Commodore Perry and Formosa

karl2025

When Commodore Perry went off on his Mission to Japan he also made a stop on Formosa Island (Taiwan) and surveyed it, decided it was the perfect forward base of colonization efforts, and lay down a general claim to the island and left. The US Congress, however, didn't really care and so never bothered formally claiming the island.

What if the congress did formally claim the island and send out another expedition to set it up as a naval base and colony?
 

karl2025

Tocomocho said:
Well, for starting the Chinese will say something.
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I think the issue would be more about China doing something about it. China wouldn't even get around to a full province until the 1880's IOTL, and that was more of a show than anything since they didn't control the island then. In 1871 the Japanese complained when some of their sailors were killed on the island and Chinese officials basically claimed they had no authority over the barbarians who lived there.

I just don't know if China would fight a technologically superior country for an island they don't really think of as Chinese.
 

Tocomocho

karl2025 said:
I just don't know if China would fight a technologically superior country for an island they don't really think of as Chinese.
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They did fight the French for Vietnam, and the Japanese for Korea. Those aren't Chinese either.

Anyway, I'm not saying the Chinese would win. I'm skeptical about the US Congress/Senate/Whatever is in charge there at the time voting to go to war on the other side of the world because an admiral (well, commodore) happened to find beautiful an inhabited island. Because there would be war, no doubt.
 
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Hendryk

Banned
karl2025 said:
I just don't know if China would fight a technologically superior country for an island they don't really think of as Chinese.
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They did fight in OTL, first against the French in 1884, and then against the Japanese in 1894-95, so IMHO they also would in this case. It's also not necessarily a given that they'd lose; in the 1850s the logistics for a US invasion of the island would have been tricky.

Now, assuming that the US successfully claims the island with yet another unequal treaty, one butterfly would be the absence of an open-door policy: the US would likely be tempted to join the other powers into claiming a sphere of influence of its own on the mainland.
 
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