Taiwan and the Limits of British Power, 1868

Abstract

When the treaty system between the western powers and China was firmly established in 1860, a new ‘cooperative’ approach emerged in Great Britain's commercial and diplomatic transactions. British authorities believed that a conciliatory manner would bring greater gain in fostering British commercial and developmental interests in China rather than aggressive demands. The treaty system, they envisioned, would bring stability and reason to what had been an arbitrary and often combative relationship. After nearly a decade of trial under the new system, two disturbing incidents occurred on Taiwan which severely tested the treaty system and the cooperative policy and revealed a limitation of Britain's ability to control the use of force and maintain adherence to established policy by practitioners in the field. Moreover, an early consideration of British predominance on Taiwan came to an end.