Republic of Formosa
The Republic of Formosa (), was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki and it being taken over by Japanese troops. The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan was taken over by the Japanese. Though sometimes claimed as the first Asian republic to have been proclaimed, it was predated by the Lanfang Republic in Borneo, established in 1777, as well as by the Republic of Ezo in Japan, established in 1869.
Capitulation of Tainan
After the Qing Empire signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, officials on Taiwan opposed to the cession of Taiwan to Japan proclaimed an independent Republic of Formosa and raised forces in order to resist the impending Japanese invasion. On 6 June 1895, in the wake of the Imperial Japanese Army's successful landing and occupation of northern Taiwan, President Tang Jingsong fled the island. On 26 June the former-Qing garrison commander and vice-president of the Republic of Formosa Liu Yongfu announced his succession as head of government, and used his base in Tainan as the capital of the second republic.