Born in January 4, 1903 in Hunan Province and died Mach 29, 1989
in Beijing. The US linkage of Taiwan to Korea played a central role
in China's decision to enter to the Korean War in the event US
forces should approach the Chinese border by crossing the 38th
Parallel.
General Xiao Jinguang, commander of China's navy, wrote in
Xiao Jinguang Huiyilu (Xiao Jinguang's Memoirs,
Beijing: People's Liberation Army Press, 1990, p 26) on the
postponement of the Taiwan Campaign Plan in June 1950:
On June 30, 1950, the fifth day after the Korean War broke out,
Premier Zhou Enlai met with me in his office. He told me about the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee's consideration of
and the Chinese government's position on the current development of
the Korean War. Zhou said that this change in the world situation
made our liberation of Taiwan more difficult because the United
States now protected Taiwan in the straits. This change, however,
might also have a positive result since we were not fully prepared
yet. At present, our government's attitude was to denounce the
American imperialists' invasion of Taiwan and their intervention
into China's internal affairs. Our army's plans were to continue
the demobilization of the land forces, strengthen the construction
of the naval and air forces, and postpone the schedule of
liberating Taiwan.
(China.org.cn)
