Mainland China and the island of Taiwan were linked by a land bridge in ancient times, but are now separated by the Taiwan Strait, which is about 72 nautical miles at the narrowest point and 140 nautical miles at the widest.

Mainland Chinese people began commercial activities on Taiwan island much earlier than the establishment of the first Chinese local government there, which was during the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368). In 1662 the Ming General Zheng Chenggong (Cheng Cheng-kung: his Japanese name was Koxinga) expelled the colonial Dutch occupiers from the island, claiming that “Taiwan is China's territory”. The general refused to withdraw his troops in exchange for goods offered by the defeated Dutch army. It was after this that China began to pay more attention to Taiwan.

Taiwan at first resisted the establishment of the Qing Dynasty which replaced the Ming Dynasty out of its proclaimed loyalty to the latter. Then, before being defeated by the Qing troops, Taiwan asked for vassal status as Korea and Vietnam once had. The Qing Emperor, Kang Xi, turned down this request, insisting that Taiwan was Qing China's territory, not a vassal state. Taiwan remained a territory (Qing court upgraded it to a province in 1885) until the Qing court, and after being defeated, signed it over to Japan with a treaty in 1895. Before then, China's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan had never been challenged (the Dutch had only wanted to use or rent Taiwan as a trading port).

The Role of the United States in Taiwan before the 1990s

Taiwan attracted the attention of a few Americans as early as the mid-nineteenth century when the United States began to expand into the Asia-Pacific region. Inconclusive proposals were made for the occupation, purchase or colonization of the island as a coaling station and trading port. M.C. Perry, who led a U.S. fleet to visit the island in 1854, even proposed that Taiwan be procured as a front post for the United States to ensure stability in the Western Pacific.