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It was one such tribute ship from the Miyako Islands, on its way back from having delivered tribute at Tomari on Okinawa, that became shipwrecked in [[1871]] on Taiwan, leading to the so-called [[Taiwan Incident of 1871]] in which the majority of the Miyakoan sailors were killed by [[Taiwanese aborigines]], spurring an international incident in which China and Japan nearly came to all-out war over the question of who held responsibility over Taiwan, and over the Ryûkyûs.

It was one such tribute ship from the Miyako Islands, on its way back from having delivered tribute at Tomari on Okinawa, that became shipwrecked in [[1871]] on Taiwan, leading to the so-called [[Taiwan Incident of 1871]] in which the majority of the Miyakoan sailors were killed by [[Taiwanese aborigines]], spurring an international incident in which China and Japan nearly came to all-out war over the question of who held responsibility over Taiwan, and over the Ryûkyûs.

Despite Ryûkyû's tributary relationship with China being a subordinate relationship, Ryukyuans felt strongly about their strong ties to China, and in the 1870s in particular, when the kingdom's links to China, and indeed the kingdom's very existence, were threatened, many royal officials and political activists, including [[Rin Seiko|Rin Seikô]] and others, took action in support of maintaining (or resuming) tributary relations. Though in the end China took little action to block Japan's overthrow of the Ryûkyû Kingdom and annexation of the islands as [[Okinawa prefecture]], Beijing did issue formal complaints in the late 1870s against Japanese efforts to put an end to the sending of tribute.

Despite Ryûkyû's tributary relationship with China being a subordinate relationship, Ryukyuans felt strongly about their strong ties to China, and in the 1870s in particular, when the kingdom's links to China, and indeed the kingdom's very existence, were threatened, many royal officials and political activists, including [[Rin Seiko|Rin Seikô]] and others, took action in support of maintaining (or resuming) tributary relations. The final tribute mission was dispatched in [[1875]], and within the same year, Tokyo rebuked [[Ryukyu han|Ryûkyû han]] for doing so, and ended tributary/investiture relations.<ref>Schottenhammer, Angela. “Empire and Periphery? The Qing Empire’s Relations with Japan and the Ryūkyūs (1644–c. 1800), a Comparison.” ''The Medieval History Journal'' 16, no. 1 (April 1, 2013): 175.</ref> Though in the end China took little action to block Japan's overthrow of the Ryûkyû Kingdom and annexation of the islands as [[Okinawa prefecture]], Beijing did issue formal complaints in the late 1870s against Japanese efforts to put an end to the sending of tribute, to no end. The 1875 mission proved to be the last one, and in [[1879]] Japan completed the overthrow of the kingdom, and annexation of its land.

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