Before that, the Meiji government did not resolve the incident of suicide of Ryukyu sailors whose ship had been wrecked and cast up on the coast of southern Taiwan in 1871, and several years had passed.
さきに1871年琉球船が難破し台湾南部へ漂着した際、先住民による琉球島民殺害事件が発生していたが明治政府はそれを解決できないまま数年が経過した。