The port of Mako in the Pescadores Islands was an area with a long association with the Imperial Japanese Navy, having been the first portion of Taiwan captured during the Japanese invasion of Taiwan in the First Sino-Japanese War. Mako was designated a third echelon naval port, or on 4 July 1901. It served as a staging point and refueling base in the Russo-Japanese War, and especially during the early stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War.