Nanjing National Government's Policy Toward Japan Analysis (1927-1937)

The object of this article is to study the foreign policy of the Nan Jing National Government toward Japan during the period from1927 to 1937. The Sino-Japanese war from 1937 to 1945 brought disastrous consequences to Chinese people and society, which urged the later generations to continuously reflect the Sino-Japanese relationship in prewar period, especially the foreign policy of the Nan Jing National Government: Whether its foreign policy toward Japan should be positively affirmed or not? Was there a much better choice concerning the foreign policy to Japan? As to these questions, many different opinions have been proposed in the academy circle and no consensus has been reached. This article sorts through and analyses theoretically the foreign policy of the National Government toward Japan by drawing on the macro-micro association decision-making analysis mode, so as to make a more objective and reasonable judge.This article mainly consists of three parts.The first part is to sort through the foreign policy of the Nan Jing National Government toward Japan from1927 to 1937. As contradiction and ambiguity characterize the foreign policy toward Japan, Researchers find it rather difficult to handle rationally and logically so many tough problems some of which are even not explainable when they are trying to understand and determine the historical position of the policy. Therefore, the developing path of the foreign policy to Japan must be sort though clearly in order to judge the policy of the Nan Jing National Government to Japan in that very period objectively and accurately. Nan Jing National Government was founded in 1927 whose foreign policy was centered on its policy to Japan and made efforts to set up a stable working relationship with Japan; after the"Tsinan Incident"in 1928, the National Government carried on a policy of containing Japan by allying with America, hoping to restrict the expansion of Japan in China with the aid of England and America; "September 18 Incident" took place in 1931, the National Government conformed the appeal policy as the fundamental policy to Japan, and this policy was gradually strengthened during the process of handling the "September 18 Incident" until Japan's quitting the League of Nations in Feb. 1933. This period is considered to be the stage of"Appeal Policy". In May 1933, taking the advantage of"Tanggu Agreement"signed between China and Japan the National Government steered officially to the partial compromise policy on Japan. In 1935 Japan proposed the"Hilohata's Three Principles"whose aim was to totally control China, and actively planned the"North China Incident". Then the policy of great powers cooperation to contain Japan became the main strategy of the National Government regarding the foreign policy to Japan. From that time on, its policy toward Japan became tougher, and the foreign policy of Anti-Japanese was preliminarily formed. The above evolution constitutes the internal developing mainline of the foreign policy of the Nan Jing National Government toward Japan during from1927 to 1937.The second part is supposed to analyze theoretically the diplomatic policy of the Nan Jing National Government and probe into structural factors which restrict the National Government by using the macro-micro association decision-making analysis mode which would study the diplomatic policy from the three ties of international structures, domestic power relationship, and policy-makers respectively. Concerning the international structures, the foreign policy of the Nan Jing National Government toward Japan was enslaved to the great power structure and couldn't help behaving according to the international trend due to lack of complete autonomy. From the aspect of domestic power relations, the diplomatic policy of the Government got entangled among domestic power struggles, which made the policy not purely come from weighing the advantages and disadvantages of diplomacy but yield to the splitting reality of domestic politics. As for the policy-makers, the views of diplomatic strategies of Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Ching-wei—both were the main decision-makers of the diplomatic policy at that time—influenced gravely the choice of the National Government's policy to Japan. All in all, its foreign policy to Japan is characterized by the passivity and tendency towards compromise because of these influencing factors.The third part is to judge and reflect this foreign policy. First of all, this chapter tries to analyze what the purpose, basic principles, and the strategy choice of its policy toward Japan actually turn out to be. The main purpose of its policy toward Japan was supposed to make every effort to delay or avoid an overall war with Japan without signing any agreements that would humiliate the nation and forfeit its sovereignty so as to achieve the national unification and strengthen the national power. When it came to making the choice of strategies, the Nan Jing National Government was apt to contain the expansion of Japan in China hoping to seek help from the great powers such as England and America. Secondly, a fair judgment should be made about the foreign policy of the Nan Jing National Government toward Japan. To a large extent, this diplomatic policy to Japan should be affirmed. Facing the disastrous invasion of Japan, the National Government, although difficult enough, continuously tried to consider the tough situation and make a better and more cautious choice in expectation of find a diplomatic revolution. The foreign policies the National Government resorted to, such as the strategy of allying to America, the"Appeal Policy", and the partial compromise policy, all aimed at preventing the invasion of Japan to China and maintaining the territory and sovereignty of China through effective diplomatic means. Meanwhile, it should be pointed out that there left many painful lessons to the later generations in the formulation and implementation of the policy toward Japan.