Bewilderment in Taipei

Whatever the higher authorities in Taipei definitely know about the attitude of the White House and the State Department towards the Mao despotism in Peiping and towards their own recognized republican government of China, the people and the press on the Island of Formosa have a bad time trying to figure out just where they stand in Washington’s estimation. About three and a half years ago Assistant Secretary of State Walter Robertson told a House committee presided over by Representative Coudert that it was United States policy to keep up pressure on Red China until the Peiping regime was overthrown “from within or without.”

That earned Mr. Robertson headlines in Taipei. It sounded as though the Eisenhower Administration would be sympathetic with an effort to overthrow Mao and his gang “from without”—meaning from Formosa of course. But then, about a year later, when President Eisenhower was asked at a press conference what this country’s attitude towards a counterattack on the mainland from Taiwan would be, he said that his government would want no part in a “war of aggression.”

RG

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Rodney Gilbert

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Whatever the higher authorities in Taipei definitely know about the attitude of the White House and the State Department towards the Mao despotism in Peiping and towards their own recognized republican government of China, the people and the press on the Island of Formosa have a bad time trying to figure out just where they stand in Washington’s estimation. About three and a half years ago Assistant Secretary of State Walter Robertson told a House committee presided over by Representative Coudert that it was United States policy to keep up pressure on Red China until the Peiping regime was overthrown “from within or without.”

That earned Mr. Robertson headlines in Taipei. It sounded as though the Eisenhower Administration would be sympathetic with an effort to overthrow Mao and his gang “from without”—meaning from Formosa of course. But then, about a year later, when President Eisenhower was asked at a press conference what this country’s attitude towards a counterattack on the mainland from Taiwan would be, he said that his government would want no part in a “war of aggression.”