its own wishes.' The reverberations of the Tonkin Affair tarnished the reputation of the proponents of French colonial expansion generally, and delayed the realisation of other French colonial projects, including the conquest of Madagascar. It was not until the early 1890s that domestic political support for colonial expansion revived in France. Military Land There are different interpretations for the significance of the military campaign on land. According to Bruce A. Elleman, the Chinese forces outnumbered the French, their weapons were modern, but their training was largely inferior. Although the Qing troops suffered initial losses, they also won victories (though fewer in number) and managed to push back French forces. The French withdrawal from Lang Són was seen by many as the result of panic and Qing forces captured Lang Són and its surrounding territory by April 1885. Despite this victory, after which "China’s forces... dominated the battlefield," the fighting ended on 4 April 1885 as a result of peace negotiations due to the Qing court's concerns about the economy, French naval supremacy, lack of foreign support, and northern threats posed by Russia and Japan. The call for peace seemed unbelievable to some Chinese contemporaries given the Chinese successes immediately prior. Ban Zhao, a front-line commander, reported that his subordinates begged for them to continue their attack. Many other commanders and officers in the south as well as the governor-general of Guangdong-Guangxi, Zhang Zhidong, protested the end of the war. In Taiwan, the French succeeded in occupying Keelung in the north but failed to advance any further after seven months. Henri Cordier described both Keelung and Tamsui as worthless places. Chinese sources often condemn the final peace agreement and emphasize the immediate Chinese victories prior. According to Loyd Eastman, this interpretation fails to account for the overall situation of China, which had to contend with Russian and Japanese threats in the north, the critical situation in Taiwan, and weak supply lines in the south. Eastman claims that fear of conflict with Japan was the deciding factor in the Qing court's decision to sue for peace. Elleman states that although "China's forces in Tonkin achieved some notable land victories against the French," it became clear China would not receive any foreign assistance, and this forced Beijing to open negotiations. In the final treaty on 9 June 1885, China affirmed Annam's status as a French protectorate and allowed French firms to trade directly