Charles William Le Gendre was born in France in 1830, emigrated to the United States, and fought as a Union officer in the American Civil War, losing an eye and suffering wounds that marked him for life. In 1866 he was posted as the American consul at Amoy, whose jurisdiction reached across the strait to Taiwan. When the merchant bark Rover was wrecked off Taiwan's southern cape in 1867 and its crew killed by the Paiwan, Le Gendre took up the case with relentless energy. Rebuffed by Qing officials who disclaimed authority over the 'savage territory,' he did what no diplomat had dared: he journeyed into the south and negotiated face to face with the paramount chief Tokitok, securing a direct pact for the protection of shipwrecked sailors. His travels convinced him that much of Taiwan lay beyond any effective Qing control — a conclusion with far-reaching consequences. In the early 1870s he entered the service of the Japanese government and became a key adviser to its 1874 expedition against the same region, lending it maps, arguments and legitimacy. He later advised Korea and died in Seoul in 1899. Le Gendre remains a pivotal and controversial figure, the foreign go-between whose knowledge helped open Taiwan to the ambitions of a rising Japan.

• Negotiated the South Cape pact with chief Tokitok (1867)

• Advised Japan's 1874 expedition against southern Taiwan