What was the big dispute on POW repatriation?
On January 2, 1952, the UN team on the peace talks introduced the doctrine of voluntary repatriation of POWs. That is, Chinese POWs who refused to return to China Mainland could choose to go to Taiwan. Washington’s thinking was the following: since many of the Chinese POWs were former KMT soldiers, they have in effect surrendered twice, once to PLA and once to UN, these POWs might be viewed by PRC government as unreliable or even traitorous. The refusal of the Chinese POWs to return to PRC might result in a substantial propaganda victory for Washington. Despite objection from many senior officials, Truman proclaimed: “we will not buy an armistice by turning over human beings for slaughter or slavery”. The POWs rioted many times because of the “voluntary repatriation”, on December 14 1952, 84 POWs were killed, and 120 were wounded. The London Daily Mail commented on December 18, “The United nations refuse to return captives who would almost certainly be shot when they got home,…
