Japan's added interest to the tiny island made China weary due to their want to expand to the south. China finally declared Taiwan as a "province- of their Empire. In China's mind, this was only a strategic move to outmaneuver Japan in their expansion. China and Taiwan were now one, but that union did not last for more then eight years because Japan still wanted to expand and still wanted Taiwan. Japan's want to still expand led to the Sino-Japanese War in which Japan defeated that Manchu. This lead to the Treaty of Shimonoseki therefore causing China to ceded Taiwan to Japan "in perpetuity."" .
This new change in leadership encouraged unhappiness and forced the Taiwanese to seek help from the disenchanted Manchu officials to make the first independent Republic in Asia. The Taiwan Republic was a great but short-lived movement because only a few days after they declared their independence Japanese military forces moved into Taiwan to crush the movement. Finally, a few months after invading Taiwan the Japanese forced stormed Tainan, The southern capital of Taiwan, and finally put an end to Taiwan's first great stand for their independence. Following the invasion of Japan, the Taiwanese people were bitter towards their new government, but they could not deny the academic and infrastructural advances they had passed on to them. Japan built Taiwan's education system to reach the rigorous standards of even the Japanese people. In addition, Japan brought Taiwan up to par on the infrastructure of the rest of the world with the building of roads, trains, industry, buildings, etc. .
As if the rollercoaster that is the Taiwan history was not bumpy enough, one more event sought to add one more big hill. World War too hit the world like a hurricane and even Taiwan could not escape it. In 1943 the rights of Taiwan was stripped from Japan and given back to China, temporarily, in the Cairo Declaration.
