In 1624 the Dutch East India Company founded a base in Taiwan for trade with China turning the island into its colony. But the autority of the Company did not embrace the whole island and all the different tribes of its inhabitants. With some of them the Company concluded peace, with others it kept "cautious neutrality", but with some others it had to fight. Finally some lands and tribes had managed to remain outside the Dutch reach. Tranquillity, loyalty and the ability to exploit the natives in the Company's interests were the main conditions which the Dutch wanted to secure, but did not after all manage to achieve them during the all 38 years of possessing the island. This article is devoted to the policy of the East India Company concerning the natives of Formosa during the first years of the Dutch rule (1624-1636).