Establishment of Manchukuo

The East Conference & Invasion of Manchuria

On June 27, 1927, leaders of Japan’s ministries of Foreign Affairs, Military, and Navy held the East Conference, in which leaders discussed future plans
regarding China and the Far East. Most importantly, the discussion focused not only on Japan’s plans for economic expansion into China but also their goal to crush the fight for the liberation of the Chinese people, which had sparked an anti-imperialist revolution between 1925 and 1927. The Japanese sought to create a stable zone free of anti-imperialist and pro communist sentiments. Resulting from the East Conference, on July 7, the document The Political Program in Relation to China was published, which included China, Mongolia, and Manchuria all as “Japan’s subjects of peculiar concern.”
The Japanese takeover of Manchuria began on September 18, 1931 with the Mukden Incident. On that day, the ‘incident’ led to a complete takeover of the entire country. By the middle of 1932, the entire country was under the control of the Japanese Kwantung Army. According to Historian Sheldon Harris, the Manchurian government did little to resist or stop the takeover. From 1932 to 1934, Japan tried to create the facade of an independent state to foster legitimacy. Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and its annexation in 1931, Japanese and Soviet troops for the first time faced one another along a border thousands of kilometers long. The Soviet response to the Mukden incident was minimal, but Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin on March 4, 1932 warned Japan that “we neither want even a clod of foreign territory nor will we yield even a single inch of our land.”​
​The pretext for the 1931 invasion was engineered by General Kenji Doihara
 The Soviet government sent a reinforcement of troops to protect the Eastern border. Over time, Japanese operational plans evolved from small operations into multi-stage offensive actions aimed first against Vladivostok and eventually the entirety of the Soviet Far East as far as Lake Baikal.  

Emperor of Manchukuo(満州国) Henry Puyi

A puppet government was set up, led by Emperor Henry Puyi, who was enthroned in 1932. Under the illusion of independence, all Manchurian officials and Puyi were under constant surveillance. Every Chinese official had a Japanese advisor, who would instruct them regarding choices and decisions. Japan did not seize Manchuria for its vast resources alone; according to the former War Minister Jiro Minami, the occupation of Manchuria allowed the army to build a launchpad that would allow military attacks against both China and the USSR. By turning Manchuria into a colony and exploiting its resources to support the Empire, Japan prepared for military expeditions across Asia.
Puyi as emperor of Manchukuo, wearing the Manchukuo uniform.
Flag of Manchukuo
To protect the Japanese Manchurian puppet state and to maintain influence, the Imperial Japanese Army adopted a policy of halting any Soviet advance along the border. In 1935 the USSR sold its part of the North Manchurian Railway to Manchukuo. This railway had been the major source of Soviet influence in Manchuria since 1924, and with the removal of this influence, Japanese and Soviet forces faced each other in the frontier. Since many sections of the border were not clearly defined, throughout the 1930s border disputes and skirmishes were common. Despite the skirmishes, Japan and the USSR did not enter into war against each other until the Soviet Union declared war against Japan and invaded Manchuria on August 9, 1945.

Related Book

 Unit 731 Cover-up :
​The Operation Paperclip of the East 

During the occupation of Japan after WWII, the US had an important decision to make. Should they hold those responsible for atrocities during the war accountable or should they take the information to advance national interest?

The researchers who worked at Unit 731, the biological and chemical warfare research and development unit, were given immunity in exchange for their research data. Unit 731 included factories filled with humans, tested with various diseases, as well as field tests on civilians of the Soviet Union and China. Imperial Japan had aspirations to develop operative tools of biological warfare, one that was prohibited after World War I. Using alive human captives, the Japanese scientists of the medical profession gathered data on the progression of the diseases until the "human guinea pigs" collapsed. Most of these scientists lived peacefully after WWII, with a few of them having to go through the Khabarovsk Trial, which was deemed by the West as communist propaganda.

Most of the horrors on Unit 731 had been hearsays and rumors until recently with the passing of the Freedom of Information Act. This book is based on documents found in the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Russian archival documents, and translations of the Khabarovsk Trial to paint a complete picture of the cover-up of the atrocious act of Unit 731. Readers could expect to questions themselves with this evidence: Should war crimes be covered up in the name of national interest?

The Development of Unit 731