The Pescadores are a group of rocky, storm-swept, almost treeless islands lying in Formosa Strait, about 30 miles west of the Formosa coast. China got them back from Japan (along with Formosa) after World War II; the Nationalists hold them now. Of the 64 islands in the Pescadores, only 21 are inhabited; the total area is only about 50 square miles.
The U.S. Navy has a four-year-old standing order to defend the Pescadores as well as Formosa. This was emphasized last week by U.S. spokesmen, in answer to continued Chinese Communist threats to invade...