The Wang Jingwei Administration was established in Nanking on March 30, 1940. Wang Jingwei, who held the second highest position in the Nationalist Government of China after Chiang Kai-Shek, disagreed with Chiang over China’s policy towards Japan. In the midst of this dispute, he left Chongqing for Hanoi in December 1938 and subsequently orchestrated a behind-the-scenes move to establish a new administration in concert with Japan. On March 30, 1940, Wang Jingwei declared the “relocation of the capital to Nanking,” proclaimed himself the leader of the “National Government of the Republic of China,” and established a new administration (the Wang Jingwei Administration). |
- Document 1 is issue No. 108 of Shashin Shuho, which was published on March 20, 1940. This issue provides photographs and written commentary that convey the Japanese government’s view of the developments from the Marco Polo Bridge Incident to the establishment of the Wang Jingwei Administration (see the second image to the right side of the sixth image).
- Document 2 is issue No. 110 of Shashin Shuho, which was published on April 3, 1940. This issue introduceds the ministers of the Wang Jingwei Administration, along with photographs of their faces (see the fifth image).
- Document 3 is issue No. 111 of Shashin Shuho, which was published on April 10, 1940. This issue features extensive coverage of the establishment of the Wang Jingwei Administration.
- Document 4 is a collection of documents exchanged between the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government organizations in the process leading up to the establishment of the Wang Jingwei Administration. This collection includes a booklet (see the first to eighth images) titled “Outline of the Process to Establish a New Chinese Central Government,” which was drawn up to explain that a move to establish the Wang Jingwei Administration was “definitely an effective strategy for sowing the collapse of the government in Chongqing.” It argues that this move was a “paramount government policy” that had been carried out by three administrations, beginning with the first Fumimaro Konoe Cabinet. There is also a document titled “The Establishment of a New Central Government” (see the twenty-second to twenty-ninth images). This particular document was delivered by Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita to major overseas diplomatic establishments on March 26, 1940, four days before the establishment of the Wang Jingwei Administration, to clarify the Japanese government’s stance on the new Chinese administration.
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