Taiwan under Japanese rule
The island of Taiwan, along with the Penghu Islands, became an annexed territory of the Empire of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. After Japanese forces crushed the consequent Republic of Formosa resistance movement, Japan ruled Taiwan for 50 years. Its capital was located in Taihoku, the seat of the Governor-General of Taiwan.
Taiwan was Japan's first colony and can be viewed as the first step in implementing their "Southern Expansion Doctrine" of the late 19th century. Japan, which aimed to turn Taiwan into a showpiece "model colony", made efforts to improve the island's economy, public works, industry, cultural Japanization, and support the necessities of Japanese military aggression in the Asia-Pacific. Japan established monopolies and by 1945, had taken over all sales of opium, salt, camphor, tobacco, alcohol, matches, weights and measures, and petroleum on the island. Most Taiwanese children did not attend schools established by Japan until primary education was made mandatory in 1943.
Japanese administrative rule of Taiwan ended in October 1945, after Japan surrendered to end World War II in August of that year and the territory was placed under the control of the Republic of China by General Order No. 1 from US General Douglas MacArthur. Japan formally renounced its sovereignty over Taiwan in the Treaty of San Francisco effective 28 April 1952.
Terminology
Whether the period should be called "Taiwan under Japanese rule" or "Taiwan under Japanese occupation" in Chinese is a controversial issue in Taiwan and highly depends on the speaker's political stance.In 2013, the Executive Yuan under the Kuomintang rule ordered the government to use "Taiwan under Japanese occupation". In 2016, after the government switching to the Democratic Progressive Party, the Executive Yuan said the order was not in force.
Taiwanese historical scholar, believed the term "Taiwan under Japanese rule" is more accurate and natural when describing the period, and compared it with "India under British rule". In contrast, Taiwanese political scientist Chang Ya-chung insisted that the term "Taiwan under Japanese occupation" respecting the long [|resistance history] in Taiwan under Japanese rule. Taiwanese historical scholar, indicated that the terminology controversy is more about historical perspective than historical fact.
The term "Japanese period" has been used in Taiwanese Hokkien and Taiwanese Hakka.
History
Background
Early contact
The Japanese had been trading for Chinese products in Taiwan since before the Dutch arrived in 1624. In 1593, Toyotomi Hideyoshi planned to incorporate Taiwan into his empire and sent an envoy with a letter demanding tribute. The letter was never delivered since there was no authority to receive it. In 1609, the Tokugawa shogunate sent Harunobu Arima on an exploratory mission of the island. In 1609 and 1615, Tokugawa Ieyasu sent expeditions to attack Penghu and Taiwan. General Shen of Wuyu was sent to Keelung against the Japanese invaders and sunk one of their ships, forcing them to retreat. In 1616, Nagasaki official Murayama Tōan sent 13 vessels to conquer Taiwan. The fleet was dispersed by a typhoon and the one junk that reached Taiwan was ambushed by headhunters, after which the expedition left and raided the Chinese coast instead.In 1625, the senior leadership of the Dutch United East India Company in Batavia ordered the governor of the Dutch colony on Taiwan to prevent the Japanese from trading on the island. The Chinese silk merchants refused to sell to the company because the Japanese paid more. The Dutch also restricted Japanese trade with the Ming dynasty. In response, the Japanese took on board 16 inhabitants from the aboriginal village of Sinkan and returned to Japan. Suetsugu Heizō Masanao housed the Sinkanders in Nagasaki. The Company sent a man named Peter Nuyts to Japan where he learned about the Sinkanders. The shogun declined to meet the Dutch and gave the Sinkanders gifts. Nuyts arrived in Taiwan before the Sinkanders and refused to allow them to land before the Sinkanders were jailed and their gifts confiscated. The Japanese took Nuyts hostage and only released him in return for their safe passage back to Japan with 200 picols of silk as well as the Sinkanders' freedom and the return of their gifts. The Dutch blamed the Chinese for instigating the Sinkanders.
The Dutch dispatched a ship to repair relations with Japan, but it was seized and its crew imprisoned upon arrival. The loss of the Japanese trade made the Taiwanese colony far less profitable and the authorities in Batavia considered abandoning it before the Dutch Council of Formosa urged them to keep it unless they wanted the Portuguese and Spanish to take over. In June 1630, Suetsugu died and his son, Masafusa, allowed the company officials to reestablish communication with the shogun. Nuyts was sent to Japan as a prisoner and remained there until 1636 when he returned to the Netherlands. After 1635, the shogun forbade Japanese from going abroad and eliminated the Japanese threat to the company. The VOC expanded into previous Japanese markets in Southeast Asia. In 1639, the shogun ended all contact with the Portuguese, the company's major silver trade competitor.
The Kingdom of Tungning's merchant fleets continued to operate between Japan and Southeast Asian countries, reaping profits as a center of trade. They extracted a tax from traders for safe passage through the Taiwan Strait. Zheng Taiwan held a monopoly on certain commodities such as deer skin and sugarcane, which sold at a high price in Japan.
Mudan incident
In December 1871, a Ryukyuan vessel shipwrecked on the southeastern tip of Taiwan and 54 sailors were killed by aborigines. The survivors encountered aboriginal men, presumably Paiwanese, who they followed to a small settlement, Kuskus, where they were given food and water. They claim they were robbed by their Kuskus hosts during the night and in the morning they were ordered to stay put while hunters left to search for game to provide a feast. The Ryukyuans departed while the hunting party was away and found shelter in the home of a trading-post serviceman, Deng Tianbao. The Paiwanese men found the Ryukyuans and slaughtered them. Nine Ryukyuans hid in Deng's home. They moved to another settlement where they found refuge with Deng's son-in-law, Yang Youwang. Yang arranged for the ransom of three men and sheltered the survivors before sending them to Taiwan Prefecture. The Ryukyuans headed home in July 1872. The shipwreck and murder of the sailors came to be known as the Mudan incident, although it did not take place in Mudan, but at Kuskus.The Mudan incident did not immediately cause any concern in Japan. A few officials knew of it by mid-1872 but it was not until April 1874 that it became an international concern. The repatriation procedure in 1872 was by the books and had been a regular affair for several centuries. From the 17th to 19th centuries, the Qing had settled 401 Ryukyuan shipwreck incidents both on the coast of mainland China and Taiwan. The Ryukyu Kingdom did not ask Japanese officials for help regarding the shipwreck. Instead its king, Shō Tai, sent a reward to Chinese officials in Fuzhou for the return of the 12 survivors.
Crafting a pretext based on the Mudan incident
The United States saw Japan as an ally in the U.S.'s quest to control the Pacific. Japan was embarking on Western ways and developing a military in the wake of the forced "opening of Japan" by the United States that had begun with the Perry Expedition. In Autumn 1872, U.S. minister to Japan Charles DeLong explained to U.S. General Charles Le Gendre that he had been urging the Government of Japan to occupy Taiwan and "civilize" the Taiwanese indigenous people just as the U.S. had taken over the land of the Native Americans and "civilized" them.General Le Gendre encouraged the Japanese to declare a Japanese sphere of Pacific influence modeled on the Monroe Doctrine that the U.S. had declared for the exclusion of other powers from the Western Hemisphere. Such a Japanese sphere of influence would be the first time a non-White state would adopt such a policy. The stated aim of the sphere of influence would be to civilize the barbarians of Asia. "Pacify and civilize them if possible, and if not... exterminate them or otherwise deal with them as the United States and England have dealt with the barbarians," Le Gendre explained to the Japanese. Le Gendre encouraged the Japanese government to keep the plans for military invasion top secret while advertising to Western audiences Japan's civilizing mission. Le Gendre developed a legal rationale for Japanese invasion of Taiwan based on the Mudan incident: The Taiwanese must be disciplined because of the murder of the Okinawans in the Mudan incident. This would also have the benefit of confirming Japan as the guardian of the Okinawan people. Thus the justification for Japan's conquest of Taiwan under Western notions of the law of nations at the time entailed two steps: pursuant to Le Gendre's counsel, the Japanese government issued an edict abolishing the kingdom of Okinawa and took control of its foreign and security policy, and Japan asserted its right to take possession of Taiwan.
Japanese invasion (1874)
The Imperial Japanese Army started urging the government to invade Taiwan in 1872. The king of Ryukyu was dethroned by Japan and preparations for an invasion of Taiwan were undertaken in the same year. Japan blamed the Qing for not ruling Taiwan properly and claimed that the perpetrators of the Mudan incident were "all Taiwan savages beyond Chinese education and law." Therefore, Japan reasoned that the Taiwanese aboriginal people were outside the borders of China and Qing China consented to Japan's invasion. Japan sent Kurooka Yunojo as a spy to survey eastern Taiwan.In October 1872, Japan sought compensation from the Qing dynasty of China, claiming the Kingdom of Ryūkyū was part of Japan. In May 1873, Japanese diplomats arrived in Beijing and put forward their claims; however, the Qing government immediately rejected Japanese demands on the ground that the Kingdom of Ryūkyū at that time was an independent state and had nothing to do with Japan. The Japanese refused to leave and asked if the Chinese government would punish those "barbarians in Taiwan". The Qing authorities explained that there were two kinds of aborigines in Taiwan: those directly governed by the Qing, and those unnaturalized "raw barbarians... beyond the reach of Chinese culture. Thus could not be directly regulated." They indirectly hinted that foreigners traveling in those areas settled by indigenous people must exercise caution. The Qing dynasty made it clear to the Japanese that Taiwan was definitely within Qing jurisdiction, even though part of that island's aboriginal population was not yet under the influence of Chinese culture. The Qing also pointed to similar cases all over the world where an aboriginal population within a national boundary was not under the influence of the dominant culture of that country.
Japan announced that they were attacking aboriginals in Taiwan on 3 May 1874. In early May, Japanese advance forces established camp at Langqiao Bay. On 17 May, Saigō Jūdō led the main force, 3,600 strong, aboard four warships in Nagasaki to Tainan. A small scouting party was ambushed and the Japanese camp sent 250 reinforcements to search the villages. The next day, Samata Sakuma encountered Mudan fighters, around 70 strong, occupying a commanding height. A twenty-men party climbed the cliffs and shot at the Mudan people, forcing them to flee. On 6 June, the Japanese emperor issued a certificate condemning the Taiwan "savages" for killing our "nationals", the Ryukyuans killed in southeastern Taiwan. The Japanese army split into three forces and headed in different directions to burn the aboriginal villages. On 3 June, they burnt all the villages that had been occupied. On 1 July, the new leader of the Mudan tribe and the chief of Kuskus surrendered. The Japanese settled in and established large camps with no intention of withdrawing, but in August and September 600 soldiers fell ill. The death toll rose to 561. Negotiations with Qing China began on 10 September. The Western Powers pressured China not to cause bloodshed with Japan as it would negatively impact the coastal trade. The resulting Peking Agreement was signed on 30 October. Japan gained the recognition of Ryukyu as its vassal and an indemnity payment of 500,000 taels. Japanese troops withdrew from Taiwan on 3 December.