In the early 1400s, Wuqiu was known as a marker on the sailing route between China and the
Ryukyu Islands. Wuqiu Township was originally part of
Putian County In 1954, Wuchiu was shelled and attacked by the Chinese Communists on several occasions. On February 25, 1955, Chinese Communist ships shelled Wuchiu. On June 21, 1955, Nationalist planes heavily damaged a 40-ton tugboat at Wuchiu. In February 1956, there were reports that the 480-man guerrilla force on Wuchiu would be evacuated. The Wuchiu Islands were seen as "highly vulnerable to Communist strikes" and "of little military value to the Nationalists." on Daqiu Once the War Affairs Committee was founded in July 1956, strong and complete foundation for war affairs was built in the township. In February 1957, the British cargo ship
Hydralock ran aground off Ockseu Island. All 31 crew abandoned ship, but then disappeared. They were later discovered safe on
Haitan Island. In the summer of 1965, then-
Minister of National Defense Chiang Ching-kuo visited the island as part of an inspection. Late on the night of November 13, 1965, the Nationalist patrol boat
Yungtai and the minesweeper
Yungchang were on patrol southwest of the islands covering amphibious boats that were unloading supplies to Wuchiu. At just after midnight, eight Chinese Communist boats (three escort destroyers and five gunboats) coming from
Quanzhou (Chuanchou) attacked the two Nationalist boats (
烏坵海戰). The
Yungchang was sunk almost immediately with fifteen survivors who were rescued by the
USS ''O'Brien. Yungtai'' sunk four of the Communist gunboats but was scrapped due to excessive damage from the engagement. In the early morning of March 20, 1974, Lt. Wu Miao-huo defected to the PRC. He took a rubber speedboat from Wuchiu to
Nanjih Island. Wu wasn't able to get along with his superior officers. On 29 January 1994, Wuqiu residents had their first election to elect the fourth head of Wuqiu Township. And on 16 July 1994, the residents had their first election to elect the fourth village heads of Daqiu Village and
Xiaoqiu Village. In November 1994, General Li Kai, commander of the troops at Wuqiu, committed suicide. During the
Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996, military sources in Taipei expected China to attack a small Taiwan-held island. The most likely target was Wuchiu, then garrisoned by 500 soldiers. The outlying islands were placed on high alert. In 1998,
Zero Chou produced a documentary about the islands called Yi Shi Zai Hai Xia Zhong ("Lost in the Strait") (Chinese: 遺失在海峽中：烏坵, 48 mins). on Wuqiu On December 26, 2001, President
Chen Shui-bian visited Wuqiu and delivered remarks. Chen was the first president to visit Wuqiu during their presidency. On July 23, 2017, after a period of sixty years in which the lighthouse remained disused, the Wuqiu Lighthouse resumed service. On the night of August 2, 2019, a cargo ship in port at Wuqiu struck a
tetrapod in choppy waves. The ship sank but the thirteen crew members were rescued by the Wuqiu Islands Garrison Command. In March 2020, the Kinmen County Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Office () sent five persons to Wuqiu to sterilize five dogs on the island in order to prevent the dogs from breeding and causing problems for the residents. On March 29, 2020, at about 3:55 PM, a capsized ship from mainland China, Haifa 88 (), which had entered Wuqiu's restricted waters on March 9, broke free from the anchorage holding it in place and floated away. On March 9 at 7:32 AM, the ship had been in a collision with another larger ship from mainland China, Minshiyu 07725 (), in Wuqiu's restricted waters, and the four man crew of the ship were rescued at that time. In late April 2020, Magistrate
Yang Cheng-wu visited Wuqiu for the first time as magistrate and stayed overnight. In May 2023, Mayor Tsai Yen-Ming (蔡燕明) was convicted of violating elections law and sentenced to three years and two months in prison. ==Geography==