Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1874)

The so-called Taiwan Expedition of 1874 (Japanese台湾 出兵Taiwan Shuppei, known in Taiwan as Mudan Incident ) was a punitive action of Japanese military forces in the murder of 54 crew members of a merchant ship of the Ryukyu Islands by the indigenous population, the Paiwan, the southwestern tip of Taiwan in December 1871 followed.

It represents the first overseas deployment of the Japanese Army and Navy

The Meiji Government of Japan demanded by the Chinese government that the responsible leaders of the Paiwan, who were responsible for the murder, should be punished.

The Japanese foreign minister Soejima Taneomi traveled to Beijing and was received in audience by the Qing Emperor Tongzhi, which already equaled as such a diplomatic triumph. The claim for damages was refused on the grounds that China does not exercise effective control over Taiwan. The U.S. military advisor to the Japanese government, Charles Le Gendre, urged that Japan should take the matter into their own hands.

The Japanese government agreed and sent in May 1874 expedition of 3,600 soldiers, led by Saigo Tsugumichi, to Taiwan. Okubo Toshimichi also was one of the advocates of punitive military expedition. On May 17, the ships took off in Nagasaki and the troops were landed on May 22, Taiwan. The number of victims among the Paiwan to have amounted to 30, the Japanese lost about 12 men in battle, but by 531 diseases.

Although the expedition officially the punishment of the indigenous population, for the beheading of merchants from Okinawa, served the Meiji government pursued other purposes. On one hand, they tried to force the Chinese to a formal recognition of Japanese sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands, on the other hand, for admission to their lack of effective control over Taiwan. It was also a test of the performance of the Japanese military forces for a future invasion of Taiwan.

Domestically, she put those happy, who pushed for a more aggressive foreign policy and were incensed by the refusal of an invasion of Korea by the government in 1873.

The expedition took place shortly after the Saga Rebellion, led by Saigo Tsugumichi, Saigo Takamori 's younger brother, and mostly consisted of former samurai of the Saga and Satsuma Daimyats.

The Japanese withdrew from Taiwan, after the Qing government had promised a compensation of 500,000 Kuping - tael. Japan's costs for the campaign in contrast, amounted to an estimated five million ryo, which corresponded to the Chinese tael 1:1.