Formosa Resolution of 1955

Leader of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1960.

The Formosa Resolution of 1955 was a joint resolution passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 29, 1955,[1] to counteract the threat of an invasion of Taiwan (Republic of China) by the People's Republic of China (PRC). The resolution gave the U.S. president the authority "to employ the Armed Forces of the United States as he deems necessary for the specific purpose of securing and protecting Formosa and the Pescadores against armed attack [by the Communists]".[2]

The resolution was formulated amid the Taiwan Strait Crisis (1954–1955), which was a brief period of armed conflict that involved incursions made by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on the islands in the Taiwan Strait controlled by the Kuomintang (KMT) led Republic of China (ROC). A latent response by the United Nations Security Council regarding these developments prompted U.S. President Eisenhower to request the resolution in January 1955.

  1. ^ "H.J.Res.159 - 84th Congress (1955-1956)". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
  2. ^ "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, China, Volume II - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2020-03-13.