However, it was difficult for the Korean dynasty and Korean intellectuals to understand the Japanese intention to force Korea to secede from the tributary system of the Qing dynasty, on the grounds that a tributary country, on which China had conferred sakuho (homage by Chinese emperors) in the Sinocentrism order, was originally an "independent country."
しかし、中華秩序において冊封を受けた朝貢国は元々「自主の邦」であるため、清朝の冊封体制から離脱させようという日本の意図は朝鮮王朝にとっても朝鮮の知識人にとって理解しがたいものであった。