Robertson, Walter S. 1893- 1970

When the United States agreed to a truce talk to end the Korea War, President Syngman Rhee disapproved. He opposed the truce and tried to attack these peace proceedings through a serious of events- such as releasing thousands of prisoners of war and creating turmoil for the US government. In order to persuade Rhee to accept the armistice defense, the US dispatches Assistant Secretary of State Walter Robertson to meet with the South Korean president in a series of bargaining discussions. Eventually, under certain conditions and a mutual defense pact with the US, Rhee agrees to the armistice.

Analyzes the strained relations between the United States and the Government of the Republic of China (GRC). It highlights growing policy divergences—US focusing on Taiwan’s defense and survival versus the GRC’s pursuit of military efforts to retake mainland China—and discusses issues such as the reserve training program, the Sun Li-jen case, and economic disagreements.

This document summary was generated by an artificial intelligence language model and was reviewed by a Wilson Center staff member.

The document records a conversation between US Assistant Secretary Walter Robertson and General Yu Ta-wei, discussing two key topics. First, General Yu emphasized Taiwan's 4-year program for economic self-sufficiency, particularly focusing on increasing fertilizer production to sustain sugar and rice output, which required U.S. assistance. Second, Yu informally proposed the establishment of a combined US-Chinese military staff to improve joint planning and operations.

This document summary was generated by an artificial intelligence language model and was reviewed by a Wilson Center staff member.