Born in January 4, 1903 in Hunan Province and died Mach 29, 1989 in Beijing. The US linkage of Taiwan to Korea played a central role in China's decision to enter to the Korean War in the event US forces should approach the Chinese border by crossing the 38th Parallel.
General Xiao Jinguang, commander of China's navy, wrote in Xiao Jinguang Huiyilu (Xiao Jinguang's Memoirs, Beijing: People's Liberation Army Press, 1990, p 26) on the postponement of the Taiwan Campaign Plan in June 1950:
On June 30, 1950, the fifth day after the Korean War broke out, Premier Zhou Enlai met with me in his office. He told me about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee's consideration of and the Chinese government's position on the current development of the Korean War. Zhou said that this change in the world situation made our liberation of Taiwan more difficult because the United States now protected Taiwan in the straits. This change, however, might also have a positive result since we were not fully prepared yet. At present, our government's attitude was to denounce the American imperialists' invasion of Taiwan and their intervention into China's internal affairs. Our army's plans were to continue the demobilization of the land forces, strengthen the construction of the naval and air forces, and postpone the schedule of liberating Taiwan.
(China.org.cn)
