Commons Debate On The Formosan Crisis

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27569, 28 January 1955, Page 11

Commons Debate On The Formosan Crisis

LONDON, January 26. Sir Anthony Eden, the Foreign Secretary, told the House of Commons today that force was not the solution to the delicate and difficult Formosa crisis. “A settlement can only be arrived at by the peaceful process of negotiation,” he said. Sir Anthony Eden was answering a request by Mr Attlee, the Leader of the Opposition, for a statement on the Far East. The Foreign Secretary said: “The first concern of the British Government has been, and is, to stop the fighting. We have, therefore, continued to urge on all concerned the importance of doing this and of preventing a wider conflagration.” Referring to President Eisenhower’s message to Congress asking for power for the American forces to defend Formosa, the Foreign Secretary said: “President Eisenhower has been careful to say that he is not suggesting that the United States should enlarge its defensive obligations beyond Formosa and the Pescadores, as provided by the mutual defence treaty with Marshal Chiang Kai-shek. The President has again emphasised the purely defensive nature of the arrangement with the Chinese Nationalists. “We in this country respect President Eisenhower and know that he would sanction the use of United States forces only with the greatest reluctance and when, in his view, the situation constituted an immediate and serious threat to the security of Formosa and the Pescadores.” Sir Anthony Eden said that this was not a new element in United States policy. “On the other hand, the British Government understands that in the matter of the coastal islands, the Chinese Government cannot be expected to act in such a way as might seem to prejudice what it regards as its rights. We are, however, convinced that the problem of the coastal islands is susceptible of a peaceful solution, if only all concerned are prepared to work for it.” He said: “In consultation with the United States and other friendly governments, the British Government is examining various courses of action which might further this end.” He promised to give the House additional information as soon as the discussions, now going on, put him in a position to do so. “Intervention in Civil War” Mr Attlee replied: “It is clear that in this matter of Formosa and the islands, there is here an intervention in a civil war. It is clearly an action by the United States, and not an action of the United Nations. In view of the need for preventing hostilities and trying to get more peaceful arrangements, is it not clear that China should get her proper position in the United Nations?” Sir Anthony Eden retorted that he was surprised that Mr Attlee should couple Formosa and the offshore islands in one sentence. These had al-

ways been treated as separate issues—including at the time when Mr Attlee was responsible as Prime Minister of Britain.

The Foreign Secretary said that Formosa had never, in this century, been a part of China, and its status was dealt with by the Treaty of San Francisco signed by Mr Attlee’s Government. “The offshore islands have always been regarded, and are now regarded by us, as part of China. We have always been careful to draw that distinction, which I think the House should carefully maintain.”

Sir Anthony Eden said that “nobody knew better than the late Labour Government what caused the delay in the admission of the Chinese Communist Government to the United Nations. Chinese Communist aggression in Korea had held up the whole process. He said it would not be until there was a cessation of the fighting in the Formosa Strait that they could hope for a settlement of the wider issues.

Mr Attlee accused the Foreign Secretary of “leaving out some history.” It was true that Formosa was seized from China by a Japanese act of aggression. It was equally true that at a conference at the end of the war Formosa was declared to be an integral part of China.

China’s Seat on U.N. -The question of admitting China to her proper seat in the United Nations was raised some considerable time before Korea, said Mr Attlee. The seat had been denied her. “One of the difficulties is that whereas we expect China to observe the rules of the United Nations she has been kept out of her proper place in the Security Council,” said the Labour leader. The Foreign Secretary said that Mr Attlee was no doubt right in his point a£l*it the question of Communist Chara’s admission to the United Nations being raised before her aggression on Korea. “If we are to meet the present situation arising out of this troubled past—for which no government in this country bears direct responsibility—we can only hope to get a wider settlement if we get an immediate cease fire* where shots are at present being exchanged. It is to that end we have to concentrate our endeavours.”

Mr Aneurin Bevan, the Labour Leftwing leader, said: “It has always been understood by us that Formosa, equally with the offshore islands, belongs to the mainland of China. Does the Foreign Secretary now suggest that the situation has been altered by the fact that Formosa was stolen from China in 1896?”

Sir Anthony Eden said Mr Bevan knew that throughout this century so far Formosa had not formed part of China. “We should be doing very little good if we indicated that the I position of the offshore islands was j comparable with that of Formosa,” he I said.