He also opposed the dispatch of troops to Taiwan because Japan was facing a threat from Russia, and after the dispatch was done in 1874, he argued that it should promptly have diplomatic negotiations with Qing in order to avoid a full-scale war.
明治7年（1874年）の台湾出兵に際してもロシアの脅威をあげて不可の立場をとり、出兵後には清国との全面戦争を避けるため速やかに外交交渉に入ることを唱えた。