History books show Taiwan has long been part of China.

　　It was known as Yizhou or Liuqiu at different times throughout history and many records and annals document the development of Taiwan by the Chinese people. References to this effect are to be found, among others, in "Seaboard Geographic Gazeteer" compiled by Shen Ying of the State of Wu during the period of the Three Kingdoms. This was the world's earliest written account of Taiwan.

　　As early as in the mid-12th century, the Song Dynasty had set up a garrison in Penghu, putting the territory under the jurisdiction of Jinjiang County of Fujian's Quanzhou Prefecture.

　　In the 13th century, the Yuan Dynasty installed a patrol and inspection agency in Penghu to administer the territory.

　　During the mid- and late-16th century, the Ming Dynasty reinstalled the agency, which had been abolished, and sent reinforcements to Penghu to ward off foreign invaders.

　　In 1624, Dutch colonialists invaded and occupied the southern part of Taiwan. Two years later, Spanish colonialists seized the northern part of Taiwan.

　　In 1642, the Dutch evicted the Spaniards and took over north Taiwan.

　　In 1661, General Zheng Chenggong (known in the West as Koxinga) led an expedition to Taiwan and drove away the Dutch colonialists from the island the next year and set up the Chengtian Prefecture on Taiwan.

　　The Qing government expanded the administrative structure in Taiwan, strengthening its rule over the territory.

　　In 1885, the Qing government formally made Taiwan a full province, covering three prefectures and one sub-prefecture and incorporating 11 counties and 5 cantons.

　　In 1894, Japan launched a war of aggression against China and the next year, the Qing government was forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki, ceding Taiwan to Japan.

　　On December 1, 1943, the Cairo Declaration issued by China, the United States and Great Britain, stated: "It is the purpose of the three great Allies that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the World War I in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from China, such as Manchuria, Formosa (Taiwan) and the Pescadores (Penghu), shall be restored to China.

　　On October 25, 1945, the ceremony accepting Japan's surrender in Taiwan Province of the China war theatre of the Allied powers was held in Taipei.

　　(China Daily)