Wong Chia-yin, a lecturer in the Department of History at National Taiwan University, points out that the South China Sea was the prime route for trade and smuggling between Europe, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan, and Taiwan found itself on this maritime highway.
台大歷史系講師翁佳音指出，當時的南中國海正是西方船隊往來歐洲、東南亞、中國、日本間的黃金航道，也是當時世界最大的國際走私、貿易圈之一，台灣正位於這條「海上高速公路」上。