In everyone's impression, the first conflict between China and Japan in modern times was the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War in 1894, but in fact, as early as 1874, Japan vainly attempted to invade and occupy Taiwan, China's invasion attempt ultimately failed, but the weak And weak Qing government compensated Japan with 500,000 taels of silver, and there was no military defeat but it also had to pay compensation to the other side.
Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War
Taiwan is the barrier of China's southeastern sea frontier, not only is its geographical location extremely important, but it is also "a hundred things are solid," so "countries have been coveted for a long time since trade." The Netherlands, Spain, Britain, the United States and other countries have successively invaded and plundered them, and Japan, which embarked on the road of capitalist development after the Meiji Restoration, adopted a policy of external armed expansion from the very beginning due to special socio-economic reasons, taking Taiwan, which is "particularly close together," as its primary target of aggression.
Panorama of Taiwan
In order to realize the expansion plan of "opening up the waves of thousands of miles" and "spreading the power of the country to the four sides" put forward when the Meiji state was founded, Japan vigorously advocated and carried out its "mainland policy," and its steps were: First, to conquer Taiwan; second, to conquer Korea; third, to conquer Manchuria and Mongolia; fourth, to conquer the whole of China; and fifth, to conquer the world. According to this, the first step in Japan's expansion was China's Taiwan.
In 1870, the Japanese Meiji government sent envoys to China, ostensibly to establish diplomatic relations with the Qing government, but in fact wanted to obtain the same privileges in China as the Western powers through the signing of the treaty of commerce, and on September 23, 1871, the two sides signed the Sino-Japanese "Treaty of Reconciliation" and the "Treaty of Commerce: Customs Tariff Rules", Japan did not get any substantial benefits in these two treaties, the Meiji government was greatly dissatisfied, so it planned to use the Ryukyu Incident to send troops to invade Taiwan.
Ryukyu was once an archipelago country in East Asia, one of the many vassal states in China, since 1372 (Hongwu five years) Ryukyu began to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, all the Ryukyu kings had to accept the Ming Dynasty canonization, after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Ryukyu in 1651 (Shunzhi 8th year) began to pay tribute to the Qing Dynasty, every two years, with the Qing Dynasty to establish a new and stable clan relationship, Ryukyu and Japan were originally equal relations, but in 1609 (Wanli thirty-seven years) Japan's Satsuma Clan invaded Ryukyu by force, forcing Ryukyu to "pay tribute" to Satsuma, Nevertheless, Ryukyu has been resisting the Japanese invasion, and Ryukyu has maintained de facto independence.
On November 30, 1871, two tribute ships of the Ryukyu Miyako Islanders left the port of Naha in Ryukyu for China. Unfortunately, in the middle of the storm, drifting on the sea, one ship was fortunate to return, and the other drifted to Bayou Bay in the Alpine Peony Society on the southwest coast of Taiwan, with a total crew of 69 people, of which 3 drowned and 66 landed. The Ryukyuan people who landed clashed with the Takayama people on the shore, 54 were killed by the Takayama clan, 12 escaped, and were protected by the Qing government in Fengshan County, this incident was purely a problem between China and Ryukyu, and had nothing to do with Japan, but Japan used this as an excuse for foreign aggression, and in 1873, the Meiji government sent envoys again, taking advantage of the opportunity to spy on the Attitude of the Qing Government towards Taiwan and Ryukyu affairs.
Japanese Deputy Envoy Yanagihara Maemitsu was instructed by Vice Minister Masamune Shima to inquire about the killing of the Ryukyu Islanders, and Prime Minister Yamen Mao Changxi replied: "The two islands belong to my own territory, and those who belong to the territory kill each other, and the verdict is fixed on me." I sympathize with the Liu people, I have my own measures, why do I foresee your state affairs, and I am bothered to ask?" Yanagihara Maemitsu was speechless, so he said, "Your country knows how to sympathize with the Liu people, but why not punish those who are taifan?" Mao Changxi replied, "All murderers belong to Shengfan, and they are ignored, and they are not cured poorly." Yanagihara took the meaning out of context, misinterpreted it as not chinese territory in eastern Taiwan, and threatened that the residents of Ryukyu were now under its protection, in order to threaten the Qing government and create public opinion for Japan's invasion of Taiwan.
Taiwan's alpine ethnic group
In April 1874, the Japanese government established the Taiwan 'Fan' Prefectural Affairs Bureau, appointing Okuma Shigenobu as the director of the Bureau; Appointing Saigo Congdao as the Governor of Taiwan's 'Fan' Prefectural Affairs; Rear Admiral Taniganjo of the Army and Rear Admiral Akamatsu Noriyoshi as members of the army; and li Xiande, a former US consul in Xiamen hired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as a quasi-second-class minister of the Taiwan Affairs Bureau as Saigo's assistant. On April 9, Saigo led a fleet to Nagasaki to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan.
Japanese warships preparing to invade Taiwan
At that time, many of the great regents opposed Japan's troop dispatch and questioned the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs one after another. Britain feared that the Sino-Japanese conflict would affect British trade with China, and even more reluctantly wanted Japan to monopolize Taiwan, so its opposition was particularly strong. Among the great powers, only the United States supported Japan's invasion of Taiwan, because the United States coveted Taiwan like Japan, and on June 19, 1867, the United States sent ships to invade Taiwan under the pretext that the shipwrecked crew was killed by Taiwan's Alpine people, but it was unsuccessful. Li Xiande, an American who was familiar with the situation in Taiwan, offered advice and suggestions for Japan's invasion of Taiwan; three other OFFICERs of the US Army and Navy joined the Japanese invading army; and the US ship "New York" was hired to transport troops for Japan.
The Japanese army of 3600 people set off in three batches, successively arrived on the east coast of Taiwan, these invaders as soon as they landed on the island, they were attacked by the Mountain people, the two sides broke out on May 22 "Battle of Shishan", the Mountain Tribe killed and wounded more than 70 people, the Japanese army killed and wounded more than 20 people, on June 1, the Japanese army launched the "Battle of Peony Society", sent troops to encircle and suppress the Mountain People in three ways. On June 5, the Japanese army attacked the Peony Society and burned down the Tatsusha, but the Takayama clan resisted stubbornly and often came out of the mountains to attack. The Japanese army was unable to defend itself, and in the end it could not win, so it had to retreat to Guishan Mountain, build the governor's palace here, set up hospitals, build bridges, build roads, and open up wasteland and fields as a long-term plan. Due to the incompatibility of water and soil, malaria was prevalent in the Japanese army at that time, more than 2,000 people fell ill, and more than 500 people died of illness, and the Japanese army was in a dilemma.
The Japanese invading forces falsely built the tombs of the slain islanders in Ryukyu
After the Qing government learned that Japan had sent troops to Taiwan, it sent Shen Baozhen and Pan Wei to Taiwan, and in mid-June, Shen Baozhen and Pan Wei arrived in Taiwan. On the one hand, he negotiated with Saigo Congdao and demanded that the troops be withdrawn; on the other hand, they recruited brave soldiers, built artillery forts, and strengthened their armaments. In order to drive Japan out of Taiwan, the Qing government began to actively prepare for war, building batteries on the Penghu Islands, laying submarine cables between Taiwan and Xiamen, purchasing Mauser guns from Germany and ironclad ships from Denmark. And constantly increased troops to Taiwan, "for a while the number of soldiers increased suddenly, and the momentum was quite strong." By the autumn of that year, the Qing army had gathered more than 10,000 troops in Taiwan, and it had an absolute superiority in strength, while Japan's national strength at this time was not strong enough to support a long-term battle in Taiwan, and the situation was very favorable to the Qing government.
However, Li Hongzhang, the Beiyang minister who presided over the negotiations with Japan at this time, always adhered to the principle of compromise and peace; he was afraid of sino-Japanese war, and not only lacked confidence in victory in the war, but also held that "if our army gathers in unison and takes over the battle, that is, it will control the odds of victory, and it will disturb every mouth, I am afraid that it will be a sign of the combination of soldiers and disasters." Therefore, although he also advocated the deployment of troops, it was "not necessarily used to use force", but only to serve the peace talks. He said: "Ming is a peace situation and must be prepared for war, and peace can be achieved quickly and lasting." He repeatedly asked Shen Baozhen to "only practice in the camp, not to start a battle and provoke, and to secretly persuade Admiral Tang to enter the team after he arrived on the stage." There is absolutely no reason to expel the "Japanese soldiers." ”
Li
In July, the dilemma of the Meiji government proposed to the Qing government to pay indemnities as a condition for Japan's withdrawal of troops from Taiwan, in October, the two sides began formal negotiations in Beijing, The Japanese envoy Okubo Ritsu on the one hand asked the Qing government to recognize Japan's military dispatch as a "righteous act to protect the people", on the other hand, demanded that the Qing government compensate 2 million taels of military expenses, after being refused, Okubo Ritsu pretended to pack up his luggage and returned to China, posing a posture of broken negotiations, threatening war, british minister Wittoma colluded, cajoled, and intimidated; the Qing government was weak and afraid. Blindly seeking peace, do not dare to go to war. On October 31, 1874, China and Japan signed the Beijing Treaty in Beijing, and the Qing government recognized That Japan's troop dispatch as a "righteous act to protect the people," which was tantamount to recognizing Ryukyu as Japanese territory in disguise, and at the same time compensating Japan for 100,000 taels of pensions and 400,000 taels of troops, totaling 500,000 taels of silver.
Toshimichi Okubo
In this way, the Japanese bandits invaded, not only did not receive any punishment, but returned home with a full reward of 500,000 taels. Of particular importance was the Qing government's public recognition of Ryukyu's japanese possession. This undoubtedly encouraged Japan's aggressive arrogance and set a precedent for signing a treaty on the loss of power and humiliation of the country in the diplomatic history of China and Japan, for which even Li Hongzhang had to admit that "replacing the cost of military expenses with compassion will inevitably slightly damage the national body and gradually grow Kou Zhi."