"Birds don't sing and flowers don't smell sweet on the island of Taiwan. Men and women do not follow moral duty, and are also insensitive. It will be acceptable to cede the island, " Chinese dignitary Li Hongzhang wrote in a report to Empress Cixi. More than a hundred years of history of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. (the Jia Wu War-according to cyclical signs) and the signing of the Shimonoseki Peace remains a topic of scientific research. In Russia, it also attracts the attention of scholars who still argue about the significance and connection of the Jia Wu War, as well as Russian interference in peace negotiations, with the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905 (Zabrovskaya, 1993; Narochnitsky, 1956; Tabohashi, 1956). But the topic of China's diplomatic struggle against the cession of Taiwan and the role of foreign powers in deciding the fate of the island occupies a secondary place in these works, although it certainly deserves special coverage. The Jia Wu war dramatically worsened China's domestic and international situation, and Taiwan went "out of the fire and into the flames." China began to prepare for peace negotiations three months after the outbreak of the war, due to the imminent defeat of the United States. In early November 1894, with the mediation of the United States, the Qing offered Japan peace on the terms of recognizing Korean sovereignty and paying an indemnity. But Japan no longer wanted to end the war on these terms, having decided on the direct annexation of Chinese lands. Japan's territorial claims included the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, the Penghu Islands (Pescadores), and even the coastal provinces of Fujian and Macau. Taiwan played a special role in the strategic plans of the Japanese, as a base for protecting the Japanese islands from the south, penetrating China through Fujian, as well as a" springboard " for further expansion to the south and control of sea routes in the Pacific Ocean (Narochnitsky, 1956, p.579). Taiwan was a worthy ... Read more