Taiwanese Army on Phú Quốc Island

The Taiwanese Army on Phú Quốc Island, also known as the Futai Army, is a term referring to a group of troops of the Republic of China that retreated from Guangxi Province to French-controlled Vietnam under the lead of Nationalist General Huang Chieh.^[1][2][3][4] In the PRC and North Vietnam they are called The remnants of Chiang's Bandit Army invading Vietnam. Later, French colonial forces, citing "protection", put the troops under house arrest on Phú Quốc Island, hence the name they are referred to today.^[5]

In 1953, with the help of the United States, it was negotiated that the Phú Quốc army would be transferred to Taiwan. After arrival, they were reorganized as part of the Republic of China Marine Corps.

After the failure of the Yangtze River Crossing campaign, many forces of the Republic of China fled to Taiwan or Hainan. However, many troops from Guangxi and Yunnan retreated to the south.

In early July of 1949, PLA and Viet Minh forces attacked the modern-day Friendship Pass near the China-Vietnam border. Only 48 people escaped the encirclement to Vietnam, that was occupied by the French. The French army disarmed them there and concentrated them around Lạng Sơn. This marked the beginning of the ROC army's stay in Vietnam.

The remaining KMT troops in the Liangguang area continued to be pursued by the Fourth Field Army of the PLA. Under the instruction of Bai Chongxi, the “New Guangxi Department” was to be led by Huang Chieh. The 1st Corps were to be reorganised, following the former 1st Corps’ surrender to the PLA at Changsha in August 199, to guard Guangxi Province under the jurisdiction of the 14th, 71st and 97th Armies of the NRA.

However, Guiyang was occupied by communist forces on November 15, the 71st Army was defeated north of Guilin on November 21 and the 1st Corps abandoned Guilin altogether on the 22nd. The PLA continued its southward advance by occupying Shatang on November 24, Liuzhou and Wuzhou on the 25th. In addition to the 1st Corps’ defeat, the remaining KMT forces in the province also had the 3rd Corps (under the jurisdiction of the temporary 8th and 9th Armies) and the 10th Corps.

At the end of November 1949, the PLA had defeated the 11th Corps in the southern part of Guangxi. This led to all kinds of troops beginning to retreat and enter Vietnam in a scattered manner. After the occupation of Nanning on December 5, the route of escape via the Gulf of Tonkin was lost. Bai Chongxi instructed the retreating forces to preserve their strength, conduct guerilla warfare and put safety first.

Due to the fact that PLA forces never pursued retreating Nationalists into Vietnam, troops unwilling to surrender to the CCP started to enter Vietnam en masse, which also spelled the end for the Chinese Civil War in Guangxi.

Of all the troops under house arrest in Vietnam, the one with the highest rank was Huang Chieh, commander of the 1st Corps. He appointed He Zhuben, his chief of staff, as his representative, and went to Cửa khẩu Chi Ma, a place at the Sino-Vietnamese border, with Mao Qiqi, head of the foreign affairs department. An agreement was signed between them and the Chief of Staff of the French Border Guard in Lạng Sơn, Lieutenant Colonel Auridl, on December 12, which took effect on December 13. The content of which was as follows:

1. It is agreed that the Nationalist Army will be transferred from Haiphong City to Taiwan.
2. The weapons are to be handed over to France for sealing, and the government of the ROC would negotiate for their return.
3. Alerts on the journey are to be sent by the French side, and food is to be supplied by the French side.
4. The operation is to start on the 13th, divided into groups of 500 people each, with women and children being allowed to be repatriated first.

However, the PRC’s Premier Zhou Enlai issued a diplomatic statement, accusing the French stationed in Vietnam of allowing the Nationalists to enter Vietnam. The agreement was then torn up and the repatriation of the Nationalist troops scrapped. After the disarmament of the troops, they were detained in Mông Dương and a coal mine near Hạ Long. Due to the uninhabited landscape, the Nationalist troops had to build houses themselves.

After the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States and France repeatedly discussed the situation of the Nationalist Army in Vietnam. The US suggested they join France in the First Indochina War, but France was worried that this may spark PLA involvement in the war.

In 1951, the French situation in northern Vietnam deteriorated and many French units withdrew south. The Nationalist troops were once again moved, this time to Phu Quoc island, hence the modern name of the army. The 26th Army, however, was assigned to Cam Ranh Bay. Unfortunately, the two camps both lacked infrastructure, so the KMT forces could only build an army hospital and a Chinese school. Even though the international situation had by this point changed, France’s attitude towards the repatriation of the troops did not change - they remained under house arrest. On Christmas Day, 1951, the Nationalist Army on Phu Quoc Island and Cam Ranh Bay held a hunger strike. In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China protested to France in January 1952.

After the remaining Nationalist troops entered Phu Quoc Island, Chiang Kai-shek hoped that this military unit could enter mainland China from Vietnam during a counterattack of the mainland. The remnants of the army were merged.

It was only until 1951, that Chiang Kai-shek said that Huang Chieh’s Vietnamese Army could come to Taiwan. In 1952, planning began for the repatriation of the troops - residences were built in numerous Taiwanese cities to accommodate troops after a potential repatriation. On June 2, 1952, the first batch of officers and soldiers arrived in Kaohsiung and were instantly incorporated into new army formations.

The camp on Phu Quoc Island was briefly abandoned after the withdrawal of the Nationalists. However, in 1966, the government of South Vietnam, with American assistance, converted the camp into a prison for political prisoners of the Vietnamese Communist Party. After South Vietnam’s defeat in the Vietnam war, the prison was closed and re-opened in 1996, thus becoming a tourist attraction on the island.

The Taiwanese Army on Phu Quoc Island was not the last Taiwanese army in Vietnam, however. During the Vietnam war, the ROC sent military training units to South Vietnam, which became known as the Liên-Đoàn Người Nhái.^[6]

• Kuomintang in Burma
• Chinese Civil War
• Guangxi Campaign
• French Indochina