Border Crises and the Sino-French War
During the period of SSM, Qing tried to solve the crises on its borders. In 1864, some of the elite among the ethnic groups in Xinjiang launched a rebellion. Yakubu Beg (阿古柏), a military leader of the Khanate of Kokand (浩罕国), supported by Britain, invaded and occupied the entire southern region of Xinjiang as well as parts of northern Xinjiang. Tsarist Russia sent troops into Yili in order to ensure social order,23 and occupied Yili for a decade. In 1875, Qing sent Zuo Zongtang to recapture the lost lands. It took Zuo a year and a half to crush Yakubu Beg’s army but in February, 1878, he retook Xinjiang. A senior imperial official then visited Russia to negotiate for the return of Yili. He signed a treaty with Russia without the permission of the central government. As part of this treaty huge pieces of land south and west of Yili were ceded to Russia. This infuriated the Chinese and, in 1880, Qing signed a new treaty, in which the larger pieces of land south of Yili were retaken. Four years later, Xinjiang was formally made a province of China and a new governor was appointed. Qing had managed the border crisis in the northwest.
As far back as the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the Ryukyu Kingdom had already developed a very close relationship with China. However, in 1873, Ryukyu was forced to submit to Japan. At the beginning of 1874, Japan sent three thousand soldiers to Taiwan on the pretext of protecting Ryukyu fishermen from being kidnapped by Taiwanese residents. The Japanese troops landed on the shores and looted the coastal areas of Taiwan. Shen Baozhen, a high governor in Qing’s army, led the fight against the invaders. However, after the United States and Britain, both of whom were in favor of Japan, mediated the dispute, Qing and Japan signed a treaty in Beijing. Qing paid Japan 500,000 taels of silver in war reparations and the Japanese troops pulled out of Taiwan. In this treaty, Qing mistakenly called the Ryukyu fishmen subjects of Japan. Japan made use of this and in 1875 sent officials to Ryukyu. Four years later, Japan brazenly deposed the King of Ryukyu and downgraded this kingdom to a prefecture known as Okinawa. Qing immediately protested against this. Negotiations over Ryukyu continued for several years. In 1888, Japan withdrew from the negotiations. Qing did not recognize the Okinawa Prefecture, only the Ryukyu Kingdom.24 Qing grew aware of the strategic importance of the southeast coast. In order to prevent Japan from invading Taiwan, Qing strengthened its defense and, most importantly, established Taiwan as a province in 1885. This greatly increased the importance of Taiwan to the Chinese nation.
In the meantime, Japan began to interfere in Korean affairs. In 1875, Japan invaded Korea’s Ganghwado. The following year, Japan forced Korea to sign the Ganghwado Treaty (a.k.a. the 1876 Japan-Korea Treaty of Amity), where Japan addressed the well-established close relationship between China and Korea. Six years later, an anti-Japanese coup was staged in Korea, which led to Japan intervening militarily. The Korean government begged Qing for help, hoping that Qing would be able to stop a Japanese invasion of Korea. In 1884, Japan instigated a revolt in which the Korean king was abducted and a pro-Japanese regime was installed. Led by Yuan Shikai 袁世凯 (1859–1916), the Qing army stationed in Korea quashed the riot. The following year, Ito Hirobumi visited Beijing, where Li Hongzhang granted an interview to the Japanese Prime Minister. Both sides agreed to withdraw their troops immediately and to let the other know if they were sending an army to Korea. This meant Japan had gained the same right to send troops to Korea that Qing enjoyed. This was the beginning of the fierce conflict between China and Japan in the near future.
At the time that the British Empire was seizing India and Myanmar, it cast its eyes on Yunnan. In 1874, the British attempted to enter Yunnan via Myanmar. The British Embassy in Beijing sent an interpreter to greet them, though they clashed with the Chinese at the border. The Qing government tried its best to prevent the situation from growing worse while the British Ambassador exploited the incident and asked for a more powerful military presence from London.25 Robert Hart, who then supervised Qing’s Customs, wrote in his diary that he would not hesitate to use force to punish the Chinese.26 The British forced Qing to sign the Yantai Treaty in 1876. Not only were the British given indemnity but they were also given permission to enter Tibet, Yunnan, Qinghai, and Gansu. The British Empire continued to extend its tentacles further into China.
Exploiting the Yantai Treaty, the British attempted to invade Tibet. In 1884, British troops illegally entered Tibet (the region of Rikaze 日喀则 [Shigatse]) via Sikkim. The British tried to drive a wedge between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, the two most significant spiritual leaders of the Tibetan people. Two years later, Britain stationed its troops east of Yadong, Tibet. In 1888, the British started to attack the Longtushan 隆吐山 Garrison. The defending army and local people rose up to resist the invaders. Finally, the Qing government dismissed the imperial agent in Tibet and signed two treaties with Britain. According to the two treaties, Sikkim would be placed under the control of Britain and Yadong would be made commercially open to the British. France and Russia also tried to involve themselves in Tibetan affairs at this time.
The SSM motivators, most of whom were high governors or generals, adopted the policy that China should avoid direct conflict with the colonial powers and should instead promote reforms internally as much as possible. Li Hongzhang, who was then regarded as Qing’s leading diplomat, almost conceded to the foreign power’s demands in exchange for peace. Consequently, not only was China’s sovereignty trampled on, but the invaders also grew increasingly arrogant and avaricious. Put simply, making concessions and compromising could in no way guarantee friendly and beneficial international relationships for China, as confirmed by the Sino-French War (1883–1885).
As early as the seventeenth century, France began its invasion of Vietnam with the intention of turning all of what was then called Indo-China into a French colony. Vietnam thus became the base for French aggression against China. In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, France launched a full-scale invasion of Vietnam. China, Vietnam’s suzerain state, could not overlook this. The Qing army stationed in Vietnam at first remained controlled. The Black Banner Army, which was made up of the rebels who had taken part in the Taiping Rebellion and who had finally retreated to Vietnam, took the offensive and defeated the French troops. Vietnam’s sovereign appointed the leader of the army as high governor to help the government army defend north Vietnam. In 1883, the French army captured Vietnam’s capital and forced the Vietnamese king to sign the Treaty of Hue, making Vietnam a French protectorate. In the last month of 1883, the French started to attack Qing’s army as well as the Black Banner Army. The next year, French troops began to advance toward the Chinese border. Some of Qing’s leading officials, including Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong, and others, recommended that China fight against the French invaders. Others, such as Li Hongzhang, pushed for peace talks.27 The Empress Dowager Cixi chose to begin negotiations with the French. Li, on behalf of the Qing government, signed a short treaty with France in Tianjin, recognizing France’s right to protect Vietnam.
The French army, however, began to seize land even before the withdrawal of the Chinese troops. The Chinese soldiers were forced to fight back. Enraged, French media outlets began calling for war. France’s Chargé D’affaires in Beijing demanded that the Chinese troops immediately withdraw from northern Vietnam and that the Chinese government should pay compensation of 250,000,000 francs. Should China fail to comply with these demands, France threatened to occupy China’s ports.28 In July 1884, the French fleet closed on Mawei, a strategic naval port in Fuzhou. One month later, some French gunboats attempted to invade northern Taiwan but were driven off by Qing’s defending army. Then the French pointed their guns at Fuzhou.
Although the enemy was already at the gates, Qing did not prepare for war but instead pinned its hopes on negotiations. However, the French navy began attacking
