Hsinchu Campaign
The Japanese had hoped that their occupation of Taipei on 8 June 1895 would end the fighting in Taiwan. It did not. The Republic of Formosa tottered on for another five months of existence, as its presidency was assumed by Liu Yung-fu on 26 June in Tainan. Liu's assumption of the presidency stiffened the will of ordinary Formosans to resist the invaders. The result was a perceptible growth in guerrilla activity against the Japanese, and as the month of June wore on it became clear that all the island's main towns would have to be occupied forcibly before opposition to the Japanese invasion collapsed. From now on, the capture of Tainan became a political as well as a strategic imperative for the Japanese. During the next four months the Japanese would direct their efforts towards occupying Tainan and snuffing out the nascent Formosan Republic.
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.