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【243】Swinging scales

In Truman's view, there is no doubt that the existence of a split in Taiwan is in line with the interests of the United States. From a geopolitical point of view, Taiwan is an important link in the U.S. island chain system. If China, which had fallen to the Soviet Union, acquired Taiwan in this island chain, it would mean that the Soviet Union would be able to cut off the American island chain through here. This is absolutely intolerable to the United States.

At this time, a telegram from MacArthur, the supreme commander of the US Far East Command, also arrived, and MacArthur could not bear the 24-hour uninterrupted radio propaganda war of the Chinese supply, and his reaction to the apparently imminent landing on Taiwan was very fierce. In his telegram, he likened Taiwan to an unsinkable aircraft carrier of the United States, repeatedly asked for a little color to be shown to those suppliers in Chinese mainland, and he asked Truman to agree that he would immediately send the Seventh Fleet to blockade the Taiwan Strait.

However, Truman knew that the Chinese fleet had already entered the Taiwan Strait for cruises, and the Chinese Government had even sent a diplomatic note to Shijie to tell Shijie countries that China would fight to the end against any country that dared to enter the Taiwan Strait to interfere with China's sovereignty and obstruct China's completion of territorial integrity and prevent China's reunification.

Although Truman did not believe in China's remarks, Truman had full confidence in the global hegemony of the US Navy. In Truman's view, the huge US Navy Liliang was by no means something that could be challenged by backward China, which had only fought a few successful naval battles with a few new ships from the Soviet Union. But in this kind of situation, when the other side sends envoys to send diplomatic notes, openly tearing their faces and rushing into the Taiwan Strait, it means a declaration of war and a brutal war. At that time, it is estimated that it will be difficult for Shijie countries to agree with this blatant interference in sovereignty of the United States, and this naked hegemonic war will only make Shijie fear the aggressiveness of the United States, and then lead them to turn to the Soviet Union.

Truman was lost in thought......

"Toot ......"

The phone on Truman's presidential desk rang softly, and he picked it up.

"Mr. President, Mr. Acheson has arrived."

"Let him in."

"Yes, Mr. President."

As the side door of the Oval Office opened, Acheson walked in in a casual suit of light gray Scottish tartan.

Truman teased, "Dean, are you going hunting?" ”

Acheson's beard curled comically, "You can still joke, it seems that the mood is not very bad." ”

Truman smiled bitterly: "You see, even clowns like McCarthy are saying that I am the appeasement of Chamberlain, how much better can my mood be?" ”

Acheson sat down on the sofa chair in front of Truman, tilted his head, and said, "I know your troubles, let me tell you what I think." ”

Truman remained silent and stared at Acheson intently, wondering what his kobold advisor had come up with for him.

Acheson didn't think about it: "MacArthur is right, we can't sit idly by!" ”

Truman remained silent, waiting for Acheson to continue.

"From the point of view of geopolitics that is in line with the interests of the United States and the desire to maintain military balance in the Western Pacific, an independent China is in our interests, and China that has turned to the Russians must be contained," Acheson said.

In the past, we didn't like China's ideology, but as long as China's supply did not completely turn to the Russians, it would not threaten the security of the United States. And the recognition of China's new left-wing government will help us to drive a wedge between China and the Soviet Union. But now that China and the Soviet Union have signed a treaty of friendship and alliance, it is obvious that the Chinese have leaned over to the Russians. That way, we don't have to worry about anything.

Under such circumstances, Taiwan's independence from Chinese mainland will undoubtedly be in the best interests of the United States, and we cannot allow Taiwan to fall. ”

Truman nodded.

Acheson continued: "As long as we hold Taiwan in our hands, we will always have the bargaining chips to put pressure on China, and pressure on China will undoubtedly be conducive to the Sino-Soviet split."

As long as we continue to exert pressure, China's dependence on the Soviet Union will gradually deepen, and China will continue to make more demands on the Soviet Union that the Soviet Union cannot satisfy, and the Soviet Union will undoubtedly make more demands for the interests of the Chinese supply, and such tensions will increase, which will eventually lead to the dissatisfaction of the Chinese supply with the Soviet Union.

And if we compromise with China, that won't change anything, and they'll see our policy of compromise as a Machiavellian conspiracy, or as we have to compromise because of our own weaknesses.

Fundamentally, Tito's fall out with the Soviet Union was not due to our encouragement and temptation, but to the fact that the nationalist supply parties could not stand the pressure and finger-pointing from the Russians.

So we have to take a tough stance on China, and that's the line we should follow, and not split the Chinese and Russians by seeking some kind of competition with the Soviet Union to see who is more likely to be China. We need to firmly grasp Taiwan as a bargaining chip now, and in the future we can flexibly adjust our policies as the situation changes, which may eventually lead to the separation of China from the Soviet Union. ”

Truman asked, "Will this completely push the Chinese into the arms of the Russians?" ”

Acheson said lightly: "The Russians are already there." ”

Truman asked again: "If the Chinese break with the Russians, will we use Taiwan as a bargaining chip?" ”

Acheson laughed, "Would you bait a fish that has already been baited?" ”

Acheson went on to elaborate on his point of view: "If there is a split between China and the Soviet Union, their regime will inevitably be in turmoil, and when there is internal turmoil in them, we can take détente actions to win them over." And if we compromise now, it will make other Asian countries uneasy. ”

Truman said: "These views of yours can only show that we do not need to recognize the Chinese supply regime at present, and we are not sending troops to Taiwan." ”

With that, he looked at Acheson.

Acheson was a little troubled by Truman's ability to comprehend, and he had to add: "It is not enough for them to simply refuse to recognize the Chinese supply regime. Although the Joint Chiefs of Staff does not believe that the Formosa (Taiwan) and Pescado (Penghu) archipelago are of sufficient military importance to the global strategy of the United States, for the Chinese Communists, the importance of these two islands is incomparable. ”

Acheson paused, "In that case, that's enough." ”

Truman hesitated: "Now that the diplomatic notes and radio statements of the Chinese have been sent to Quanshijie, we must have a reason for sending troops." I think it's better to wait for the Diet to discuss and approve it, and then come up with an excuse to send troops before making a decision. If I take military action in the name of the president instead of sending troops through a congressional resolution. I'm going to be a target for those guys in Congress again. ”

Acheson nodded and said: "That's the case, let's wait for the decision of the Congress first, if the Congress vetoes, it is not too late for you to take military action, and the Congress will not let us withdraw it at that time." However, we can first let the Seventh Fleet cruise near Taiwan to buy time for the congressional decision, and according to the current progress of the congressional discussions, it will not be until late May until the end of May, and when the resolution comes out, it will probably not be until early June, and we must first warn the Chinese supply to make sure that they do not dare to act rashly. ”

Truman frowned and said, "What if they ignore our naval warnings and land during this time?" What if our warships and the warships of China start a war? ”

Acheson shook his head and denied Truman's inference, and he said confidently: "Chiang hired more than 20,000 Japanese veterans, and the training level of these Japanese soldiers is much stronger than Chiang's rabble, plus Chiang's original more than 300,000 troops, even if the supply of China can keep up, in terms of the level of weapons and equipment supplied by China, Chiang's army will not have a problem resisting for a month, Taiwan is much larger than Zhoushan and Kinmen, there are railways and factories, as well as three or four hundred aircraft and four military airfields, These were enough to support Chiang's military resistance. If we continue to send arms and material reinforcements to Chiang from the east of Taiwan during this period, then it will be a long war for the Chinese supply, and this period of war will be enough for us to convince Congress to make up our minds to send troops.

As for naval battles...... Chinese don't have that kind of courage, and ...... They don't have that kind of strength! ”

Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital.

The single room in the Premier Suite on the second floor, facing the hospital's south lawn, is fully equipped with everything from oxygen cylinders to pacemakers, from neatly stacked cabinets of first-aid equipment to medicine cabinets full of expensive imported Western medicines, and full-time doctors and nurses are sitting idly on the sofa in the outhouse. The door to the ward was heavily guarded by soldiers.

Lao Jiang has refused to be discharged from the hospital since he was sent in for a heart attack.

Although his heart attack had been saved that night and he was able to get out of bed the next day, he was not discharged from the hospital. During the time he was confined to the hospital, he was given daily reports of information and the minutes of the various military meetings below.

During this time, he sent his subordinates to run around, especially Shen Changhuan, his full-time secretary for foreign affairs to the United States, to Japan to lobby MacArthur, of course, there was no shortage of gold, and in addition to Shen Changhuan on a C-46 transport plane, the two tons of gold were the most important. Coupled with the dozen tons of gold that had been stored in Japan before, Lao Jiang did not believe that MacArthur did not steal.

Lao Jiang did not pin all his hopes on Lao Mai, and the lobby group outside the hospital in Washington was also stepping up its activities, sending out a lot of gold and dollars for trading. In addition, the "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" special envoy took a passenger plane to the United States to send it to Truman, in which he promised that as long as the United States stationed troops in Taiwan, he Lao Chiang was willing to go into the field again and take over whoever the United States wanted, whether it was Li Zongren who was adrift in the United States, Yan Xishan who lived in seclusion in Taiwan, Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi who were addicted to corruption, or Sun Liren, the current Taiwan Defense Commander.