China and Taiwan have been confused of their identity or lack over for over two hundred years now. The two countries are so very different yet share the same past and if one country is not careful, the same future. Taiwan is a tiny democratic island located off the shore of China in the East China Sea. China, on the other hand, is a very large and strong communist country that Taiwan is working to break free from. Taiwan's struggle for independence from China has attracted the U.S.'s attention, but all the U.S. has done has put its figurative foot in its mouth. Now the U.S. is caught in a struggle that pins China against Taiwan to gain land for economic growth. .
Taiwan's history really begins in the 15th century when the Dutch brought slaves to work as migrant workers. Dutch arrived only to find aborigine people and no sign of any structure of the Chinese Imperial Government, so this meant that Taiwan was not part of China at that time. The slaves that where brought over were Chinese and when they were made to wed the aborigine women a new race was born: the Taiwanese. Taiwan then endured close to two hundred years of loose freedom with the immigration of coastal people from China increasing. These people that fled China were fleeing wars and famine on the communist coastal area. The freedom that Taiwan possessed was taken to the limit when, in 1870, the Taiwanese pirates captured American, Japanese, and French ships passing the island (Taiwan's History 3). After the pirates raided these countries for the last time, they took their problems to the Chinese government but Manchu stated that: "Taiwan is beyond our territory."" Disgusted with China's disregard to their claims, France sent a fleet to the island and seized control of the northern part of Taiwan for nine months (1884-1885). It was not until 1887 that China finally realized that Taiwan should be a part of Imperial China.