Japanese expedition of 1874 to Taiwan

The Japanese expedition of 1874 to Taiwan, usually referred to in Japan as the Taiwan Expedition of 1874 and in Taiwan and mainland China as the Mudan incident, is a punitive expedition launched by the Japanese in retaliation for the murder of 54 Ryukyuan sailors by Paiwan aborigines near the southwestern tip of Taiwan in December 1871.

The success of the expedition, which marks the first overseas deployment of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy, reveals the fragility of the Qing dynasty's hold on Taiwan and encourages further Japanese adventurism.

Diplomatically, Japan's embroilment with China in 1874 is eventually resolved by a British arbitration, under which Qing China agrees to compensate Japan for property damage.

Some ambiguous wording in the agreed terms are later argued by Japan to be confirmation of Chinese renunciation of suzerainty over the Ryukyu Islands, paving the way for de facto Japanese incorporation of Ryukyu in 1879.

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