Politics of Manchukuo

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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.

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.

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. The organic law was largely an abridged version of the Imperial Japanese Constitution, with an important difference being the lack of any mention of civil rights and the increased authority of the Privy Council. As with all other aspects of Manchukuo, the government was purely ceremonial and existed to authenticate the puppet state rather than to rule the people of Manchukuo. True authority remained in the hands of the Japanese Empire.

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:

  • Concordia Association (State-sponsored political party)
  • (Manchukuo nationalist local party)
  • Russian Fascist Organization (the White Russian fascist association in Manchukuo)
  • White Russian Fascist Party (later the Russian Fascist Party; White Russian anti-communist party in Manchukuo, used the swastika as the party symbol, and guided by a Russian fascist "Duce")
  • (BREM) led by General Vladimir Kislitsin
  • (White Russian Tsarist Monarchic party with Japanese approval)
  • (Jewish rights movement in Manchukuo)
  • (Jewish Zionist council in Harbin, Manchukuo led by Dr. Abraham Kaufman, with Japanese Army support)

Notable people[]

The Imperial Manchu Court[]

Puyi as Emperor of Manchukuo
  • Aisin Gioro Henry Puyi (Kangde Emperor and head of state)
  • Madame 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[]

Main article: Kwantung Army
Commanders
No. Portrait Commander Took office Left office Time in office
1
Shigeru Honjō
Honjō, ShigeruGeneral
Shigeru Honjō
(1876–1945)		1 August 19318 August 19321 year, 7 days
2
Nobuyoshi Mutō
Mutō, NobuyoshiField Marshal
Nobuyoshi Mutō
(1868–1933)		8 August 193227 July 1933 †353 days
3
Takashi Hishikari
Hishikari, TakashiGeneral
Takashi Hishikari
(1871–1952)		29 July 193310 December 19341 year, 134 days
4
Jirō Minami
Minami, JirōGeneral
Jirō Minami
(1874–1955)		10 December 19346 March 19361 year, 87 days
5
Kenkichi Ueda
Ueda, KenkichiGeneral
Kenkichi Ueda
(1875–1962)		6 March 19367 September 19393 years, 185 days
6
Yoshijirō Umezu
Umezu, YoshijirōGeneral
Yoshijirō Umezu
(1882–1949)		7 September 193918 July 19444 years, 315 days
7
Otozō Yamada
Yamada, OtozōGeneral
Otozō Yamada
(1881–1965)		18 July 194411 August 19451 year, 24 days
Chief of Staff
  • (10 August 1928 – 8 August 1932)
  • Kuniaki Koiso (8 August 1932 – 5 March 1934)
  • (5 March 1934 – 23 March 1936)
  • Seishirō Itagaki (23 March 1936 – 1 March 1937)
  • Hideki Tōjō (1 March 1937 – 30 May 1938)
  • Rensuke Isogai (18 June 1938 – 7 September 1939)
  • Jo Iimura (7 September 1939 – 22 October 1940)
  • Heitarō Kimura (22 October 1940 – 10 April 1941)
  • Teiichi Yoshimoto (10 April 1941 – 1 August 1942)
  • Yukio Kasahara (1 August 1942 – 7 April 1945)
  • (7 April 1945 – 11 August 1945)

Others (Japanese)[]

  • Nobusuke Kishi, Deputy Minister of Industrial Development, architect of the exploitative slave economy in Manchukuo, war criminal and later post-war Prime Minister of Japan
  • Chu Kudo, Chamberlain, aide-de-camp to Emperor Puyi
  • Army senior staff officer and Attaché to the Imperial Household in Manchukuo
  • 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
  • , State Shinto head priest
  • Commander, Kwantung Defense Command
  • Takashi Hishikari Kwantung Army ambassador to Manchukuo.
  • Japanese Consul-general in Harbin
  • Japanese General Counselor in Vladivostok and then in Harbin
  • Prince Fumitaka Konoe Army Senior Lieutenant, son and personal secretary of Prince Fumimaro Konoe
  • Chief of military Mission in Harbin and political adviser to the white Russian political groups in same city
  • head of the Japanese military mission in Harbin
  • Kenji Ishikawa head of a sabotage group of that mission
  • intelligence officer and head of the Dairen military mission
  • head of the 2nd (Intelligence) department of the staff of the Kwantung Army
  • deputy chief of intelligence of Kwantung Army
  • 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
  • , German consul in Harbin, Manchuria
  • , Vatican representative in Harbin, Manchuria
  • , Vatican diplomatic officer in Harbin, Manchuria
  • Lian Yu, ambassador from the Japanese-sponsored Nanjing Nationalist Government
  • , Spanish chargé d'affaires to 1939
  • , Spanish minister 1941 to 1942
  • , 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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