IMO, China will not be able to hold Taiwan for long, even she takes it. It was colonized by mostly Fujianese & then lost to mainland rebels, Dutch, & Japanese before the KMT fled there.
Historically, & in the long run, attackers from the West & South always lost all wars: Japan was unsuccessfully invaded twice by the Mongols; Korea was invaded by Japan/US, but China came from the North & retook all/1/2 of it, respectively. The Mongols took C/S Asia, China, ME, & Russia; US lost in Canada in 1812 but took 1/2 of Mexico, Hawaii, Philippines, Guam, finally defeating & occupying Japan in 1945.
China will have more luck taking underpopulated SE Asia & later Australia.
I think you need to brush up on your history Shi Lang did successfully invade Taiwan and recover Taiwan for Qing Dynasty. He used to be admiral under Zheng chenggon aka Koxinga but falling out with him He use Penghu island as stepping stone to invade the island
Shi Lang was born to a distinguished lineage in
, in 1621. He studied military strategy in his youth, and became particularly proficient in naval warfare. He was also famous for his strength, ferocity and martial skills in battle.
once described him as a fierce warrior who was also highly adept in military command skills, however, he was a blunt and rude person who lacked basic manners and courtesy. After fighting a number of minor operations locally with his father, he joined
's naval fleet as captain of the left vanguard. Shi Lang served most of the early 1640s in the Zheng family's fleet, where he apparently saw some conflict with Zheng Zhilong's son
. When Shi defected to the
in 1646, Zheng Chenggong killed Shi's father, brother and son.
In 1681, following the
, the
sought a possible leader for an amphibious operation against Taiwan. Following the advice of
, he chose Shi Lang. Shi Lang insisted on having an independent command, not one shared with
, the Governor-General of Fujian. On 8 July 1683, after extensive preparation, Shi Lang led a force of 300 warships and 20,000 soldiers out of Tongshan, Fujian. On July 16–17, he defeated the Zheng family's leading naval commander,
, in a major engagement near the Pescadores.
On 5 September, Shi Lang received
's offer to surrender. On 3 October, he reached Taiwan and formally obtained the capitulation of Liu Guoxuan and Zheng Keshuang.
Following this successful campaign, Shi Lang returned to the Chinese mainland and worked hard to persuade the Kangxi Emperor to make Taiwan part of China's recognized territory. At the time, there was opposition among many within the Qing government toward the annexation of Taiwan, arguing that its maintenance would become an economic burden on the empire. However, the Kangxi Emperor accepted Shi Lang's views, and in 1684 Taiwan was divided into three counties and established as a prefecture of Fujian province.