Projecting Poseidon’s Trident: America’s East Asia and the shifting contours of 1950s post-war naval policy

ABSTRACT

While the US obtained control of the seas in maritime East Asia after the dissolution of the Japanese empire in 1945, the Truman administration did not link its international security with maritime space in the immediate post-war period. The outbreak of the Korean War and the First Taiwan Strait Crisis drove the US to rethink the significance of international waters and gradually adopt a sea-oriented strategic command. This development altered the defence structure in Cold War East Asia and such perimeters of maritime defence remained in place until the US ended official relations with Taiwan in 1979.

KEYWORDS:

• Cold War
• the US Navy
• Maritime East Asia
• the Korean War
• the First Taiwan Strait Crisis

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Prof Andrew Preston, Prof Matthew Jones, Prof Barak Kushner, Prof Shin Kawashima, Dr Sherzod Muminov, Dr Ghassan Moazzin, Dr Casper Wits, and Dr Mujeeb Khan for their helpful comments and suggestions on the earlier drafts of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Commencement Address by the Vice President at the United States Naval Academy, refer to:

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/05/22/commencement-address-vice-president-united-states-naval-academy (accessed 18 March 2018).

² Ibid.

³ Vice President Mike Pence at U.S. Naval Academy: ‘It’s Your Turn to Assume the Watch’, refer to: http://time.com/4796186/vice-president-mike-pence-naval-academy-graduation-commencement/ (accessed 18 March 2018).

⁴ In terms of the sudden collapse of the Japanese empire, see: Marc Gallicchio, The Cold War Begins in Asia: American East Asian Policy and the Fall of the Japanese Empire (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988). Sayuri Guthrie-Shimizu challenges Gallicchio’s viewpoint by arguing that, prior to the end of the Second World War, the US had formulated the basic guideline for post-war Japan and its territories on land. However, her research marginalises the question of how the US crafted its maritime policy, see: Sayuri Guthrie-Shimizu, “Japan, the United States, and the Cold War, 1945–60,” in The Cambridge History of the Cold War, ed. Melvyn Leffler and Odd Westad (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 246.

⁵ John Lewis Gaddis, “The Strategic Perspective: The Rise of Fall of the ‘Defensive Perimeter’ Concept, 1947–51,” in Uncertain Years: Chinese-American Relations, 1947–50, ed. Dorothy Borg and Waldo Heinrichs (New York: Columbia University Press, 1980), 67, 73.

⁶ Accordingly, the US Navy built the headquarters of the Seventh Fleet at Qingdao in North China. In terms of the details and the Navy’s relationship with China, see: Jeffrey Barlow, From Hot War to Cold: The U.S. Navy and National Security Affairs, 1945–55 (California: Stanford University Press, 2009), 118–59; Kuan-Jen Chen, “U.S. Maritime Policy in Cold War East Asia, 1945–79” (Cambridge: Cambridge University PhD Dissertation, 2019), 27–85.

⁷ Adrian R. Lewis, The American Culture of War: The History of U.S. Military Force from World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom (London: Routledge, 2007), 180.

⁸ In terms of details about the ‘Revolt of Admirals’, see: Paolo Enrico Coletta, The United States Navy and Defence Unification, 1947–53 (Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 1979), 169–203; Jeffrey G. Barlow, Revolt of the Admirals: The Fight for Naval Aviation, 1945–50 (Washington: Naval Historical Centre, 1994); Stephen Jurika, From Pearl Harbour to Vietnam: the Memoirs of Admiral Arthur W. Radford (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1980), 205–16; Paul B. Ryan, First Line of Defence: The U.S. Navy since 1945 (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1981), 13–14.

⁹ In terms of hub-and-spoke alliance, see: Victor Cha, Powerplay: The Origins of the American Alliance System in Asia (N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2016); Gilford John Ikenberry, “American Hegemony and East Asian Order,” Australian Journal of International Affairs 58, no. 3 (2004): 353–67.

¹⁰ “Memorandum by the Chief of Staff, US Army for the Joint Chiefs Staff on possibility of Communist acquisition of Chinese Air Force aircraft presently on Taiwan,” 12 December 1949, box 23, Geographic File (GF) 1948–50, RG 218, National Archives and Records Administration, Maryland (NARA).

¹¹ “JCS 1966/24,” 19 December 1949, box 23, GF 1948–50, RG 218, NARA.

¹² “Report by the Joint Strategic Survey Committee to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on possible United States military action toward Taiwan not involving major military forces,” 19 December 1949, box 23, GF 1948-50, RG 218, NARA.

¹³ “Memorandum of conversation, by the Secretary of State,” 29 December 1949, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1949, Volume IX (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1974), 465–6.

¹⁴ “No title,” No date, box 23, GF 1948-50, RG 218, NARA.

¹⁵ Shu-ya Chang, Hanzhan jiu Taiwan? Jiedu Meiguo dui Tai zhengce [The Korean War rescued Taiwan? Decoding of American policy towards Taiwan] (Taipei: Acropolis, 2011), 58.

¹⁶ “The President News Conference,” 5 January 1950, from: https://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=574 (accessed 11 December 2017).

¹⁷ “The text of the extemporaneous remarks made by the Hon. Dean Acheson, Secretary of State before the National Press Club, Washington D.C. on 12 January 1950,” from: https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/documents/pdfs/kr-3-13.pdf (accessed 11 December 2017).

¹⁸ John Gaddis beautifully illustrates the different opinions on Taiwan between the Department of Statement, General Douglas MacArthur, and Joint Chiefs, see: John Gaddis, Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), 76–89.

¹⁹ Rohwer and Mikhail Monakov, Stalin’s Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programme, 1935–1953 (London: Routledge, 2001), 204; “Memorandum on Formosa,” 14 June 1950, box 23, GF 1948-50, RG 218, NARA.

²⁰ Chiang Kai-shek, Introspection on June 1950, Chiang Kai-shek Diaries; Shu-ya Chang, Hanzhan jiu Taiwan? Jiedu Meiguo dui Tai zhengce, 69–79.

²¹ “Memorandum of conversation, by the Ambassador at Large (Jessup),” 25 June 1950, FRUS, 1950, Volume VII, 157–8.

²² “Memorandum by the Chief of Naval Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff on defense of Formosa,” 27 July 1950, box 23, GF 1948-50, RG 218, NARA.

²³ “General policy of the United States concerning Formosa,” 27 July 1950, box 23, GF 1948-50, RG 218, NARA. In terms of the activities of the Seventh Fleet in the Taiwan Strait, see: Bruce Elleman, High Seas Buffer: The Taiwan Patrol Force (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012).

²⁴ People’s Liberation Army History Series Committee, Haijunshi [The history of navy] (Beijing: People’s Liberation Army Press, 1989), 15, 25.

²⁵ “Report by the Joint Intelligence Committee to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on estimate on the Taiwan situation,” 31 July 1950, box 23, GF 1948-50, RG 218, NARA; “Defense of Formosa,” 28 July 1950, box 23, GF 1948-50, RG 218, NARA.

²⁶ “Memorandum by the Chief of Naval Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff on employment of the Joint Attache Group on Formosa,” 8 August 1950, box 23, GF 1948–50, RG 218, NARA (“Memorandum by the CNO for JCS”).

²⁷ George W. Baer, One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The US Navy, 1890–1990 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), 317–18.

²⁸ Douglas MacArthur, Reminiscences (Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1965), 339.

²⁹ “MacArthur visited Taipei yesterday for discussing the current situation of Far East,” 1 August 1950, Zhonghua Daily.

³⁰ Hong-tao Chou recorded MacArthur’s visit in his diaries, see: Hong-tao Chou (dictation) and Shi-chun Wang (composition), Jianggong yu wo: Jianzheng Zhonghua minguo guanjian bian ju [Chiang Kai-shek and I: the witness of crucial changing of the Republic of China] (Taipei: Commonwealth Publishing Company, 2003), 225–9.

³¹ “From CINCFE Tokyo Japan to DEPTAR,” 7 August 1950, box 23, GF 1948-50, RG 218, NARA.

³² “Memorandum by the CNO for JCS.”

³³ Bruce Elleman, Taiwan Straits: Crisis in Asia and the Role of the U.S. Navy (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), 31.

³⁴ “From JCS to CINCPAC and COMNAVFE,” 26 July 1950, box 22, GF 1948-50, RG 218, NARA.

³⁵ “US Seventh Fleet plan for conducting operations to prevent an invasion of Taiwan and the Pescadores (The 7^th Fleet Plan),” 13 August 1950, 002-080106-00048-003, The Collection of President Chiang Kai-shek, Academia Historica, Taipei (AH).

³⁶ “Military Assistance to Nationalist China,” 3 August 1950, box 23, GF 1948-50, RG 218, NARA.

³⁷ “Commander Naval Forces, Far East Command and Historical Report,” June-August 1950, box 314, records of United States Army Commands, 1942-, RG 338, NARA (“COMNAVFE Report”).

³⁸ Eric Grove, Vanguard to Trident: British Naval Policy since World War II (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987), 137–8.

³⁹ “COMNAVFE Report.”

⁴⁰ Stanley Sandler, The Korean War: An Interpretative History (London: Taylor & Francis, 1999), 47–84. Robert Beisner, Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 397.

⁴¹ George Hodermarsky, Post-War Naval Force Reduction 1945–50: Impact on the Next War (Rhode Island: Naval War College, 1990), 31–2, 45, 52; US Bureau of the Census, The Statistical History of the United States (Stamford, CT: Fairfield, 1965), 1141.

⁴² “Taiwan Plays an Important Role in Defence of US Security in Far East,” 6 June 1950, Taiwan Shin sheng Daily News.

⁴³ Central Intelligence Agency, Soviet Navy: Intelligence and Analysis During the Cold War (Washington: Central Intelligence Agency, 1992), 7; George W. Baer, One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The US Navy, 1890–90, 321–2, 336; Donald W. Mitchell, A History of Russian and Soviet Sea Power (London: Macmillan, 1974), 510.

⁴⁴ Shimotomai Nobuo, Mosukuwa to Kimu Iruson: Reisen no naka no Kitachōsen 1945–61 nen [Moscow and Kim Il-sung: North Korea in the Cold War, 1945–61] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2006), 86.

⁴⁵ “COMNAVFE Report.”

⁴⁶ In terms of the details, refer to Thomas J. Cutler, “Sea Power and Defense of the Pusan Pocket,” in The U.S. Navy in the Korean War, ed. Edward J. Marolda (Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 2007), 1–50. Eric Grove, Vanguard to Trident: British Naval Policy since World War II, 140–3.

⁴⁷ “COMNAVFE Report.”

⁴⁸ Ibid.

⁴⁹ “Commander Naval Forces Far East Command and Historical Report,” June 1951, box 485, Army – AG Command Reports 1949–54, RG 319, NARA.

⁵⁰ The majority of railways on the Korean peninsula was completed during Japanese rule. In order to deliver materiel and connect industrial zones and harbours, railways were constructed along the Korean coastline. During the Korean War, these railways were utilised by Kim Il-sung to transport his troops and logistics, see: Seihō Kō, Shokuminchi tetsudō to minshū seikatsu: Chōsen, Taiwan, Chūgoku Tōhoku [The railways in colonies and people’s Lives: Korea, Taiwan, and Northeast China] (Tokyo: Hosei University Press, 1999), 46–50; “Commander Naval Forces Far East Command and Historical Report,” July 1952, box 718, Army – AG Command Reports 1949–54, RG 319, NARA.

⁵¹ Stephen Howarth, To Shining Sea: A History of the United States Navy, 1775–1998 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 491.

⁵² James F. Schnabel, Policy and Direction: The First Year (Washington: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1973), 273; Gorshkov: F. D. Kennedy, “The Creation of the Cold War Navy,” in In Peace and War: Interpretations of American Naval History, 1775–1978, ed. Kenneth J. Hagan (London: Greenwood Press, 1978), 305.

⁵³ George W. Baer, One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The US Navy, 1890–1990, 320.

⁵⁴ “The Far East Command,” 1 January 1947–30 June 1957, box 43, Central Decimal File (CDF) 1957, RG 218, NARA (“The Far East Command”).

⁵⁵ Ronald H. Cole et al., The History of the Unified Command Plan, 1946–1993 (Darby, PA: Diane Publishing, 1996), 20–1.

⁵⁶ CINCFE Dispatch 140405Z, March 1952, box 314, Records of United States Army Commands, 1942-, RG 338, NARA.

⁵⁷ “The Record of the Discussion between Chiang Kai-Shek and Radford about the negotiation of Armistice of the Korean War and US assistance to Nationalist Army for attack against Hainan Island,” 9 May 1952, 002-080106-00033-005, The Diplomatic Relations with the US, Vol. 11, The Collection of President Chiang Kai-shek, AH.

⁵⁸ Ibid.

⁵⁹ “Telegramme from the Embassy in Washington to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” 27 July 1953, 472.3/0007, The US passed a bill with regard to lending crafts to Taiwan, Diplomatic Archives (DA), Archive of Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taipei (AIMH).

⁶⁰ “N”lst Navy to get largest share of 25 US warships, no date; Radford: US sending naval ships here,” no date, 472.3/0007, DA, AIMH.

⁶¹ Maxwell Taylor, The Uncertain Trumpet (London: Stevens & Sons, 1960), 23.

⁶² Dwight D. Eisenhower, The White House Years Vol. 2: Mandate for Change: 1953–56 (New York: Garden City, 1963), 451.

⁶³ Stephen Ambrose, Eisenhower (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983), 225; John Gaddis, Strategies of Containment (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 131–2; Aaron Friedberg, In the Shadow of the Garrison State: America’s Anti-Statism and Its Cold War Grand Strategy (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2000), 130.

⁶⁴ Stephen Ambrose, Eisenhower, 171–2; Steven L. Rearden, Council of War: A History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1942–91 (Washington D.C.: Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2012), 142. In terms of details, also refer to: John Gaddis, Strategies of Containment, 125–61; Aaron Friedberg, In the Shadow of the Garrison State: America’s Anti-Statism and Its Cold War Grand Strategy (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2000), 131.

⁶⁵ Michio Kaku and Daniel Axelrod, To Win a Nuclear War: The Pentagon’s Secret War Plans (Boston: South End Press, 1987), 89.

⁶⁶ Dwight D. Eisenhower, The White House Years Vol.2: Mandate for Change: 1953–56, 450.

⁶⁷ Michio Kaku and Daniel Axelrod, To Win a Nuclear War: The Pentagon’s Secret War Plans, 89.

⁶⁸ “Outline Plan: Disestablishment of Far East Command and the movement of the United Nations Command to Korea,” 31 December 1956, box 072, CDF 1958, RG 218, NARA (Outline Plan).

⁶⁹ “From CINCPAC to CNO,” 25 April 1957, box 073, CDF 1958, RG 218, NARA (“From CINCPAC to CNO”).

⁷⁰ “Simplification of Command Structure on Taiwan,” 3 February 1958, box 073, CDF 1958, RG 218, NARA. “Outline Plan.”

⁷¹ “From CINCPAC to CNO.”

⁷² Central Intelligence Agency, Soviet Navy: Intelligence and Analysis During the Cold War, 11–12.

⁷³ Anthony Tucker-Jones, Soviet Cold War Weaponry: Aircraft, Warships and Missiles (Barnsley: Pen and Sword Aviation, 2016), 73.

⁷⁴ Donald W. Mitchell, A History of Russian and Soviet Sea Power, 509.

⁷⁵ George W. Baer, One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The US Navy, 1890–1990, 348.

⁷⁶ The Taiwan Defence Command was established in 1955 in the light of the Sino (ROC)-US Mutual Defence Treaty signed in 1954. Its initial name was “Formosa Liaison Centre” before being changed, see: “Vice Admiral Pride announced that the establishment of a liaison centre for Sino-US Military Cooperation,” 27 April 1955, Central Daily; “Formosa Liaison Centre will be renamed to Taiwan Defence Command,” 23 October 1955, United Daily News; “From CINCPAC to CNO,” 5 June 1957, box 073, CDF 1958, RG 218, NARA (“From CINCPAC to CNO”); “Report of progress made in reduction, simplification and consolidation of command structures in the Pacific Command,” 8 January 1958, box 073, CDF 1958, RG 218, NARA (“Report of Progress”); “Simplification of command structure on Taiwan-phase II,” 23 December 1958, box 71, CDF 1959, RG 218, NARA (“Simplification of Command Structure on Taiwan”).

⁷⁷ “Change 2 to CINCPAC Instructions 03020.2, Pacific Unified Command Plan,” 29 October 1957, box 073, CDF 1958, RG 218, NARA; From CINCPAC to CNO.

⁷⁸ “Defence of Hawaii,” 10 April 1959, box 71, CDF 1959, RG 218, NARA.

⁷⁹ “The Far East Command.”

⁸⁰ “From CNO to CINCPAC,” 23 April 1957, box 073, CDF 1958, RG 218, NARA.

⁸¹ “Headquarters Pacific Command proposed table of distribution,” 6 June 1957, box 073, CDF 1958, RG 218, NARA (“Proposed Table of Distribution”).

⁸² Ibid.

⁸³ Ibid.

⁸⁴ “Memorandum by the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff for the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Headquarters Pacific Command proposed table of distribution (U),” 12 June 1957, box 073, CDF 1958, RG 218, NARA.

⁸⁵ Ibid.

⁸⁶ Bruce Elleman, Taiwan Straits: Crisis in Asia and the Role of the U.S. Navy (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), 59–73, 89–101.

⁸⁷ History Compilation Office, Ministry of Defence, ROC, Meijun guwentuan zai Tai gongzuo koushu lishi [US MAAG-Taiwan: an oral history] (Taipei: History Compilation Office, Ministry of Defence, ROC, 2008), 10.

⁸⁸ “Command Relationship of American Military Organization is Changed,” 1 March 1956, China Post.

⁸⁹ “Command Structure on Taiwan (U),” 23 December 1958, box 71, Central Decimal File 1959, RG 218, NARA.

⁹⁰ “Completion of USTDC/MAAG Taiwan Headquarters consolidation,” 1 December 1958, box 71, CDF 1959, RG 218, NARA.

⁹¹ “Organisation, responsibilities and assignment of the Taiwan Base Command,” 24 November 1958, box 71, CDF 1959, RG 218, NARA; “Simplification of command structure on Taiwan. Report of progress.”

⁹² “The Republic of China’s Announcement Concerning the Breadth of the Territorial Waters,”People’s Daily, 5 September 1958.

⁹³ “ROC-US Navy Patrol Zone in the Taiwan Strait,” no date, 421/0007, Le-cheng Plan, DA, AIMH.

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded by the Isaac Newton Trust and the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation. My work was also supported by the Japan Foundation, Academia Sinica (Taiwan), and John A. Adams ’71 Center for Military History and Strategic Analysis at Virginia Military Institute.

Notes on contributors

Kuan-Jen Chen

Dr Kuan-Jen Chen is a Research Associate at Cambridge University. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge and his research interests are Cold War History, Modern East Asian History, Maritime History, and US Foreign Policy. He is currently working on his book about the making of America’s maritime order in Cold War East Asia.