimed that prisoners of war were freely repatriated, but behind the scenes, it quietly disguised Taiwanese military personnel as prisoners and mixed them into prisoner-of-war camps.
Forcing volunteer prisoners to tattoo anti-communist slogans on their bodies or severely torture volunteer prisoners of war forced them to dare not return home on their own initiative. As a result, of the more than 20,000 volunteer prisoners of war, only more than 6,000 returned to China, and the vast majority of the volunteers were forced to go to Taiwan to expand Taiwan's armaments.
4. Four considerations of the Taiwan authorities
Generally speaking, the relationship between the Korean War and Taiwan is nothing more than the following four points, and all the actions of the Taiwan authorities from the initial stage of the war to the end of the war are related to these four points.
First, Taiwan's military assistance on the Korean battlefield is the problem of whether it can send troops. 2. The relationship between New China's position in the international community, its representation in the United Nations, and Taiwan's status in the international community. Third, Taiwan's approach to the issue of prisoners of war in order to expand its armaments. Fourth, the impact of the Korean War on the future international political pattern.
The premise of these four points is what Taiwan has done, what it wants to get, and what the United States considers on the bottom line and principles on the Taiwan issue.
After fully considering this premise, other specific questions will be cleared. After Chiang Kai-shek's defeat in Taiwan, the most important thing in his subsequent decision-making was to "return to the mainland," and all the actions of the Taiwan authorities, whether military, political, or diplomatic, all centered on this goal and decision-making.
The bottom line of the United States is that the United States will assist in the defense of Taiwan, and the main premise is that all Taiwan's actions cannot affect the global strategic pattern of the United States.
All assistance and support are discussed within this broad premise.
epilogue
From the entire course of the war, the United States' response to Taiwan's military dispatch and other actions can be seen that although the United States is very concerned about Taiwan's role in the confrontation with the Sino-Soviet camp, it must serve the global cold war strategy of the United States, Taiwan's autonomy is very limited, the United States does not allow it to go beyond the rules and bottom line of any move, Taiwan is just a pawn of the United States.