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On 11 April 1951 a U.S. Seventh Fleet destroyer approached close to the port of Swatow (Shantou), on the southwest China coast, provoking China to send an armada of more than 40 armed powered junks to confront and surround the destroyer for nearly five hours before the destroyer departed the area without either side widening the conflict by initiating hostile fire.

MacArthur Provoking China
Following the completion of flight operations the evening of 7 April 1951, Task Force 77, the Seventh Fleet's fast carrier task force, departed Korean waters in the Sea of Japan bound for the Straits of Formosa (Taiwan). Control of the Seventh Fleet had been passed from Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet (CinCPacFlt) to Commander-in-Chief Far East (CinCFE), General MacArthur, through Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Far East (ComNavFE), VADM C. Turner Joy, two days after the North invaded South Korea.

The Truman administration had been aware of messages intercepted earlier by U.S. intelligence revealing that General MacArthur had alerted the right wing dictatorships of Spain and Portugal that he was confident he could widen the war in Korea into a major conflict including mainland China. At 11:00 AM on 11 April (the evening of 10 April in Washington, DC) Task Force 77 operating near the west coast of Taiwan commenced an "aerial parade" along the east coast of mainland China. Concurrently, the U.S. destroyer, USS John A. Bole arrived at its assigned station near the Chinese seaport of Swatow (Shantou), outside the statutory 3 mile limit, provoking the Chinese to surround it with an armada of over 40 powered armed junks. Although Task Force 77 was conducting its aerial parade over the horizon to the west, nearly two hours passed before aircraft from the task force, appeared over Swatow and made threatening passes at the Chinese vessels and the port city.

General MacArthur received notification of his dismissal shortly after 3 PM Tokyo time (2 PM on the China coast). Two hours later the Bole retired from its assigned station without hostile action being initiated by either side. Author James Edwin Alexander, in his article, "Who's in Charge Here?", expressed little doubt that the Bole and its crew were made "sitting ducks" by MacArthur trying to provoke the Chinese into attacking a U.S. warship in an attempt to expand the conflict.