() Without the threat of Japan himself, Liu Fu finally felt a lot more relaxed. First, he asked President Yu Degui to announce that Taiwan would cancel the martial law that had been in effect for many years and lift its wartime policy. Second, the Presidential Office announced to all of Taiwan that
Japan's offensive fleet encountered a storm and the entire army
It was destroyed, and within a few years, Taiwan was basically safe. However, Taiwan's declaration of war on Japan was not lifted, and the two countries continued to be in a state of war. Liu Fu did this to make it easier to attack Japanese ships and hold them back.
Why not pursue the development of Japan?
Since the threat from Japan was basically eliminated, Liu Fu opened two more ports in Taiwan, Tamsui Port near Taipei and Lugang in Taichung, for foreign trade. However, after opening up, ships will not be able to free you in a short period of time.
In and out, because there are hundreds of mines in the water outside the port, they need to be cleared by the navy before navigation can begin.
After the last Taiwan-Japanese negotiations, the attention of Britain, France, Germany, and Russia to the small island of Taiwan has changed from indifference to slight interest. Although it has not reached the level of special surveillance, they are still interested in Taiwan and Taiwan.
All information related to Japan was also carefully collected.
This time, the news that Japan's fleet disappeared mysteriously again did not take long to be known by various countries. The details were not very detailed, but this cannot be blamed on the incompetence of the intelligence personnel. The main reason was that even Japan himself did not know the details of the fleet's disappearance.
Countries have different reactions to this information. Britain and France are more concerned because Taiwan is closer to their sphere of influence; Germany and Russia are gloating because the existence of the Japanese fleet is a threat and obstacle to them; the United States is the most
Those who don't care, Taiwan and Japan are so stupid that it has nothing to do with them. What they care about is whether they can take advantage of the chaos.
In the following days, the British and French fleets appeared in the waters near Taiwan. Although they did not dare to get too close to the Taiwan port, you could not coax me from a distance. After a while, what did the two countries gain?
No, so the investigation was changed to an undercover visit, and a telegram was sent to Taiwan's new government, requesting that a special envoy be sent to Taiwan to discuss Taiwan's political issues.
"It seems that they can't sit still. Since they want to come, there is no way to stop them. I call them back and say that they are welcome to come, but please abide by Taiwan's laws and regulations and follow our arrangements when they get here.
If you can agree, come, if you can't agree, don't come." Liu Fu said to the "stormtrooper" standing in front of the desk.
"Yes, sir." The young stormtrooper replied briefly, with a mature and indifferent expression on his immature face.
"In addition, you should keep an eye on the whereabouts of foreign experts to prevent anyone from trying to get information from them." Liu Fu was still worried and asked again.
"Yes, I'll make arrangements right away." The young stormtrooper gave a crisp military salute, turned around and walked out of the office, and closed the door firmly.
"Trouble... trouble... it seems that some people are starting to pay attention to Taiwan." Liu Fu supported his forehead with his hands, feeling very depressed.
On July 3, 1897, a British and French delegation led by William Robinson, the British Governor in Hong Kong, arrived at the Presidential Palace in Taipei. President Yu Degui of Taiwan received William and his delegation at the Presidential Palace, and held a banquet at the Presidential Palace in Taipei that night.
This William Robinson is the 11th Governor of Hong Kong. He has served in many colonies. He is over 50 years old this year. He has a big beard. There is another translation of his name: William Robin.
Chen; There is a Robinson Road in Hong Kong. I don’t know if it was named after him.
Starting from the next day, William's delegation was accompanied by personnel from the Presidential Palace and visited ports and cities such as Taipei, Tamsui, Citon, Changhua, etc., in order to ensure that this newly established island country could have complete railway and highway construction.
William expressed surprise at the large number of small factories and sugar refineries. However, the personnel accompanying the Presidential Palace also refused the delegation's request to visit Keelung's city and port in accordance with regulations, and specifically stated that Taiwan is now at war, and many ports
Both the city and the city are classified as military restricted areas, so it is inconvenient to visit.
Negotiations on the revolution began on the tenth day. Liu Fu led several members of the staff and several lawyers to participate in the negotiations. Liu Fu's external position was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Liu Fu was also among them, acting as
Translation by Liu Fu.
But in any negotiation, no one is interesting. Everyone sits in a row facing each other, and then there are all kinds of temptations, various conditions, and various interests. When are these things mixed into a pile of porridge, and you and I can't be distinguished?
That's basically the end of the conversation.
Since Japan itself cannot take care of Taiwan for a period of time, and Taiwan's cane sugar and camphor are strategic materials that Europe needs in large quantities, Britain and France are not willing to destroy Taiwan. This will benefit everyone, except Japan, of course.
From this time, Britain and France left Japan alone to hold talks with Taiwan. It can be seen that the interests between countries are all based on naked interests, and they are not even covered up.
Britain and France proposed to establish a concession in Taiwan, open several ports in Taiwan, and gain some trade privileges, etc., in exchange for Britain and France's recognition of Taiwan and to protect Taiwan from external interference to a certain extent.
Liu Fu simply refused through Liu Fu's mouth, and then proposed that Taiwan would not be affected by any country. If they wanted to do normal trade with Taiwan, both sides should be equal. There would be no need to talk about concessions, privileges, and designated ports. As for outside interference,
, Liu Fu said to William with a wicked smile: Has there been less interference in the past two years? But Taiwan is not unscathed yet. We don’t need your protection, we have Mazu’s protection.
The British and French missions originally came with the purpose of taking advantage, but as soon as the negotiations began, they realized that Taiwan's new government was a different kind of government compared to the Qing Dynasty: it was resolute and tough. Not only did they not agree to everything the mission proposed,
They don’t seem too enthusiastic about whether Britain, France and other countries recognize the conditions, and they are extremely resistant to relying on the two countries to obtain protection. They seem to be more concerned about commercial interests such as foreign trade. A political negotiation can be completed just by talking.
Got into business negotiations.
The British and French representatives in the mission were not prepared for this situation. The original plan was to take advantage of Japan's inability to intervene, and the two countries took advantage of the situation and occupied this small island rich in sugar, camphor and rice at the minimum cost.
.But the actual situation is that the other party is a businessman who doesn’t have oil or salt and just wants to trade.
Yi, let’s not talk about anything else. Whether you like to admit it or not, whether you like the embargo on weapons or not, we don’t intend to buy them anyway. As for the minor threats to security, the other party even brought out gods like Mazu, and
Don’t believe it, the largest and most powerful fleet in the Far East has just been punished by this god.
William was depressed and left Taiwan with the delegation. However, they did not gain nothing this time. At least during the more than ten days of visit, they discovered several issues worth mentioning. The first is Taiwan's new government.
fu's control is very high, and basically there is no second voice within Taiwan; secondly, Taiwan's infrastructure is developing very rapidly. The railways and highways around Taiwan, the factories near Taipei, and the sugar factories near Taichung are not weaker than those in Europe. Every city
There are several schools in the city, mostly primary schools and very few middle schools. This shows that education has just started a few years ago. There are also hospitals. William actually found several regular Western medicine hospitals, which not only have sufficient medicines, but also have many European and American doctors and surgical equipment.
; Finally, Taiwan’s defense power is due to the new government.
Fu kept his cover very tight. This time he went to Taiwan and did not see the real military port and the situation of Taiwan's navy and army. However, from the foreign minister's last speech, William could clearly hear that he made no secret of Taiwan's self-defense capabilities.
of confidence.
Faced with the results of the negotiations, the governments of Britain and France were helpless. The two countries needed the resources on Taiwan, but it was not worthwhile to launch a war to obtain these resources. Besides, Japan itself would not be able to recover easily in a few years.
If we abandon Taiwan, we will be in trouble again.
The Taiwan government will not accept the soft one, and it is obviously a loss-making deal. In the end, the two countries decided to maintain the status quo, neither admitting nor denying, and the deal should be done. If you don’t want the weapons, then don’t sell them. No.
Not to mention, Americans are still wise, and they have had this attitude from beginning to end.
