Sino–Dutch conflicts

Sino-Dutch conflicts
A Dutch illustration of the surrender of Zeelandia on Formosa to China in 1662
Date 1620s-1662 Location Fujian, Amoy, Penghu, Liaoluo Bay, Kinmen, Tainan, Taiwan Result Chinese victory
Belligerents
Ming Dynasty China Ming Loyalists	Dutch East India Company Chinese pirates
Commanders and leaders
Shang Zhouzuo (Shang Chou-tso) Nan Juyi (Nan Chü-i) General Wang Mengxiong Zheng Zhilong Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga)	Cornelis Reijersen Christian Francs (POW) Marten Sonck Hans Putmans Frederick Coyett Liu Xiang Li Guozhu

The Sino–Dutch conflicts (Chinese: 明荷战争; pinyin: Mínghé zhànzhēng) were a series of conflicts between the Ming dynasty of China and the Dutch East India Company over trade and land throughout the 1620s, 1630s and 1662. The Dutch were attempting to compel China to accede to their trade demands, but the Chinese defeated the Dutch forces.

The Dutch East India Company used their military power in the attempt to force China to open up a port in Fujian to their trade. They demanded that China expel the Portuguese from Macau. (The Dutch were fighting in the Dutch–Portuguese War at the time.) The Dutch raided Chinese shipping after 1618 and took junks hostage to coerce China into meeting their demands. All these actions were unsuccessful.

The Dutch were defeated by the Portuguese at the Battle of Macau in 1622. That same year, the Dutch seized Penghu (the Pescadores Islands), built a fort there, and continued to demand that China open up ports in Fujian to Dutch trade. China refused, with the Chinese Governor of Fujian (Fukien) Shang Zhouzuo (Shang Chou-tso) demanding that the Dutch withdraw from the Pescadores to Formosa (Taiwan), where the Chinese would permit them to engage in trade. This led to a war between the Dutch and China between 1622-1624 which ended with the Chinese being successful in making the Dutch withdraw to Taiwan and abandoning the Pescadores. The Dutch threatened that China would face Dutch raids on Chinese ports and shipping unless the Chinese allowed trading on Penghu and that China not trade with Manila but only with the Dutch in Batavia and Siam and Cambodia. However, the Dutch found out that unlike smaller Southeast Asian Kingdoms, China could not be bullied or intimidated by them. After Shang ordered them to withdraw to Taiwan on September 19 of 1622, the Dutch raided Amoy on October and November. The Dutch intended to "induce the Chinese to trade by force or from fear" by raiding Fujian and Chinese shipping from the Pescadores. Long artillery batteries were erected at Amoy in March 1622 by Colonel Li Kung-hwa as a defence against the Dutch.

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