What did the declassified documents reveal?

Declassified presents a declassified Central Intelligence Agency record concerning Chinese military capabilities for amphibious attack on Formosa. This document, a Top Secret memorandum dated July twenty-second, nineteen-fifty, provides an assessment of Chinese Communist and Nationalist forces. You can find this record on archive.org by searching the catalog ID C I zero zero three nine seven. This document was released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act by the C I A. The declassification authority and specific F O I A case number are not cited within the record itself, but its public release date is unknown. The document reads: Top Secret. To: Mr. Kennan. From: Robert P. Joyce. Subject: Memorandum of Chinese Red Military Capabilities for Amphibious Attack on Formosa. July twenty-second, nineteen-fifty. Yesterday afternoon, July twenty-first, at the request of Mr. Kennan, two officials of C I A presented a briefing on Formosa. The estimate presented confined itself to two major considerations: (one) an analysis of Chinese Communist military capabilities to launch an amphibious attack against the island of Formosa, and (two) the military capabilities of the Nationalist forces on Formosa to withstand such an attack. The two C I A officials, whose names I do not recall, both served in the China Theater during the war. Both of them created the impression that they knew what they were talking about. There is set forth below the high points of their estimates. Military Capabilities of the Chinese Force Preparing to Invade Formosa. There are about four hundred thousand Chinese Communist troops which are considered to be prepared to invade Formosa. These forces are presently situated all along the so-called invasion coast from Shanghai to the Amoy area. There is concentrated in the Shanghai-Hangchow Bay area a pool of steamships and L S T's, about fourteen of the latter, sufficient to embark some seventy thousand troops. The best intelligence from all sources indicates that there are presently in readiness a concentration of between two and three thousand miscellaneous craft, mainly junks, along the invasion coast, which are prepared for an amphibious assault across the Formosa Strait. Airfields have been laid out and placed in readiness on the mainland opposite Formosa. The Chinese Communists probably have not more than a hundred operational military aircraft, but this present capability could be increased by the introduction of Soviet military aircraft which could operate from the prepared airfields when the day of the assault arrives. The C I A officials gave it as their opinion that the Chinese Communist military planners, assisted by Russian planners, are capable of mounting and carrying through an amphibious assault on Formosa from bases all along the Chinese mainland from Shanghai to the Canton area. Chances of Assault Force Getting Ashore. The C I A officials estimate that, although American and Chinese Nationalist Naval and Air…

Why was this case declassified?

This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked on this page so the citation chain is auditable.

Case File · ARCHIVE-004Declassified

Filed NOV 8 · 2026Runtime 1 min

Declassified Presents A Declassified Central Intelligence Agency Record

U.S. public record · FOIAUpdated November 8, 2026

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Declassified presents a declassified Central Intelligence Agency record concerning Chinese military capabilities for amphibious attack on Formosa. This document, a Top Secret memorandum dated July twenty-second, nineteen-fifty, provides an assessment of Chinese Communist and Nationalist forces. org by searching the catalog ID C I zero zero three nine seven.

Date: NOV 8 · 2026
Release: Declassified · U.S. public record (FOIA)
Source document: View the primary source document

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What was Declassified Presents A Declassified Central Intelligence Agency Record about?: Declassified presents a declassified Central Intelligence Agency record concerning Chinese military capabilities for amphibious attack on Formosa. This document, a Top Secret memorandum dated July twenty-second, nineteen-fifty, provides an assessment of Chinese Communist and Nationalist forces. org by searching the catalog ID C I zero zero three nine seven.
Why was this case declassified?: This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. Storyflo narrates it directly from the public release.

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