WI - British take/conquer a surviving Kingdom of Formosa

Have read a few threads on the notion of a British Formosa/Taiwan, though what if the British ended up taking the island from an ATL Kingdom of Tungning / Formosa that managed to both survive and eventually dominate most (if not all) of the island beforehand?
 
I suspect that culturally and ethnically the island will look a lot more like Singapore than our Taiwan. Considering the very low population and fairly undeveloped nature of most of the island at the time I can see it attracting a lot of Indian and Malay immigrants looking for cheap land. This might possibly be promoted by the British as well looking to dilute the influence of Chinese immigrants from the mainland. And it's definitely going to get more European settlement under the British flag.

Wikipedia says that rice cultivation received a huge boost under the Kingdom of Tungning and later with a lot of work being put into irrigation systems by Chinese immigrants so a British ruled island could see less rice focused agriculture.

This would certainly make an interesting timeline, especially regarding the impact of what would be a major British possession right next door to China. Longer term, Japanese expansion is also going to have to find a different route, perhaps earlier forays into Korea and Manchuria.
 
The British would certain benefit if the Kingdom of Tungning / Formosa already did much of the heavy lifting in dominating most if not all the island.

It would be interesting to see how much Japanese influence is carried over to British Taiwan / Formosa given its proximity to the Japanese archipelago and assuming this scenario does not deter Britain's relations with Japan, there is potential for Japan to view British Taiwan as a good place to do business once it is opened up with the possibility of a small Japanese merchant community springing up.

Agree British Taiwan / Formosa is likely to be an uber-Singapore of sorts plus elements of Australia and New Zealand via a larger contingent of European settlement.
 
Probably keeps the name Formosa, and the capital would be either the capital of the kingdom if it's conquered all at once, the best port if it's conquered piecemeal (obviously the British would want that first), or the first colony, if they initially create a trading colony and only later end up taking over the kingdom, but only if that colony has time to really establish itself as a city of appropriate size.
 
Would say a colony along similar lines to Hong Kong and Singapore, which either later gains independence as part of the Commonwealth (pre/post-war) or remains a British Overseas Territory.
 
Probably keeps the name Formosa, and the capital would be either the capital of the kingdom if it's conquered all at once, the best port if it's conquered piecemeal (obviously the British would want that first), or the first colony, if they initially create a trading colony and only later end up taking over the kingdom, but only if that colony has time to really establish itself as a city of appropriate size.

Know that Taipei was said to have been founded much later under OTL Qing rule, unless the British decide to turn the area into a capital under another name though it seems Anping (aka OTL Tainan) would likely become the capital of British Formosa.
 
Formosa is quite a big deal as alongside Hawaii as a protectorate, the British can basically travel West or East and be comfortable for coal stations, giving them additional strategic freedom.

However, with the British there, I can see Formosa becoming incredibly powerful. Hong Kong was valuable as a way to trade, but Formosa can functionally support a navy dedicated to controlling the region and its trade. This goes beyond selling goods to China, but controlling exports from China and in theory Japan if that is seen as a worthwhile project.

The likely motivation would be to take over the trade it had with the Japanese and Dutch, and edge the Dutch out of East Asia.

This could (butterflies willing) mean a very different Opium War. The British could well have a fleet stationed on Formosa that the Qing could be cautious of, changing the diplomatic relations with them - but also meaning that a British invasion could be faster and more dangerous. It also means in the precursor that rather than traders buying from India, it could be done from Formosa itself (hell, they make a small market themselves and could even grow it in Taiwan (potentially, I'm not sure if the climate is wrong).

What is the most exciting aspect however is the potential of the British supporting the ascension of Zheng Kezang. After all Tungning saw itself as the rightful Empire of China. The Opium Wars could spill out into a major clash between an Anglo-Chinese Ming Restoration and the Qing, meaning not only the trade rights into China, but potentially large swathes of China under a Southern Ming Protectorate. That can go two major ways - massively more profits for the British and a large Chinese puppet state for a long time, or the development of Southern China as a sort of Meiji-China.
 
Perhaps the British in this scenario could lay the groundwork for either an earlier or on-time Xinhai Revolution, where Post-Qing China basically becomes a constitutional monarchy ruled under the British-backed Late Ming dynasty in return for China permanently ceding any claims over Formosa (amongst other things)?
 
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