Cross-Strait conflict

The Cross-Strait conflict refers to the ongoing political, economic and armed conflict between the People's Republic of China (PRC, "China") and the Republic of China (ROC, "Taiwan"). The conflict followed the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party, which ended with the retreat of the Kuomintang to Taiwan. Since then there has been a frozen conflict between the Communist-held Mainland China and the government in exile based in Taiwan, with intermittent periods of military confrontations.
History.
Aftermath of the Chinese Civil War.
In 1949, the Chinese Civil War ended with the victory of the Communist People's Republic of China (PRC). The government of the Republic of China (ROC), controlled by Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang (KMT), and 1.3 million anti-Communist Chinese supporters fled from mainland China. The ROC government relocated to the island of Taiwan. The territory under ROC control was reduced to Taiwan, Hainan, the Pescadores Islands (Penghu), and several island groups along the south-east coast of China. 
Battles between the two sides continued through to the early 1950's. In the Battle of Dengbu Island, the ROC forces beat the PRC forces, but were later forced to retreat after the PRC gained air superiority. In the Battle of Hainan Island, the PRC captured the large island of Hainan. The same result happened in the Battle of Dongshan Island (1950), as well as the Battle of Nanpéng Island the same year. However, support by the US, the ROC won the Battle of Nanri Island in 1952. later in the year, the communists won the Battle of Nanpeng Archipelago, as well as the Battle of Dalushan Islands and the Dongshan Island Campaign, both in 1953.
Project National Glory.
In 1961, after the PRC's disastrous Great Leap Forward, the outbreak of the Vietnam War and the prospect of the PRC having a nuclear weapon, ROC President Chiang Kai-shek launched planning for an attack to recover mainland China once and for all, owing to the poor situation that faced the mainland population in the beginning of the decade and taking advantage of the Sino-Soviet split in diplomatic, military, economic and political relations with the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, while it was forging alliances with other countries.
On 6 August 1965, the naval warship "Zhangjiang" carried out assignment "Tsunami Number 1" to transport special forces to the vicinity of the Eastern mainland Chinese coastal island of Dongshan for an intelligence gathering operation. However, "Tsunami Number 1" met with disaster when a People's Liberation Army Navy torpedo boat ambushed and sank the "Zhangjiang", killing 200 soldiers.
In November 1965, Chiang ordered two other naval vessels, the CNS "Shan Hai" and the CNS "Lin Huai", to pick up wounded soldiers from Taiwan's offshore islands of Penghu and Wuqiu. The vessels were attacked by twelve People's Liberation Army Navy ships near the island of Magong, and the "Lin Huai" was sunk by two torpedoes, with some 90 soldiers and sailors killed. After the naval battle at Magong, Chiang Kai-shek gradually gave up all hope for the success of Project National Glory,
First Taiwan Straits Crisis.
The First Taiwan Strait Crisis was a conflict focused on several groups of islands in the Taiwan Strait that were held by the ROC but were located only a few miles from mainland China. The crisis began when the PRC shelled the ROC-held island of Kinmen (Quemoy). Later, the PRC seized the Yijiangshan Islands from the ROC. Under pressure by the PRC, the ROC then abandoned the Tachen Islands (Dachen Islands), which were evacuated by the navies of the ROC and the US.
Second Taiwan Straits Crisis.
The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a conflict in which the PRC shelled the islands of Kinmen (Quemoy) and the Matsu Islands along the east coast of mainland China (in the Taiwan Strait) to "liberate" Taiwan and to probe the extent of the United States defense of Taiwan's territory. A naval battle also took place around Dongding Island when the ROC Navy repelled an attempted amphibious landing by the PRC Navy.
Third Taiwan Straits Crisis.
The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was the effect of a series of missile tests conducted by the People's Republic of China in the waters surrounding Taiwan, including the Taiwan Strait from 21 July 1995 to 23 March 1996. The first set of missiles fired in mid-to-late 1995 were allegedly intended to send a strong signal to the ROC government under Lee Teng-hui, who had been seen as moving its foreign policy away from the One-China policy. The second set of missiles were fired in early 1996, allegedly intending to intimidate the Taiwanese electorate in the run-up to the 1996 presidential election.