![](/static/253f0d9b/assets/icons/icon-96x96.png)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8f2046ae-5d2e-495f-b467-f7b14ccb4152.png)
China is currently boxed in by American aligned entities. Every island off the Chinese coast large enough to throw an airfield on is controled by an American ally with American military forces on it. Taiwan is of massive strategic value because it would allow Chinese vessels to access the Pacific Ocean unimpeded.
They were used in the Franco-Prussian war a bit.