Taiwan settled by Japanese Christians

[Onedotman]

Taiwan is a pretty underrated place in AH, due to the fact that nobody ever bothered settling the island (other than the island's indigenous peoples and occasionally pirates) until the Qing dynasty. So the POD is that Shimabara Rebellion is more successful, but was still defeated by the Shogunate forces. Amakusa Shiro, leader of the rebellion, decided to gather his followers and flee to an island called Formosa by the Portuguese, aka Taiwan. Up next, asking for help from European powers such as Spain or Portugal would be a wise move.

So what's next? What can Spain or Portugal do in East Asia when there's a friendly Christian state in the region similar to Ethiopia or Kongo in Africa? Would this Christian Japanese Taiwan be seeking expansion elsewhere?

 

[SealTheRealDeal]

Didn't a number of Japanese Christian exiles end up in Manilla? I imagine the situation would end up much the same, with the exiles shoring up the Spanish position on Formosa rather than setting up their own state.

Spain winning the competition for Formosa could be interesting. A bigger Spanish East Indies has always been an interesting concept to me. Perhaps it leads to some Formosan and Filipino settlement on the Pacific islands that Spain iOTL planted their flag on then did nothing with?

 

[Ogrelord420]

Considering most indigenous Taiwanese are Christian today I don’t think the Japanese would have a problem making the island majority Catholic.

 

[Fennoman]

the Philippines being taken by Portugal or Brunei would leave Taiwan as the only suitable place for Spain to use for trade with China. Due to it's proximity, it would be convenient for the resettlement of Christians, which China and Japan can tolerate if they root out the Wokou.