Politics of Manchukuo

Manchukuo was a puppet state set up by the Empire of Japan in Manchuria which existed from 1931 to 1945. The Manchukuo regime was established four months after the Japanese withdrawal from Shanghai with Puyi as the nominal but powerless head of state[1] to add some semblance of legitimacy, as he was a former emperor and an ethnic Manchu.

Manchukuo Politicians-Front row, from left: Yu Zhishan (于芷山), Minister of military affairs; Xie Jieshi (谢介石), Ambassador to Japan; Xi Qia, Chief of imperial household agency; Zhang Jinghui, Prime Minister; Zang Shiyi, President of the senate; Lü Ronghuan (吕荣寰), Minister of civil affairs; Ding Jianxiu (丁鉴修), Minister of industry.
Rear row, from left: Yuan Jinkai (袁金铠), Minister of Palatine affairs; Li Shaogeng (李绍庚), Minister of traffic; Ruan Zhenduo (阮振铎), Minister of education; Zhang Yanqing (张燕卿), Minister of foreign affairs.

Government

Manchukuo was proclaimed a monarchy on 1 March 1934, with former Qing dynasty emperor Puyi assuming the Manchukuo throne under the reign name of Emperor Kang-de. An imperial rescript issued the same day, promulgated the organic law of the new state, establishing a Privy Council, a Legislative Council and the General Affairs State Council to "advise and assist the emperor in the discharge of his duties". The Privy Council was an appointive body consisting of Puyi's closest friends and confidants, and the Legislative Council was largely an honorary body without authority. The State Council was therefore the center of political power in Manchukuo.

Political parties and movements

During his administration, the Kangde Emperor, in an interview with foreign journalists, mentioned his interest in forming a political party with Confucian doctrines. The Japanese "native" establishment, however, organized some right-wing and nationalist parties, in the Militarism-Socialism mould. Such movements, which had official status, were:

Notable people

The Imperial Manchu Court

Puyi as Emperor of Manchukuo
  • Aisin Gioro Henry Puyi (Kangde Emperor and head of state)
  • Elizabeth Wanrong (Empress and first wife of the Kangde Emperor)
  • Prince Aisin Gioro Pujie (brother of Puyi, possible heir of Manchukuo Throne)
  • Prince Aisin Gioro Puren (brother of Puyi)
  • Prince Aisin Gioro Yuyan (nephew of Puyi)
  • Hiro Saga (Japanese sister-in-law of the Kangde Emperor)
  • Wenxiu (first concubine of the Emperor)
  • Tan Yuling (2nd Wife of the Kangde Emperor)
  • Li Yuqin (4th Wife of the Kangde Emperor)
  • Princess Aisin Gioro Huisheng (daughter of Pu-Chieh and Hiro Saga)
  • Princess Aisin Gioro Xianyu (distant relative)

Others (local)

Kwantung Army

Commanders
No. CommanderTook officeLeft officeTime in office
1
Honjō, ShigeruGeneral
Shigeru Honjō
(1876–1945)
1 August 19318 August 19321 year, 7 days
2
Mutō, NobuyoshiField Marshal
Nobuyoshi Mutō
(1868–1933)
8 August 193227 July 1933 353 days
3
Hishikari, TakashiGeneral
Takashi Hishikari
(1871–1952)
29 July 193310 December 19341 year, 134 days
4
Minami, JirōGeneral
Jirō Minami
(1874–1955)
10 December 19346 March 19361 year, 87 days
5
Ueda, KenkichiGeneral
Kenkichi Ueda
(1875–1962)
6 March 19367 September 19393 years, 185 days
6
Umezu, YoshijirōGeneral
Yoshijirō Umezu
(1882–1949)
7 September 193918 July 19444 years, 315 days
7
Yamada, OtozōGeneral
Otozō Yamada
(1881–1965)
18 July 194411 August 19451 year, 24 days
Chief of Staff

Others (Japanese)

  • Chu Kudo, Chamberlain, aide-de-camp to Emperor Puyi
  • Yoshioka Yasunori Army senior staff officer and Attaché to the Imperial Household in Manchukuo
  • Kenjiro Hayashide official Kangde emperor biographer and author of "Epochal Journey to Japan"
  • Chiune Sugihara, Vice Foreign Minister
  • Hoshino Naoki, Vice Minister of Finance
  • Kenji Doihara, Japanese spymaster and military commander
  • Norihiro Yasue, Army officer, author of the Fugu Plan
  • Koreshige Inuzuka, Navy officer, co-author of the Fugu Plan
  • Masahiko Amakasu, Vice Minister of Civil Affairs and head of Manchukuo Film Association
  • Yoshisuke Aikawa, prominent industrialist
  • Tatsunosuke Takasaki, prominent businessman
  • Toranosuke Hashimoto, State Shinto head priest
  • Yanagida Genzo Commander, Kwantung Defense Command
  • Takashi Hishikari Kwantung Army ambassador to Manchukuo.
  • Kimio Miyagawa Japanese Consul-general in Harbin
  • Funao Miyakawa Japanese General Counselor in Vladivostok and then in Harbin
  • Prince Fumitaka Konoe Army Senior Lieutenant, son and personal secretary of Prince Fumimaro Konoe
  • Shun Akifusa Chief of military Mission in Harbin and political adviser to the white Russian political groups in same city
  • Genzo Yanagita head of the Japanese military mission in Harbin
  • Kenji Ishikawa head of a sabotage group of that mission
  • Yutaka Takeoka intelligence officer and head of the Dairen military mission
  • Saburo Asada head of the 2nd (Intelligence) department of the staff of the Kwantung Army
  • Tamaki Kumazaki deputy chief of intelligence of Kwantung Army
  • Hiroki Nohara deputy chief of Kwantung Army Intelligence
  • Yoshio Itagaki deputy chief of Kwantung Army Intelligence and son of Seishiro Itagaki, war minister from 1938–1939

Others

  • Genrikh Lyushkov, ex-Soviet Far East NKVD defector, adviser to Kwantung Army
  • Konstantin Vladimirovich Rodzaevsky, White Russian anticommunist leader
  • General Kislitsin, another White Russian anticommunist chief
  • Abraham Kaufman, founder of Far Eastern Jewish Council and Betarim Jew Zionists Movement
  • Trebitsch Lincoln, Hungarian pro-Japanese collaborator
  • August Ponschab, German consul in Harbin, Manchuria
  • Auguste Ernest Pierre Gaspais, Vatican representative in Harbin, Manchuria
  • Charles Lemaire, Vatican diplomatic officer in Harbin, Manchuria
  • Lian Yu, ambassador from the Japanese-sponsored Nanjing Nationalist Government
  • Mariano Amoedo Galarmendi, Spanish chargé d'affaires to 1939
  • Fernando Valdés Ibargüen, Count of Torata, Spanish minister 1941 to 1942
  • José González de Gregorio y Arribas, Spanish chargé d'affaires 1942 to 1943, commercial attaché since 1940

References

  1. Taylor, Anne; Hopper, Stephen (1988). The Banksia Atlas (Australian Flora and Fauna Series Number 8). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-644-07124-9.
  2. "Manchukuo Diplomat Puts Naive Scheme", The Straits Times, 1932-10-11, retrieved 2011-08-05

Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1996), The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, New York, pp. 282, doi:10.2277/052166991X, ISBN 0-521-66991-X

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