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advice and decided to follow his own counsel. The young Marshal declares allegiance to the Central Government.His relations with the Kuomintang and with Kanking became closer and, in December 1928, he accepted the national flag and declared his allegiance to the Central Government. He was made Commander-in-Chief of the North-Eastern Frontier Army and was also confirmed as chief of the administration of Manchuria, with the addition of Jehol, a part of Inner Mongolia with an area of about 60,000 square miles.
The union of Manchuria with Nationalist China necessitated some changes in the administrative organisation, which was made to approximate to that of the Central Government. The committee system was introduced and Kuomintang headquarters were established. In reality, the old system and its personnel continued to function as before. Kuomintang connection more nominal than real.The interference of party branches with the local administrations, such as continually occurred in China, was not tolerated in Manchuria. The provision which required all important military officers and civil officials to be members of the Kuomintang was treated as a mere formality. The relationship with the Central Government depended, in all affairs—military, civil, financial and foreign—on voluntary co-operation. Orders or instructions requiring unquestioning obedience would not have been tolerated. Appointments or dismissals against the wishes of the Manchurian authorities were unthinkable. In various other parts of China, a similar independence of action in government and party affairs existed. All important appointments are, in such cases, really made by the local authorities and only confirmed by the Central Government.
Effect of union with Nationalist Government on foreign policy in Manchuria.In the domain of foreign policy, the union of Manchuria with the Nationalist Government was to have more important consequences, although, in this respect, the local authorities were also left much liberty of action. The persistent assaults of Marshal Chang Tso-lin on the position of the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria and his disregard of certain rights claimed by Japan show that, in Manchuria, a "forward policy" had already been adopted before the union with the Nationalists. However, after the union, Manchuria was opened to well-organised and systematic Kuomintang propaganda. In its official party publications and numerous affiliated organs, it never ceased to insist on the primary importance of the recovery of lost sovereign rights, the abolition of unequal treaties, and the wickedness of imperialism. Such propaganda was bound to make a profound impression in Manchuria, where the reality of foreign interests, courts, police, guards or soldiers on Chinese soil, was apparent. Through the Nationalist school-books, party propaganda entered the schools. Associations such as the Liaoning Peoples' Foreign Policy Association made their appearance. They stimulated and intensified the nationalist sentiment and carried on an anti-Japanese agitation. Pressure was brought to bear on Chinese house-owners and landlords to raise the rents of Japanese and Korean tenants, or to refuse renewal of rent contracts[1]. The Japanese reported to the Commission many cases of this nature. Korean settlers were subjected to systematic persecution. Various orders and instructions of an anti-Japanese nature were issued. Cases of friction accumulated and dangerous tension developed. The Kuomintang Party headquarters in the provincial capitals were established in March 1931, and subsequently branch organisations were set up in the other towns and districts. Party propagandists from China came North in increasing numbers. The Japanese complained that the anti-Japanese agitation was intensified every day. In April 1931, a five-days' conference under the auspices of the People's Foreign Policy Association was held at Mukden, with over three hundred delegates from various parts of Manchuria in attendance. The possibility of liquidating the Japanese position in Manchuria was discussed, the- ↑ See special study No. 9, annexed to this Report.
