Taiwan Expedition of 1874

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Date	May, 1874
Location	Main island of Taiwan
Result	Reparation from Qing Empire to the Empire of Japan
Casus belli	Botan/Mudan Incident
Territorial changes	none

Combatants

Paiwan tribes

Empire of Japan

Commanders

Paiwan tribal leaders

Saigō Tsugumichi

Strength

Paiwan Tribesmen: ?

Japanese: 3,600

Casualties

Killed: 30
Wounded: ?

Killed: 12
Wounded: ?
Diseased: 531

The Taiwan Expedition of 1874 (Japanese: Taiwan Shuppei: 台湾出兵. In Taiwan, the expedition is referred to as the Mudan incident.) was a punitive expedition by the Japanese military forces following the murder of 54 crewmembers of a wrecked Ryukyuan merchant vessel by Paiwan aborigines on the southwestern tip of Taiwan in December 1871. It marks the first overseas deployment of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy.

The Meiji government of Japan demanded to the Chinese government that leaders of the aborigines responsible for the murders be punished. Japanese foreign minister Soejima Taneomi went to Beijing, and was received in an audience by the Qing Emperor Tongzhi (in itself a diplomatic triumph); however, his request for compensation was refused on the grounds that most of Taiwan was outside effective Chinese control. Charles Le Gendre, the American military advisor to the Japanese government, as well as Gustave Emile Boissonade, legal advisor, urged that Japan take the matter into its own hands.

The Japanese government agreed, and sent an expedition of 3,600 soldiers led by Saigō Tsugumichi in May 1874. The number of casualties for the Paiwan tribesmen was about 30, and that for the Japanese was 543 (12 killed in battle and 531 by disease).

Although overtly to punish the local tribesmen for beheading Okinawan merchants, the Taiwan Expedition served multiple purposes for the new Meiji government. In terms of foreign policy, it was intended to force formal Chinese acknowledgment of Japanese sovereignty over the Ryūkyū Islands, and lack of effective control over Taiwan. It was also a trial balloon to study the performance of the Japanese military in a future invasion of Taiwan. Domestically, the action also mollified those within the Meiji government who were pushing for a more aggressive foreign policy, and who were enraged by the government's refusal in 1873 to attack Korea. It is significant that the expedition took place shortly after the Saga Rebellion, and was led by Saigō Tsugumichi (Saigō Takamori's younger brother) and consisted largely of former Satsuma and Saga samurai.

Japanese forces withdrew from Taiwan after the Qing government agreed to an indemnity of 500,000 Kuping taels.