ABSTRACT
The People's Republic of China (PRC) responded to the submission of the treaty by putting heavy military pressure on the northernmost islands held by the Nationalists. The most important of these were the Tachens, some 220 miles from Taiwan, which were garrisoned by 10,000 regular troops on the main islands and about 5,000 irregulars on associated islands. Though virtually everyone in Congress was prepared to defend Taiwan, there was great reluctance to become embroiled in the offshore islands. The logic of Peking's action during the 1954–55 Taiwan affair was to make the world realize that any international move tending to block the recovery of Taiwan entailed a risk of war with the PRC. The PRC would have made a great compromise by agreeing to any sort of formal cease-fire, and the world would have given it Taiwan. In the Soviet draft resolution, one side is the PRC, and the other is the United States.
