Chapter 22 21. The Japanese government still fantasizes about "no expansion"

The emergence of the policy of "not expanding the situation" may be traced back to the most unusual breakfast in the life of Foreign Minister Kijuro Koihara. This morning, Biyuan read the newspaper while having breakfast as usual.But on this day, the news that caught his eyes shook not only him, but the most important diplomatic proposition in his life.The Liutiaogou incident had happened for more than ten hours, and the Kwantung Army had already occupied Shenyang, yet he, the foreign minister, knew the news no earlier than most other Tokyoites! Yuan quickly inquired with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact the Fengtian Consulate General for more detailed information.At the same time, contact Prime Minister Ruo to discuss this matter.

At 10 a.m., if the prime minister has already summoned all the cabinet members to urgently discuss what happened in Fengtian, China last night. If the Prime Minister does not appear to know more about events than the newspapers say.At the meeting, if you asked Minister Lu Nanjiro: "I heard that the Kwantung Army took this action in response to the violence of the Chinese army. Is it really our army's self-defense action? Are you sure it is?" Minamijiro replied, "Of course it is." Although Minamijiro answered calmly and confidently, Coinbara didn't believe it.He took out the information from the Fengtian Consulate General received by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, read it aloud, and listed them one by one:

The garrison in Fushun reported that it was going to conduct a drill on the assumption that Fengtian City would be captured before dawn on the 18th, and therefore instructed the police to formulate a plan to protect the refugees and maintain law and order. The Fushun independent garrison said it would be dispatched on the 17th, and had requested Manchuria Railways to prepare trains for use in advance;...but the day before, it said that it would not be dispatched on the 17th, so please change it to prepare for use on the 18th. Nan Jiro had just come from the General Staff Headquarters. On behalf of the Army Central Department, he had to appeal the legitimacy of the Kwantung Army's military operations and shoulder the mission of persuading the cabinet to agree to send reinforcements to the North Korean Army.However, he was a little guilty when he heard that Biyuan's words were straight and well-founded. The unquestionable tone of Biyuan when he read the telegram made him depressed.In view of the atmosphere at the venue, Nanjiro simply did not have the courage to raise the issue of reinforcements for the Korean Army.

If the Prime Minister and his cabinet members have analyzed the information at hand.It appears that, regardless of the truth, the military has completely sidelined the cabinet.According to Coinhara's analysis, the military's statement is hardly reliable.If this was really a premeditated action by the Kwantung Army, it would be another big blow to the already intensified Sino-Japanese relations due to successive unsolved cases.What the military thought about this incident, the cabinet had no idea.If this is the case, what will happen to Japan-China relations, how Japan's international image and status will be affected, and where the military will push Japan's future, everything is hard to predict.Based on these, the cabinet meeting finally formed a resolution of "trying not to make the current situation worse than the status quo".

At the subsequent press conference, Ruo made such a speech: It is a pity that the Japanese and Chinese armies suddenly clashed near Fengtian this time.However, the reason is that the Chinese army attempted to blast the Manchurian railway line and resisted our garrison.Now that the matter has come to this point, I am convinced that the measures taken by our army are entirely based on a legitimate self-defense attitude.What motive did the Chinese have for blasting China's Manchuria Railways? Since no detailed report has been received, it is not known.Now that there has been an exchange of fire, I believe that the troops and agencies that have borne the brunt of the incident are properly handling it.

Although the speech still attributed the occurrence of the incident to the bombing of the Manchurian railway line by the Chinese army according to the military statement, it lacked confidence after all. Foreign Minister Biyuan is determined to make the final struggle for Biyuan diplomacy. On this day, telegrams about the incident from the Consulate General in Fengtian were sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo like a snowflake.In Biyuan’s view, the truth of the matter is becoming clearer. Regarding the origin of this incident, the Kwantung Army stated that the Kwantung Army was only exercising the legitimate right of self-defense because the violent Chinese army blew up Manchurian Railway. However, according to the observation of the Fengtian Consulate General, it came to a completely opposite conclusion:

Based on the comprehensive information from various sources, it can be seen that the military's policy is to start active operations in all areas along the Manchurian Railway.This official (referring to Consul General Hayashi Kujiro) is taking measures to remind the military commanders to pay attention to President Uchida in Dalian, hoping that the government will also take appropriate measures to stop the military actions as soon as possible. According to reports, Chief of the General Staff Headquarters Jianchuan arrived at the local area by train at 1 pm on the 18th. Although the military kept this information secret, the information may be true.In addition, according to the internal information of the director of the Manchurian Railway Kimura, in order to repair the railway that was said to be destroyed by the Chinese side, the Manchurian Railway dispatched road maintenance workers, but the military was not allowed to approach the site.Therefore, it can be imagined that this incident was completely planned by the military.

Biyuan himself basically judged that this matter was a planned action by the military. As the foreign minister, he was concerned about the future of Biyuan's diplomacy.From the Hamaguchi cabinet to the Waka cabinet, in the face of the national power recovery movement launched by China’s implementation of revolutionary diplomacy and the unanimous clamor of the ruling and opposition parties in Japan demanding a solution to the Manchukuo issue, Mobihara diplomacy with the purpose of coordination is at the crossroads of the two. In the middle of the gap, there are gaps on the left and right, but it is becoming more and more stretched.

Hayashi Kyujiro also stated in his telegram to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Chairman Zang (Shiyi) and negotiators called one after another to say that regarding the actions of the Japanese army, the Chinese side has implemented a policy of complete non-resistance, and has allowed the Japanese army to occupy the commercial port and Daxiguan and other public security sub-stations.Even so, the machine guns of the Japanese army continued to fire, harming non-resisting soldiers and civilians, which made it more difficult to deal with the aftermath of the incident.In view of this, I request to do my best to stop the actions of the Japanese army.To this, we replied that we are doing our best to prevent the incident from spreading.

It seems that in the face of the Kwantung Army's attack, the Chinese side adopted the principle of non-resistance, and the Northeast authorities in China especially did not want the situation to escalate.There is still room for diplomatic negotiations between the two sides.It's just that if diplomatic representations are used to deal with this incident, it will inevitably involve the issue of responsibility for this incident. Although he basically judged that the incident was a premeditated action by the Kwantung Army, the gunshots of sniping Prime Minister Hamaguchi, the rising public opinion and the increasingly tough cries of the soldiers were still in my ears. Public opinion, I am afraid that he still can only insist that the responsibility lies with China like Prime Minister Ruo.As long as the situation does not escalate, the situation may still be salvageable.If this matter is limited to negotiations between Japan and China, no matter which party is responsible, Japan will not be passive.However, things seem to be moving in a worrying direction.

The Consulate in Fengtian sent another negotiation about the US Consulate: At 4:30 a.m. on the 19th, a member of the US Vice Consulate came to visit and said excitedly that just now you said that the Japanese army should try to protect foreign nationals, but not long after, near the "Shengjing Club" in the commercial port, Japanese soldiers came When a Chinese car opened fire, the bullets of the machine gun flew into the club where the dance was being held. This is unprecedented in any part of the world, and it is inconceivable.Yu wanted to telegraph this matter to the State Council. Regarding the cause of this incident, although the Army's report has many doubts, the current questioning by outsiders is still answered according to the Army's explanation, and the Army's positive policy is publicized.As for whether it can be fully understood by outsiders, I am quite skeptical.How do you respect this, please reply urgently. These telegrams inevitably caused Biyuan to worry, that is, this incident may be internationalized.From Japan's point of view, it would be most beneficial if the handling of the aftermath of this matter could be limited to negotiations between Japan and China.When negotiating with the Chinese side, it would certainly be more beneficial to resolve the Manchurian-Mongolian issue if we could negotiate with the Northeast authorities. However, the main obstacle in the Northeast's negotiations right now is the Kwantung Army.According to the judgment of Fengtian Consul Morishima Morito, the Kwantung Army has made up its mind to attack with all its strength. Now that the operation has begun, no one should obstruct it. Obstruction is interference with the commanding power. However, judging from the information obtained that day, clues to negotiations between Japan and China still exist.The clue came from Nanjing. That morning, Coinhara received a telegram from Mamoru Shigemitsu, the Japanese ambassador to China, from Nanjing.According to Mamoru Shigemitsu’s report, after the incident, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Zhengting urgently summoned Mamoru Shigemitsu, lodged an urgent and serious protest, and demanded that the Japanese government immediately send a telegram to order the Kwantung Army to stop all military operations and withdraw the Japanese troops to the original defense.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan instructed Shigemitsu Aoi to deal with the incident as follows: Since the incident was a partial problem caused by the bombing of the South Manchuria Railway, it should be resolved through direct negotiations between the Japanese and Chinese governments. I hope he will try to limit this matter to both Japan and China. between processing. Mamoru Shigemitsu also mentioned in the telegram that after the incident, he met with Chinese Finance Minister Song Ziwen again, and proposed to Song Ziwen: "If such an incident is not resolved quickly, a lot of trouble will be added, and it will be very difficult; therefore It is advisable to quickly send people to the local area to investigate, and then the two of us can negotiate a solution." Song Ziwen also agreed.The clue between Shigemitsu Aoi and Song Ziwen originated from the moment when the Sino-Japanese relations became more and more serious due to the Nakamura incident on the eve of the incident.The two negotiated to find a way to ease the tension and work together to improve Sino-Japanese relations. They agreed that the two would go to Manchuria together to personally investigate the local situation and find a solution.Song Ziwen also planned to take a trip to Beiping to coordinate his position with Zhang Xueliang, and then went to Dalian to discuss with the former Japanese foreign minister and current president of Manchurian Railway Yasuya Uchida, and then formulate a basic solution to the Manchurian issue.Both parties have booked the boat tickets from Shanghai to the north on September 20.Unexpectedly, two days before leaving for the north, something happened.Still clinging to this lead, Shigemitsu hoped to continue their trip to Manchuria and localize the incident.Biyuan also placed his hopes on this clue, and instructed: "I hope to work hard and reach a conclusion." Many years later, for this failed trip to Manchuria, Kijuro Kishihara wrote in his memoirs: I had hoped for the negotiation between Aoi Shigemitsu and Song Ziwen, but I never saw Shigemitsu again. Aoi's report arrives.And Shigemitsu Aoi wrote in his memoirs: He has been waiting for the instructions of Foreign Minister Koihara, and after repeated urging, he did not give his approval until the 21st, but it was too late. In fact, the flames of war ignited by the Kwantung Army in Manchuria are rapidly spreading like a prairie fire—in Manchuria, in China and Japan, and in the international community.The wild run of the Kwantung Army, which could not be stopped before, is even more impossible to stop at this time.Even with that trip to Manchuria, it was doomed to be a fruitless trip.The so-called "try hard not to make the current situation worse than the status quo" is exactly the same!