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PHOTOCOPIED October 2, 2002; NASM PRESERVATION COPY

U.S. Building Up Formosa's Defenses To Keep Pace With Reds, Reports Say

By William Miller

TAIPEI, Formosa (UP) - The U.S. has quietly carried out a general bolstering of Formosa's defenses in recent weeks aimed at keeping pace with the steadily increasing Communist Chinese power on the mainland, it was learned Sunday. 

Reliable sources said U.S. military officials here were 

TAIPEI, Formosa (AP) - Visiting U.S. Senators Earle C. Clements (D-Ky.) and Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) watched a Nationalist Chinese Army regiment in combat maneuvers Saturday. 

"increasingly confident" of the combined strength of the U.S. and Nationalist forces in the Formosa area. 

Pilots on Island

Developments here were:

1) The Air Force deployed an undisclosed number of F-84 Thunderjet fighter bombers to Formosa from Japan.  They are capable of dropping atomic bombs with pinpoint accuracy. 

2) U.S. Marine-Navy pilots have been assigned to the island for the first time for "familiarization training" that will give the Navy a nucleus of pilots with a working knowledge of Formosan airfields. 

3) Brig. Gen. Ben. O. Davis, Jr., arrived here this week from Manila to set up an advance task force headquarters of the 13th Air Force.  He will be responsible for the air defense of Formosa. 

4) A joint liaison command headquarters headed by Seventh Fleet Admiral Alfred M. Pride has been set up in Taipei.  The new command will control joint U.S. and Nationalist defenses of Formosa. 

Rumors on Sabre Jets

The U.S. Air Force has kept a squadron of F-86 Sabre Jet interceptors on Formosa for the last several months.

The number was reduced from a full wing of 75 shortly after the February evacuation of the Tachen islands - but the air force has conducted mobility tests proving it can have more squadrons here in a few hours. Reports have persisted in the Nationalist press that the U.S. plans to reinforce the number again, but the Air Force has refused to discuss this. 

The general situation around Formosa and the two outpost islands of Matsu and Quemoy has remained relatively quite for three months now.  But there's constant uneasiness because of the light artillery exchanges directed at at Quemoy just off the big Red Chinese port of Amoy. 

One Nationalist propeller driven patrol plane was downed by Communist fire last week near Matsu.  The Nationalists quickly retaliated by shooting up a small fleet of Communist junks in the same area. 

U.S. Officers Visit Matsu

TAIPEI, Formosa, (AP) - Senior American and Nationalist Chinese officers visited the offshore island of Matsu this week end.  Defense Minister Yu Ta-wei led a party including Maj. Gen. William C. Chase, commander of the military assistance advisory group (MAAG) and its new deputy commander, Maj. Gen. George Smythe. 

^[[and here is a handwritten note]] - JUNE 13 [[/and here is a handwritten note]]