Office of the Historian

190. Editorial Note

At a news conference on April 5, Secretary Dulles replied as follows to a question as to whether the overall world position of the United States would necessarily be weakened or might in fact be strengthened if the United States were to base its commitments in the Formosa area exclusively upon Formosa and the Pescadores:

“I have said many times, and I am glad to have a chance to say again, something which I can repeat by heart: The only commitment of the United States in that area is based exclusively on Formosa and the Pescadores.

“We have a treaty which confines the treaty area to Formosa and the Pescadores. We have a law which says that the armed forces of the United States can be used in that part of the area for the defense of Formosa and the Pescadores. We have no commitment of any kind, sort, or description, expressed or implied, which binds the United States to anything except the defense of Formosa and the Pescadores.

“Now you get to the question—if there seems to be an attack against Formosa and the Pescadores, how do you defend against that attack? That is the only question. Some people say that we should announce in advance precisely how we are going to defend and carry out our commitment on Formosa and the Pescadores and to say we will carry out that commitment by doing this or by not doing that. Once you extend your commitment to defend Formosa to a commitment as to particular means which you may use for defense, then [Page 451] you are getting into very difficult ground. We have a commitment, certainly, to defend the United States of America. But nobody yet has required us to state publicly precisely what the means would be of defense in the event of certain types of attack which cannot be predicted. I repeat—again and again and again—that our only commitment is to defend Formosa and the Pescadores and if there were no challenge to Formosa and the Pescadores, then there wouldn’t be any question as far as we are concerned of fighting in that area.” (Department of State Bulletin, April 18, 1955, pages 643–644)