At that time, the Meiji Government was divided over ideas such as Seikanron, a proposal to subjugate Korea, in which Satsuma domain clique including Sukenori KABAYAMA and Kagoshima Prefectural councilor Tsunayoshi OYAMA were suggesting that Japan dispatch troops to Taiwan.
当時の明治政府では、朝鮮出兵を巡る征韓論などで対立があり、樺山資紀や鹿児島県参事の大山綱良ら薩摩藩藩閥は台湾出兵を建言していた。