Evening star., 1955-02-01
Canadian Officials
See No Danger Of
Attack on Formosa
D.. @II M~,:
By Gerald Worine
Special Correspondent Of The star

OTTAWA, Feb. 1.-The Cana
dian government has officially
expressed deep concern over the
Formosan crisis and an anxious
desire for its peaceful settle
ment. But Canada's perspective
differs in detail from that Of the
United States.
Primarily there is a tendency
in official circles here to discount
the existence of any real danger
that the Chinese Communists
can or will attack FormoSa. Hit
ler's inability to invade England
across the narrow English Chan
mel Is cited to support this argu-
ment.
Acceptance of that view re-
duces the problem from a threat
to a strategic link in Americas S
Far Eastern defense chain to a
mere resumption of the Chinese
civil war. with coastal islands
like the Tachens as the only
possible military prizes.
Foreign Minister Lester B.
Pearson leaned toward this view
when he said, in a radio speech
on the eve of his departure for
the commonwealth prime minis
ters' conference in London that
"it would be unutterable folly to
allow these Chinese islands to
become the scene or the occasion
of a major conflict"
Cease Fire First Job.
Mr.. Pearson also said that "the
first job, as always, is to stop the
fighting" ...
He thus made the achievement
of a cease-fre agreement be-
tween the warning Chinese gov
ernments a prerequisite for the
peaceful" redeployment of Chi
ang Kai-shek's forces now in
the coastal islands.
American policy also is di-
rected toward a cease-f1re and
the withdrawal of Chiang's men,
but with the United States 7th
Fleet reported ready to protect
the withdrawal from the Tachens,
it is believed here that the United
States does not make achieve
ment of the second objective de-
pendent on prior achievement of
the first.
On the other hand, Canadian
opinion does not discount the
beneficial effect on international
tensions of the withdrawal of
Chiang's troops from the con-
teseted islands. If a cease-fire
cannot be arranged to end hos
tilities pending a political settle
ment of the whole Formosan
question. then Canada likely
would favor trying to bring the
Chinese Reds into an informal
or tacit agreement to allow Chi
ang's men to quit the coastal is
lands unopposed.
No Yielding on Claims.
In a cease-fire arrangement,
Mr.. Pearson told the House of
Commons, neither the Ma
tionalists nor the Communists
need be asked to give up their
claims on the territory now held
by the other side, (but only the
use of military means to achieve
these aspirations"
A cease-fire and the redeploy-
ment of Chiang's forces should
make possible the de facto es-
tablishment of a situation with
which all sides could live, Mr.,
Pearson said, and eventually
make possible a final political
disposition of Formosa in ac-
cordance with the wishes of the
Formosan people.
Pending such overall polit-
ical settlement, he said, "consid-
Grafton could be given to the
naturalization of Formosa which
would be protected against as
sault from Communist forces on
the mainland and prevented
from being used as a base for
attack on that mainland"
The Canadian Foreign Minis
ter didn't spell out the implica-
tions of naturalization, but con-
ceivably such a step could force
the United States to reorganiZe
its defenses and reassess its de-
fensive position in the Far East