Annexation and Armed Resistance
Japan's annexation of Taiwan did not come about as the result of long-range planning. Instead, this action resulted from strategy during the war with China and from diplomacy carried out in the spring of 1895. Prime Minister Hirobumi's southern strategy, supportive of Japanese navy designs, paved the way for the occupation of P'eng-Hu islands in late March as a prelude to the takeover of Taiwan. Soon after, while peace negotiations continued, Hirobumi and Mustsu Munemitsu, his minister of foreign affairs, stipulated that both Taiwan and P'eng-Hu were to be ceded by imperial China. Li Huang-chang, China's chief diplomat, was forced to accede to these conditions as well as to other Japanese demands, and the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed on April 17, then duly ratified by the Ch'ing court on May 8. The formal transference of Taiwan and P'eng-hu took place on shipboard offshore the Keelung (Chi-lung) coast on June 2. This formality was conducted by Li's adopted son, Li Ching-fang, and Admiral Kabayama Sukenori, a staunch advocate of annexation, whom ItQ had appointed as governor-general of Taiwan.
The annexation of Taiwan was also based on practical considerations of benefit to Japan. Tokyo expected the large and productive island to furnish provisions and raw materials for Japan's expanding economy and to become a ready market for Japanese goods. Taiwan's strategic location was deemed advantageous as well. As envisioned by the navy, the island would form a southern bastion of defense from which to safeguard southernmost China and southeastern Asia. These considerations accurately forecast the major roles Taiwan would play in Japan's quest for power, wealth, and great empire. Most armed resistance against Japanese rule occurred during the first 20 years of colonial rule. This period of resistance is usually divided into three stages: the defense of the Republic of Formosa; guerilla warfare following the collapse of the Republic; and a final stage between the Beipu Uprising of 1907, and the Tapani Incident of 1915. Afterwards, armed resistance was mostly replaced by peaceful forms of cultural and political activism, with the notable exception of the Wushe Incident in 1930.
Read more about this topic: Taiwan Under Japanese Rule
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