Bird in Hand

For weeks a sleek, needle-nosed model of the Matador guided missile has stood on Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's desk in Taipei. He genially parried questions about it. So did Vice Admiral Stuart Ingersoll, chief of the U.S. Taiwan (Formosa) Defense Command, who also had a Matador model on his desk. Last week Chiang stopped his parrying and explained: Formosa's defenses now include a Matador missile squadron, the first in the Far East.

The Matador is believed to be the latest model of "the bird," the TM-61C with a range of up to 650 miles. Presumably, Chinese soldiers may eventually be trained in the use of the Matador, but its atomic warheads, under standing Defense Department policy, remain solely in control of the U.S.

The announcement of the arrival of the Matador squadron served a twofold purpose: 1) it provided a welcome boost in morale for Chiang's government (the English-language China News reported itself "greatly cheered" at the news), and 2) it served blunt warning to Chinese Communists on the mainland that the U.S. does not intend to let them build up jet bases on the mainland opposite Formosa without providing an effective counter-defense. Now within range of the Matador are new Red jet bases in the Shanghai-Canton-Hankow triangle and the coastal bases of Foochow, Amoy and Swatow, on the mainland 100 miles across the Strait of Formosa. Three days after the announcement, Red artillery units on the mainland opened up on the offshore island of Little Quemoy with the heaviest bombardment in months, as a way of showing Communist displeasure.

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