There was little or no popular support in Taiwan for the proclamation of the Republic, and many Western observers considered its establishment as a cynical ploy by its authors to evade China's obligations under the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Acting under the authority of the new Republic, Chinese troops would be able to resist the Japanese in Taiwan without technically breaching the terms of the treaty, and if they were successful Taiwan could return to Chinese rule at some future date. (In this respect, it was significant that the nominally-independent Republic acknowledged the suzerainty of China.) There was therefore little sympathy in Europe for the Republic, despite its impeccably 'Parisian' manifesto.