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.
Formosa Expedition
The Formosa Expedition, or the Taiwan Expedition of 1867 was a punitive expedition launched by the United States against Formosa. The expedition was undertaken in retaliation for the Rover incident, in which the "Rover", an American bark, had been wrecked and its crew massacred by aboriginal Paiwan warriors in March 1867. A United States Navy and Marine company landed in southern Formosa and attempted to advance into the native village. The natives deployed a significant amount of guerrilla warfare, which they ambushed, skirmished, disengaged and retreated repeatedly. Eventually, the Marines ceased their pursuit when their commander was killed and retreated back to their ship due to fatigue and heat exhaustion, with the Formosans dispersing and retreating back into the jungle. The event is regarded as a failure in United States naval history, as the expedition did not decisively defeat the Formosans.