A 250 Year Tradition Has Been Broken: Japanese Invasion of Taiwan.
156Howdy folks. I do hope that y'all enjoy this slight change in style and of course the topic. The 1874 invasion of Taiwan is by far the lesser known event of the grouping that will be covered, but it plays a vital role in the re-telling of history.
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The Invasions pretext, was based on the 1871 Mudan incident, where 54 Ryukyuian sailors were massacred by the Paiwan, one of the indigenous cultures in Taiwan. While Ryukyu had technically been an independent kingdom for centuries, it had long been a tributary and vassal state of the Ming and later Qing Empire. Dating back to the creation of the Ryukyu kingdom in 1423. However, Japanese influence had already shifted the status of this island to change, and they fell under de-facto control of Japan in 1872, in return for a cancellation of a debt, and kinda just because Japan said so. So, for a few years in the 1870's. Ryukyu was a recognized vassal state of both countries.
As a vassal state, the Ryukyuian population was under Japanese protection. Upon news of this massacre. Japan sent foreign minister Soejima Taneomi to Beijing in June 1873, asking for a compensation to the families and a persecution of the perpetrators of the killings. At first, the Chinese government denied the request, stating that it was a purely internal affair, since once again, the Ryukyian kingdom was still de-jure a Chinese state. Taneomi countered, by stating that four of the slain were from the Oyo province of Japan, in which the reply was that the aboriginal cultures of Taiwan, were not under direct Qing authority, so negotiations came to a standstill. After a few weeks Taneomi finally returned home, conversing with his government the next best course of action to take. Charles Le Gendre, an American Military advisor to the Japanese, pressured the Japanese government to take the matter into their own hands, using force to deliver a message against the Qing government. Le Gendre in his memo's had viewed Japan as a major player within the Far eastern region. In order to protect itself from this threat he thought. Japan should use the failure of the Chinese government to meet their demands, as a pretext for annexing Taiwan and the Pescadores. LeGendre justified this argument based on an assessment of international conditions at the time. As the conflict between Britain and Russia over the “Eastern Question” grew worse the danger of war between the two countries would increase, Japan may very well soon be locked out of the ability to gain a foothold on the international stage, and end up as merely a colony between other powers in the region. He had predicted that the European powers would not intervene in an attempted annexation, as Britain and Russia would prefer to see Japan rather than a rival power occupy Taiwan.
An expedition was planned and put into motion. By using the pretext of the Mudan incident, Japan would expand their influence over not only the Ryukyian island chain, but also attempt to capture the island of Taiwan itself. Bringing with them, 300 women and children to start constructing lodgings and settlements on the island. Expanding their colonial control as time went on. The timing was relatively good too. As the Qing were still recovering or engaged in a multitude of wars and rebellions on the mainland. All which has massively crippled the economic and military power of the state. With this knowledge, the Japanese government and military planners believed that a quick localized conflict, away from the mainland, wouldn't alert officials in the Qing government enough to mount a major expedition to protect Taiwan. In case that this thought was wrong however, Japan had managed to get nominal backing from the European and American consults, stating that Japan had the blessing of their mother countries to do as they pleased in Taiwan.