Manchuria

Manchuria is a country currently under the occupation of China.^[1] The current Emperor, who resides exiled in Japan, is Dokuritsu Aisingyoro. There is a Manchu government in exile that advocates for the restoration of its independence. ^[2] Manchuria is rich in Iron and Coal deposits.

Manchuria was occupied when the Republic of China was established in 1912. In 1932, Manchukuo gained independence from the Republic of China. The last Qing emperor, Emperor Henry Puyi Aisingyoro became the Manchukuo emperor.

After Japan's defeat in the Great East Asian War in 1945, Manchuria was occupied again. Japan regained sovereignty in 1952, yet Manchuria remained occupied by the totalitarian Chinese communists.

The Manchukuo Temporary Government was established in 2004 to fight for independence again. The successor of the Aisingyoro family succeeded to the throne. From 2015, Dokuritsu Aisingyoro succeed the throne and appointed Mr. Cheung Siu Bong as the President. On March 7, 2019. The Manchukuo Government in Exile and Manchukuo Temporary Government merged into Manchukuo Government. Mr Fu Jun became the New President.

Manchukuo has an ambassador in Japan and a representatives in the United States, Taiwan and Brazil.

1644-1911[edit]

Manchuria, where the Manchu people originated, was administered separately from "China proper" by the Manchu dynasty (1644-1911) after the Manchu conquered China in 1644. In the 1890s, Russia penetrated the region by obtaining railroad concessions and a leasehold that included Dairen and Port Arthur. As Western and Japanese imperialists vied for concessions in China and Manchuria after China's defeat by Japan in 1895, American policy was expressed in Secretary of State John M. Hay's Open Door notes of 1899 and 1900. The notes reflected an American assumption that the interests of the United States were served best by preserving both equal opportunity to trade throughout China and China's independence and territorial integrity. Manchuria was of particular concern because American exporters fared better there than in China proper and because Russian domination threatened to exclude American goods.

From 1901 to 1903, the administration of Theodore Roosevelt quarreled with the Russians in an effort to preserve American opportunities in Manchuria. In 1904, the Japanese, considering their interests in Manchuria to be vital, attacked Russian forces there. Japanese successes led to control over southern Manchuria, conceded by the Russians in the Treaty of Portsmouth (1905). Roosevelt aided negotiation of the settlement and acquiesced in the parceling of spheres of interest in Manchuria. He rejected subsequent Chinese overtures for help in regaining control of the region. Later, the administration of William Howard Taft challenged both Japan and Russia in Manchuria. As part of their program of "dollar diplomacy," Taft and Secretary of State Philander C. Knox attempted to internationalize the railroads that were the foundation of the Japanese and Russian spheres. The American plan failed, driving Japan and Russia together.

1911-31[edit]

A note by Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan in 1915 and the Lansing-Ishii agreement in 1917 appeared to constitute American recognition of the Japanese sphere of interest in southern Manchuria. In neither instance was American intent clear. The four-power consortium agreement of 1920 and the Nine-Power Treaty of 1922 were also ambiguous about Japan's special interests in Manchuria. Without legitimizing Japanese political pretensions in the region, the United States conceded Japanese economic hegemony. The governments of the Republic of China (1911–49) never exercised more than nominal control over the area.

By the 1920s, control of Manchuria was considered by Japanese leaders to be vital to Japan's economic development and security.

1931-1941[edit]

Japan and the Soviet Union clashes at Nomonhan and Changkufeng 1938–39.

Threatened by the growth of Chinese nationalism there, the Japanese army staged the Mukden Incident on Sept. 18, 1931, occupied all of Manchuria, and, on Feb. 18, 1932, created the puppet state of Manchukuo. Concerned less with who controlled Manchuria than with Japanese violations of the Nine-Power Treaty and the Pact of Paris (1927), the United States, independently and in concert with the League of Nations, exerted pressure on Japan. Foreign protests were ignored by the Japanese military, and the civilian government was unable to restrain the army. With none of the powers willing to impose sanctions, the U.S. Secretary of State Henry Stimson announced in January 1932 to "Stimson Doctrine"—a refusal to recognize conditions brought about by Japanese treaty violations.

Japanese politicians and intellectuals implemented plans for cultural assimilation and integration of culturally Chinese Manchurians into the Japanese empire through direct propaganda efforts, both print media and film, aimed at the women of Manchukuo. The efforts were reversed after Japan's defeat in 1945.

Japan and the Soviet Union fought a large-scale border war in Manchukuo in 1939, resulting in a major Soviet victory at Nomonhan, and Japanese reluctance to engage the Soviets any more. Japan thereupon turned south.^[3]

The United States never recognized Manchukuo and refused to concede Japanese dominance over the region during the efforts of Cordell Hull and Nomura Kichisaburo to avoid war in 1941.

Biological weapons[edit]

See also: Biological weapons

After the Japanese occupied the city of Shenyang (Mukden) on Sept. 18, 1931, thereby extending Japanese control over large areas in northeastern China, the Chinese Communist Party fought alongside the Japanese invaders to defeat the Republic of China.^[4]

The Japanese set up a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit in Harbin. Unit 731 and its affiliated units were involved in research, development and experimental deployment of epidemic-creating biowarfare weapons in assaults against the Chinese populace (both military and civilian) throughout World War II. Plague-infected fleas, bred in the laboratories of Unit 731 and Unit 1644, were spread by low-flying airplanes upon Chinese cities, including coastal Ningbo and Changde, Hunan Province, in 1940 and 1941.^[5] This military aerial spraying killed tens of thousands of people with bubonic plague epidemics. An expedition to Nanking involved spreading typhoid and paratyphoid germs into the wells, marshes, and houses of the city, as well as infusing them into snacks to be distributed among the locals. Epidemics broke out shortly after, to the elation of many researchers, where it was concluded that paratyphoid fever was "the most effective" of the pathogens.^[6][7][8]

At least 12 large-scale field trials of biological weapons were performed, and at least 11 Chinese cities were attacked with biological agents. An attack on Changda in 1941 reportedly led to approximately 10,000 biological casualties and 1,700 deaths among ill-prepared Japanese troops, with most cases due to cholera.^[9] Japanese researchers performed tests on prisoners with bubonic plague, cholera, smallpox, botulism, and other diseases.^[10] This research led to the development of the defoliation bacilli bomb and the flea bomb used to spread bubonic plague.^[11] Some of these bombs were designed with porcelain shells.

Due to pressure from numerous accounts of the bio-warfare attacks, Chiang Kai-shek sent a delegation of army and foreign medical personnel in November 1941 to document evidence and treat the afflicted. A report on the Japanese use of plague-infested fleas on Changde was made widely available the following year, but was not addressed by the Allied Powers until Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a public warning in 1943 condemning the attacks.^[12][13]

1945 and after[edit]

At the Yalta Conference (in February 1945) President Franklin D. Roosevelt secretly agreed to give the Soviet Union Japan's sphere of interest in Manchuria in return for Soviet intervention in the war in Asia. The Red Army entered Manchuria in August 1945 and remained there until April 1946. After Soviet forces withdrew, Mao Zedong and his People's Liberation Army defeated Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang armies in Manchuria as in the rest of China. An agreement between Mao and Joseph Stalin in 1950 led to complete Chinese sovereignty in 1955. A separate American policy toward these northeastern provinces of China ceased to exist after 1947, when the administration of Harry S. Truman rejected Gen. Albert C. Wedemeyer's proposal for a five-power or United Nations trusteeship for Manchuria. Communist strength in Manchuria proved the base, and "anvil of victory," for their forces against the Nationalists in 1948.^[14] Manchuria was also the Chinese base for intervention in the Korean War in late 1950 to prevent a UN rollback of Communist North Korea.

Bibliography[edit]

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References[edit]