By shelling the islands close to the Chinese shore Beijing was
first
declaring its determination to lay claim to Taiwan as well;
second, it was implicitly warning off America’s allies from the putative alliance;
third, it was complicating the American position by compelling it to include the protection of those islands in its treaty commitment so as to make it more difficult to establish Taiwan as a separate entity;
and finally, it was hoping to begin a dialogue with the United States so as to break out of the economic embargo and isolation imposed upon it by the United States.
Taipei sought an American commitment that would both ensure it relative equality with America’s other Asian allies and uphold its occupation of the offshore islands in the hope of an eventual return to the mainland to overthrow the communist regime.
Constituting the Republic of China, the Chiang Kai-shek government saw itself as the legitimate representative of the whole of China and, as Chinese patriots, its leaders were unwilling to contemplate a separate Taiwan.
Indeed one of the American concerns was that a collapse of morale on the island might cause the regime to make its own deal with Beijing.
The American interest was to link Taiwan in the emerging security system of the Asia-Pacific and so complete the cordon of containment.
To this end it did not wish its security commitments to be subject to military conflicts over islands were the PRC enjoyed overwhelming geographical advantage.
Still less did it wish the crisis to lead to splits with allies.