From the beginning, he held the position of enemy and us, and he was not suitable to serve as a diplomat at all. Li Hongzhang believed that Ryukyu was "dispensable", and he was concerned that Japan would not cite the example of Ryukyu and harm the interests of another vassal state, Korea. Only then did he agree on what to do to negotiate the Ryukyu issue. The prime minister's government minister, Prince Gong Yixin, also supported Li Hongzhang's views. In this way, it was not until the second half of 1878, when Ryukyu paid tribute to the Qing Dynasty once again, that He Ruzhang made his first verbal protest against the "tributary incident" on September 3 when he met with Japanese Foreign Secretary
Terashima Munori. ; On September 18th, the whatsapp database secretary of the Miyamoto Grand Secretary mentioned Ryukyu, and the Sino-Japanese Ryukyu diplomatic dispute began. On October 7, He Ruzhang sent an official diplomatic note to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a strong tone: "Your country has prohibited Ryukyu from paying tribute to the Qing Dynasty. My government heard about it and thought that Japan was a big country, and would not be willing to betray its neighbors and bully weak countries. For this reason, I do not believe in, unjust, ruthless and unreasonable things.” He accused Japan of violating the “China-Japan Amendment Regulations”, “bullying Ryukyu, tampering with old regulations,” and “abusing the treaty for no reason and
suppressing small states.” It will not be so rude to Japan, causing a "note incident" or "violence incident". The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs returned the note to the Chinese Prime Minister's Yamen and strongly condemned it. On November 21, the reply letter asked, "Is this note a way for neighboring countries to communicate?" He also said that if this is the order of the Chinese government, it shows that China should be reluctant to maintain friendly relations between the two countries. He Ruzhang responded strongly on the 29th, again accusing Japan of "sending the order to the Ryukyu, but not telling a word", and said that as long as the Ryukyu continued to pay tribute to China, the relationship between China and Japan would deteriorate.