Japan deliberately annexed Ryukyu, but would it take the initiative to say that it would return it? This is obviously a fool's dream!
Of course, Ryukyu for the Qing Dynasty, can not talk about the word "return", because Ryukyu, like Korea and Vietnam, is only a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, not within the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
Ryukyu originally had only one suzerainty of the Qing Dynasty, but when Ryukyu sent an envoy to Japan in 1872, Japan suddenly and forcibly crowned Ryukyu as its vassal state, which was the first step Japan took to annex Ryukyu.
In 1874, Japan suddenly sent troops to Taiwan on the grounds that Ryukyu fishermen were killed by Taiwanese residents, and the Qing Dynasty did not deny the claim that Japan was the leader of the Ryukyu Islands, which was tantamount to indirectly acknowledging that Japan actually controlled or ruled Ryukyu, and also gave Japan a "reasonable" argument for forcibly annexing Ryukyu in the future.
In 1879, Japan annexed Ryukyu and abolished Ryukyu as a prefecture, which is today's Okinawa Prefecture.
What was Li Hongzhang's attitude toward Japan's annexation of Ryukyu?
In May 1878, He Ruzhang, the Qing minister in Japan, sent a letter to Li Hongzhang, strongly advocating that the Qing government intervene and prevent Japan from annexing Ryukyu, but Li Hongzhang was quite negative about this.
Li Hongzhang's attitude is that Ryukyu is just a land of bullets hanging on the sea, so far away from us, but so close to Japan, you see, is it difficult for us to save Ryukyu? Besides, a small Ryukyu, what benefits can it bring to us? Therefore, there is no need to fight with Japan for a small Ryukyu, of course, we are not afraid of fighting with Japan, but in the end there is no need!
What is even more lamentable is that Li Hongzhang also said: "Or you may wish to properly enlighten the camera." ”
Was his so-called "enlightenment" enlightening Ryukyu to accept the fact that it had been annexed by Japan, or was it enlightening Japan to voluntarily abandon the annexation of Ryukyu? For this, I am afraid that only Li Hongzhang himself knows it.
Therefore, Li Hongzhang's attitude was tantamount to abandoning Ryukyu, and his attitude naturally represented the attitude of the Qing government and most officials at that time.
However, since Li Hongzhang and the Qing government had basically abandoned Ryukyu, why did the so-called "Japan return Ryukyu to the Qing Dynasty" later?
In fact, this incident is a coincidence.
In May 1879, Grant, who had retired from the us presidential throne and began to travel around the world, happened to come to China, preparing to visit China and then go to Japan.
After Li Hongzhang heard about this, he immediately thought of letting Grant mediate the "dispute" caused by China and Japan over Japan's annexation of Ryukyu, and Grant was not willing to let his political career end like this, so after listening to Li Hongzhang's request, he thought about it and agreed, if Grant can successfully mediate this matter, it will inevitably become his political capital to run for president of the United States again in the future.
However, after Grant arrived in Japan, he did not come up with a way to properly mediate this "dispute", so he could only talk about the scene.
Although Grant had retired, he still had some influence in American politics, so the Japanese could not directly refute his face, and finally with Grant's intervention, the Japanese side proposed a plan to the Qing Dynasty in March 1880 to "divide the islands and change the treaty".
The so-called "division of the islands to the treaty" means that China and Japan will divide Ryukyu together, and the islands of Miyako and Yaeyama will be assigned to the Qing Dynasty, and the rest will be returned to Japan.
Therefore, there has never been a so-called "return of Ryukyu to the Qing Dynasty", and the reason why Japan has made concessions to propose the so-called "island reform treaty" is only to take the opportunity to get the Qing Dynasty and the international community to recognize the established fact that Japan annexed Ryukyu.
Then, why did Li Hongzhang "reject" the Japanese side's proposal to "reform the treaty by dividing the islands"?
Although Japan made concessions to the "treaty on dividing the islands," they dug another pit for the Qing Dynasty to jump: We can assign Miyako Island and Yaeyama Island to you, but we will revise and revise the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Commerce, so that we also have the power to share interests and can also Chinese mainland free trade and trade like foreigners.
In fact, Li Hongzhang and the Qing government originally planned to return Ryukyu islands to Miyako Island and Yaeyama Island, so that Ryukyu would return to Ryukyu in these two places, but the Ryukyu side did not agree, so the Qing Dynasty had to continue to talk with Japan.
Later, Minister He Ruzhang in Japan thought of the "three points of Ryukyu" plan that Grant had proposed, so he informed Prime Minister Yamen of this plan, and When Prime Minister Yamen looked at it, this plan was not bad! Therefore, Prime Minister Yamen proposed to Japan the "three points of Ryukyu" - the north belongs to Japan, the central part belongs to Ryukyu, and the south belongs to the Qing Dynasty.
Japan is of course not happy when it looks at it, but if it is "three points of Ryukyu", Japan can get less benefits, will it agree?
Don't say that Japan does not agree, in fact, Li Hongzhang does not agree, in Li Hongzhang's eyes, Ryukyu has almost no value, so he is not willing to ask for it.
As a result, China and Japan can only continue to talk.
At this time, it happened that Tsarist Russia was looking for stubble in Ili, which was his own territory and was connected to the Central Plains on land, so Li Hongzhang thought it was more important to handle the "dispute" with Tsarist Russia, so he took the opportunity to put forward the strategy of "delay".
The so-called "delay", to put it bluntly, is a delay! Therefore, Li Hongzhang never "rejected" the so-called "island reform" or "three divisions of Ryukyu" plan, he just wanted to use the delaying strategy to solve the Ryukyu affairs.
Li Hongzhang's idea was: "After the russian affairs are concluded, then the ball affairs will be concentrated and self-assertive." ”
He thought it was beautiful, and after resolving the contradictions with Tsarist Russia, he would concentrate on the affairs of Ryukyu. However, no one expected that he would delay this, but instead lost the best time to solve the Ryukyu matter.
Because with the passage of time, the national strength of the Qing Dynasty has become more and more weakened, the situation has developed in a direction beyond the control of Li Hongzhang and the Qing government, the Qing Dynasty is getting weaker and weaker, but Japan is getting stronger and stronger, and the Qing Dynasty does not dare to ask Japan to agree to the so-called "three-point Ryukyu" plan.
In the end, Japan's annexation of Ryukyu became an irreversible fact because of Li Hongzhang's "delay."