evidence: For years, the ROC planned to take back the mainland from its new base in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the PRC swore to reclaim Taiwan as an integral part of its territory. Through the 1950s and into the 1960s, there were military skirmishes between the two, particularly around the small Taiwanese islands that lie close to the mainland. But while the ROC eventually gave up on its ambitions, the PRC did not — hence the current conflict. As far as Beijing is concerned, Taiwan is a province of China that’s pretending to be independent and needs to be brought back into the fold. [...] Although China sees Taiwan as an integral part of its territory, Taiwan was actually only incorporated into China during the Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1644 to 1911, and even then the Qing didn’t control all of Taiwan. Indications are that the Qing dynasty didn’t consider Taiwan a particularly important possession. Instead, Taiwan was viewed as a hinterland occupied by strange savages. [...] But while the CCP now emphasizes Taiwan as being a part of China, Mao Zedong suggested as late as 1972 that the CCP was willing to set aside the Taiwan question for 100 years or more. Yet staking claims over Taiwan may have to do with the CCP’s ambitions to expand power outward into the Asia Pacific, with Taiwan occupying a significant geostrategic position for projecting maritime power.