193. Editorial Note
On October 20, 1958, the Defense Ministry of the People’s Republic of China issued a statement rescinding its order to suspend the shelling of Quemoy. The statement, as released in English, reads in part as follows: “The order for our Army to suspend the shelling of Quemoy is hereby declared invalid, since the Taiwan authorities have introduced American military escorts to the sea area of Quemoy from the night of October 19 to the morning of the following day.” The statement declared: “This is an open violation of the condition for our temporary suspension of shelling.” For complete text, see Peking Review, October 28, 1958, page 6.
Secretary of State Dulles was at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, en route to Taipei, when he received reports of renewed fighting, which apparently included an inaccurate report of air attacks. He discussed the possibility of returning to Washington in a series of telephone conversations [Page 412] with Acting Secretary of State Herter and other officials, including Assistant Secretary of State Robertson in Taipei, who told him the fighting had been light and that it had stopped. He then telephoned President Eisenhower. He and the President agreed that he should continue on to Taipei, and the President approved a statement which the Secretary issued to the press. Phyllis Bernau’s notes of the telephone conversations, which took place between 12:26 and 2:50 a.m. (local time), are in the Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Telephone Conversations. For text of the statement released by the Secretary, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1958, page 1183.