On the morning of October 6, 1958, Communist China’s Defense Minister Peng Te-huai broadcast the “Message to the Compatriots in Taiwan” and announced that he had suspended the bombardment for 7 days. A statement issued a week later announced the continuation of the cease-fire for 2 more weeks.
During the first week of the cease-fire, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles of the United States concluded that he should make a visit to Taiwan for discussions with Chiang Kai-shek. The visit was scheduled from October 21 to 23. However, on the eve of his visit, Communists broke the cease-fire and renewed their shelling of Quemoy.
CIA Detachment C flew U-2 Mission 6023 on October 22, during Dulles’ visit to Taipei. Shortly after the U-2 had landed, the following message was sent, citing weather problems during the mission:
The weather might have caused some problems as the information gathered for the targets was mostly “incomplete”, as indicated in the OXY issued on October 24:
Later review of the mission revealed that there had been more problems than just the weather: the U-2 had deviated from the planned course.
But this might not matter anyway. Communist China announced that PLA forces would thereafter refrain from shelling the offshore islands on even-numbered days. Although heavy shelling took place on November 3 (an odd-numbered day) as the Communists attempted to affect the election in the US, the crisis was at an end.