Chapter 33 32. The Japanese government "pays the bill" for military operations

The memorandum of the US Secretary of State was soon placed on the desk of Japanese Foreign Minister Kijuro Koihara.Although the U.S. ambassador's additional explanation that "this article should not be regarded as a protest" almost wiped out all the displeasure that the U.S. government carefully expressed through the memorandum, Biyuan still felt the pressure—after all, the U.S. stated that it He does not intend to sit idly by what is happening in Manchuria. Just the day before, in a circular to the foreign ministers of China and Japan, Briand, chairman of the Council of the League of Nations, demanded that China and Japan: refrain from any actions that would worsen the status quo or hinder the peaceful settlement of the issue; seek appropriate means, To protect the national safety and property of each country from danger, and to enable the immediate withdrawal of the respective armies of the two countries.

Briand said in the circular to Bi Yuan: "Yu is convinced that your government will be able to take all measures in accordance with the circular agreed by the Council to send to you, so as not to worsen the status quo or to prevent the peaceful settlement of the issue. any act.” and told him in passing that the League of Nations had forwarded to the United States Government all relevant documents and minutes of the Council concerning the events in Manchuria for its information. Although the attitude of the League of Nations tried to "treat both China and Japan equally", the Japanese government still felt the faint pressure, because judging from the Japanese government's established policy towards China, it is still very sensitive to the pressure it may incur from the international community at this time. dreadful.

Shigemitsu was in China when the incident broke out. On the 23rd, Shigemitsu Aoi sent a telegram back to the Japanese government: The actions of the military this time, based on the so-called independent concept of the command power, ignore the government so much, and the painstaking diplomatic efforts have been undermined once in a while.For the future of the country, it is extremely sad.That being the case, I hope that the government should quickly prohibit the arbitrary actions of the military department, and stop the irresponsible and unfavorable propaganda of the military department in accordance with the will of the country. It should also show its banner and establish the government's guidance... The national government's policy is to quickly resolve civil strife (quickly and seriously The compromise on the Guangdong side has finally been realized), with a unified force, using the traditional policy of "using the barbarians to control the barbarians", sued the incident to the League of Nations (due to Song Ziwen's recent contact, the relationship with the League of Nations has become closer) and those who advocated a non-war treaty The United States, using all its internal and external propaganda power, forced Japan to retreat, as much as possible as when it returned to Shandong.Under no circumstances will an appropriate agreement be concluded with Japan on the future question of Manchuria, nor will the Nationalist Government participate in negotiations for this purpose.Therefore, it should be recognized that this incident can cause Japan and China to sever diplomatic relations.If things go on like this, due to the instigation of the national government, Japan will be criticized by world public opinion.

Why is Shigemitsu Aoi so saddened by the brazen military actions launched by Japanese soldiers?What is Shigemitsu Aoi's "painful diplomatic efforts"? In the spring of 1931, when the cabinet was formed for the second time, it was also the time when Yuan Yuan's diplomacy was at the end of the day.During the several foreign negotiations during the Hamaguchi cabinet period, Moshihara was accused by Tomokukai and right-wing forces of being weak, and he did not come up with a plan acceptable to the people on the Manchuria issue, which was critical to Japan's survival. "Revolutionary diplomacy" is emerging to seek to consolidate national unity and regain state power.According to the vision of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Zhengting, the plan to recover state power will be divided into five stages, gradually recovering tariff autonomy, revoking extraterritorial rights, recovering concessions and leased land, railway rights, inland river navigation rights, and coastal trade rights. In mid-April, when Mamoru Shigemitsu, the Minister to China, visited Wang Zhengting, Wang made it clear that the leased land to be acquired included Kanto Prefecture, and the railway rights included the South Manchuria Railway.Shigemitsu immediately returned to China, reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and discussed countermeasures with Coinhara.Originally, according to the coordinated diplomacy of Moshihara, he wanted to avoid the edge of China's anti-imperialist movement and seek Japan's favorable position in China by making a goodwill gesture towards China's "revolutionary diplomacy".However, the domestic situation in Japan is deteriorating rapidly, the political power of the cabinet is getting weaker and weaker, and the right-wing forces are becoming more and more arrogant.The shots fired at Prime Minister Hamaguchi blatantly demonstrated the unscrupulousness of the right-wing forces.The deterioration of the situation cannot be stopped at all, and the Manchurian issue needs to be resolved urgently both from the inside and from the outside.Judging from the situation in Manchuria and the attitude of the Japanese military, sooner or later conflicts were inevitable, and Japan-China relations were doomed to a dead end.Mamoru Shigemitsu believes that since Japan-China relations are doomed to a dead end, in diplomacy, "solid arrangements" should be taken as the policy.According to Mamoru Shigemitsu's proposal, since Japan-China relations will eventually fall into a situation where there is no way out, it must be made "solidly unfeasible."The so-called "it will not work in a down-to-earth manner", in the words of Shigemitsu Aoi, means that under any circumstances, the world must understand Japan's diplomatic status.Both Foreign Minister Koihara and Asia Bureau Director Masaoyuki Tani also agreed with Shigemitsu's proposal.In this way, "firm arrangements" became a principle for the Japanese government to deal with the Chinese issue, especially the Manchurian issue.

To put it bluntly, this so-called "doesn't work in a down-to-earth manner" is to take advantage of the various frictions that will inevitably occur between China and Japan in the process of regaining its national power, and to activate all propaganda machines, so as to provide support for the inevitable outbreak of China and Japan in the future. The conflict creates an impression of Japan's innocence in the international community and avoids international intervention.Japan's overwhelming hype on so-called unsolved Sino-Japanese cases such as the Wanbaoshan incident and the Nakamura incident is a manifestation of this principle.This so-called "doesn't really work" can be said to be an extremely dangerous strategy of the Japanese government.

The military operations of the Kwantung Army in Northeast China made the Japanese diplomats' "reliably impossible" strategy really "impossibly impracticable". When Japan used all means, including force, to obtain its It is impossible for the international community to "understand" its diplomatic status when it comes to the interests of the Japanese government—the Japanese government has lost their long-dreamed "golden strategy" forever. On the 23rd, at the same time that Yuan Foreign Minister received a notice from the chairman of the League of Nations Council Briand, he also learned that the Kwantung Army was about to send troops to Harbin.Although the Japanese government does not want this matter to be internationalized, it is still unavoidable. Now, the Japanese government must clean up the situation with regret and give an explanation to the international community.

When the incident broke out, the policy of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was to resolve it through direct negotiations between the governments of Japan and China, while the Chinese government believed that direct negotiations could not resolve the issue, and planned to rely on the power of the international alliance to prevent Japan's aggression.Now, China has resorted to the League of Nations, and the League of Nations has made a resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops, but the situation has not gotten too bad.Although the chairman of the Council of the League of Nations asked about this matter, he was impartial after all, at least in his attitude; the "additional explanation" of the American minister also saved Japan enough face.Therefore, the Japanese government still has room to deal with the international community to the end without substantial damage to Japan's interests.

After deliberation and deliberation by the Japanese cabinet, Shibara prepared a reply to the Chairman of the League of Nations Council: 1. With regard to the first point in the Council Chairman's announcement, from the very beginning of the incident, the Japanese military's actions have been limited to protecting the safety of the nationals, the railways, and the military itself.In addition, as the imperial government, it has always adhered to the policy of preventing the situation from deteriorating, and at the same time hopes to resolve the incident peacefully as soon as possible through negotiations between the two countries.There is no intention to change this policy in the future.

2. With regard to the second point of the announcement, most of the Japanese troops have returned to the railway annexes; outside the railway annexes, a small number of troops are stationed in Jilin and Fengtian City, and in several other places for the sake of vigilance. Some soldiers, but these are not military occupations.That is to say, the Japanese army is retreating to the maximum extent necessary to protect the nationals and the safety of the railways. In the future, as the situation improves, they will further return to the dependent territories.Since we have adopted the above policy, please rely on the sincerity of the Japanese government.

In his reply, besides responding to Briand’s request on behalf of the League of Nations, he also did not forget to cooperate with the Japanese representatives in the League of Nations in their efforts to prevent the internationalization of this matter, “I hope that this issue can be resolved peacefully as soon as possible through negotiations between the two countries.” incident".Because Japanese politicians all understand that the international community will not tear themselves apart because of Japan's aggressive advances in China-the formation of the Axis group is still a few years later.As long as a decent reason is given first, the great powers will know what to do and retreat.Without the intervention of the big powers, China is a soft persimmon, and Japan has many ways to get everything it wants from it.