<P> Starting in the 1860s Japan rapidly modernized along Western lines, adding industry, bureaucracy, institutions and military capabilities that provided the base for imperial expansion into Korea, China, Taiwan and islands to the south . It saw itself vulnerable to aggressive Western imperialism unless it took control of neighboring areas . It took control of Okinawa and Formosa . Japan's desire to control Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria, led to the first Sino - Japanese War with China in 1894--1895 and the Russo - Japanese War with Russia in 1904--1905 . The war with China made Japan the world's first Eastern, modern imperial power, and the war with Russia proved that a Western power could be defeated by an Eastern state . The aftermath of these two wars left Japan the dominant power in the Far East with a sphere of influence extending over southern Manchuria and Korea, which was formally annexed as part of the Japanese Empire in 1910 . </P> <P> Okinawa island is the largest of the Ryukyu Islands, and paid tribute to China from the late 14th century . Japan took control of the entire Ryukyu island chain in 1609 and formally incorporated it into Japan in 1879 . </P> <P> Friction between China and Japan arose from the 1870s from Japan's control over the Ryukyu Islands, rivalry for political influence in Korea and trade issues . Japan, having built up a stable political and economic system with a small but well - trained army and navy, easily defeated China in the First Sino - Japanese War of 1894 . Japanese soldiers massacred the Chinese after capturing Port Arthur on the Liaotung Peninsula . In the harsh Treaty of Shimonoseki of April 1895, China recognize the independence of Korea, and ceded to Japan Formosa, the Pescatores Islands and the Liaotung Peninsula . China further paid an indemnity of 200 million silver taels, opened five new ports to international trade, and allowed Japan (and other Western powers) to set up and operate factories in these cities . However, Russia, France, and Germany saw themselves disadvantaged by the treaty and in the Triple Intervention forced Japan to return the Liaotung Peninsula in return for a larger indemnity . The only positive result for China came when those factories led the industrialization of urban China, spinning off a local class of entrepreneurs and skilled mechanics . </P> <P> The island of Formosa (Taiwan) had an indigenous population when Dutch traders in need of an Asian base to trade with Japan and China arrived in 1623 . The Dutch East India Company (VOC) built Fort Zeelandia . They soon began to rule the natives . China took control in the 1660s, and sent in settlers . By the 1890s there were about 2.3 million Han Chinese and 200,000 members of indigenous tribes . After its victory in the First Sino - Japanese War in 1894--95, the peace treaty ceded the island to Japan . It was Japan's first colony . </P>

Who replaced great britain as the leading industrial power in europe after 1870