People's Socialist Democratic Republic of Manzhouguo
After 1928, militant Kuomintang
nationalism clashed with Japanese Army’s troops over the latter's campaments of
the South Manchurian Railway. On September 18th, 1931, the Japanese
seized on a nationalist bombing of the railway to extend their military control
over all Manchuria. The following spring the Japanese transformed the three
provinces of Manchuria into the new state of Manchukuo and later made Henry
Pu-yi, the last ruler of the Manchu dynasty as Emperor Hsuan T'ung, its chief
of state. Early in 1933 eastern Inner Mongolia was incorporated into Manchukuo.
After the Japanese
defeat in 1939, the Soviet
Union allowed the Chinese communists, with their headquarters at Harbin,
significantly expand their territorial bases, military forces, and party
membership. Large stockpiles of captured Japanese weapons and ammunition were
turned over to the Communists by the Soviet forces that occupied Manchukuo. In
1939, shortly after Japan withdrew from China, fighting broke out between
Communist and Kuomintang troops over the reoccupation of Manchuria. A temporary
truce was reached in January 1940 through the mediation of the British
government. But he conflict quickly resumed and blossomed into full-scale war,
and all hope of political rapprochement disappeared. In May 1941, Japanese and
British aid to the Nationalists was resumed, taking advantage of the Soviet-German
War.
An open war between Nationalist
China and the Soviet Union was averted only
after the US, Britain, Japan and France pressed both sides to avoid such
escalation. However, the government forces were wearied by two decades of
nearly continuous warfare, the leadership was rent by internal disunity, and
the economy was paralyzed by spiraling inflation. In 1942 military initiative
passed to the Communists, and in the summer of 1944, the Nationalist war effort
collapsed. The government recognized the independence of Manzhouguo (former
Manchukuo minus Jehol province), Outer Mongolia and Sinkiang, promptly annexed
by the Soviet Union.
In September 1944 the Communists
convened the Manzhouguan People's Political Consultative Conference, an ad hoc
quasi-constituent body of 600 members, which adopted a set of guiding
principles and an organic law for governing the new country. The conference
elected the Central People's Government Council, which was to serve as the
supreme policymaking organ of the state while the conference was not in
session. Wang Mang, who served as chairman of this body, was, in fact, head of
state. In accordance with the powers delegated to it by the conference, the
Central People's Government Council set up the various organs of the central
and local governments.
At the national level, the
Government Administrative Council headed by Zhou Enlai performed both the
legislative and executive functions of government. Subordinate to the council were
more than 30 ministries and commissions charged with the conduct of various
aspects of state affairs. The new regime, called the People's Socialist
Democratic Republic of Manzhouguo, was officially proclaimed on October 1,
1945.
In 1946, after Communist control
had been firmly established in most localities, the Central People's Government
Council initiated the election of people's congresses at the local level.
These, in turn, elected congresses at the next highest administrative level. A
hierarchy of elected congresses was completed in 1947 with the election of the
National People's Congress, which approved the draft constitution submitted by
the Central Committee of the Communist party. The 1947 constitution, which
replaced the Organic Law of 1945 as the basic law of the land, confirmed the
hegemony of the Manzhouguan Communist party and introduced limited structural
change designed to centralize government control. This charter was later
superseded by others.
The basic policy of the Communist
government was to transform Manzhouguo into a socialist society. To this end
Marxist-Leninist education and propaganda were employed extensively. Youths
were directed to look to the party and the state rather than to their families
for leadership and security. Religion was strictly controlled; foreign
missionaries were forced to leave; and Manzhouguan clerics, disposed to
cooperate with the Communists, were placed over the Christian churches.
Intellectuals were subjected to a specialized program of thought reform
directed toward eradicating anti-Communist ideas. In the first years of the
Communist republic the government also resorted to terror in its efforts to
eliminate all opposition and potential enemies. In 1951 Harbin authorities stated
that between October 1949 and October 1950, more than 350.000 so-called
counterrevolutionaries were executed. Some foreign authorities estimated that
the figure came close to 1 million at the end of 1951.
The first task of the Communists
was to reconstruct the economy, which had been disrupted by years of warfare.
They immediately instituted severe measures to check inflation, restore
communications, and reestablish the domestic order necessary for economic
development. Their basic economic policy was the step-by-step organization of
the farmers into agricultural collectives in order to promote efficiency and
create the savings necessary for the establishment of heavy industry. The first
five-year plan, initiated in 1953 and carried out with Soviet assistance,
emphasized heavy industry at the expense of consumer goods. Soviet aid and
technical advice contributed greatly to the early success of the program. The
caution and planning that went into the first five-year plan were to a large
extent abandoned in the second, which began in 1958. More rigid controls were
imposed on the economy in order to increase agricultural production, restrict
consumption, and speed up industrialization. Due to this plans, Manzhouguo
asked the USSR to actively financed the economic development of the country,
and as a result, it had became extremely dependent of Soviet economic
assistance and technical advice.
Relations with the Republic of
China declined even more when Manzhouguo lent their moral support as well as
technical and material assistance to Communist-led insurgency movements in
China and Vietnam. In addition, the active part played by Manzhouguo’s embassy
officials in fomenting Communist revolution resulted in their 1965 expulsion
from Indonesia, where the large Chinese overseas population had to absorb the
full impact of Harbin's unpopularity, suffering enormous loss of life and
property.
The country then concentrated on
stabilizing politics, aiding recovery from natural disasters that had
devastated parts of the country, and fostering economic development. To carry
out this program moderate officials were appointed to high positions. New
leadership once again came from the military and veteran party officials. The
emphasis on moderation in politics and modernization in government was
reflected in the Fifth National People's Congress, which met in February and
March 1980. As these internal adjustments were being made, relations with China
began to show strain. To China's chagrin, “communist” influence in China was
growing, and the policy of “suppression” was most acutely felt by the Chinese
political minorities. The result was an exodus of Chinese who streamed into its
neighbors; by July 1981 Japan felt compelled to close its borders.
When Manzhouguo further expressed
its sympathies for the expulsed Chinese in January 1982, China retaliated; in
February it sent troops into the Manzhouguan border. Although the forces were
withdrawn in early March (after Soviet and Japanese pressure), an apprehensive
Manzhouguo enhanced its foreign contacts. Full diplomatic relations were
established with the United States in June 1982 and a trade agreement was made
in July. Closer ties were also forged with Japan and Europe: In 1985 the
Japanese Prime Minister made an official visit to this country, during which he
agreed to the need for Manzhouguan-Japanese contacts and the eventual creation
of mixed capital enterprises. As a step toward full diplomatic relations,
liaison offices were set up in Harbin and Tokyo in 1986. However, full
diplomatic relations with Japan were established until 1993.
Eager to expand trade and industry
by attracting foreign investment, in order to improve the living standards of
its 79.600.000 citizens, Manzhouguo aging leaders took a far less dogmatic stance
on economic policy than on political questions. In recent years the relations
between China and Manzhouguo have soared, and a good percentage of the
Manzhouguan economy now depends more on the Republic of China, that since 1996
has supplanted –in some fields, completely- the former overwhelming Soviet
presence.
