The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis refers to the armed conflict between the ROC and the PRC over the Kinmen Islands. The People's Liberation Army commenced artillerty strikes against the archipelago, then proceeded to blocade them. Their efforts to capturte the islands were unsuccessful.
While the US had ratified a mutual defense treaty with the ROC, the offshore islands of Kinmen and Matsu were not covered by the treaty, meaning the US could only have intervened if President Dwight D. Eisenhower had decreed an attack on Taiwan under the Formosa Resolution
