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.

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)
• Northeast Administrative Committee (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 anticommunist party in Manchukuo, used the swastika as symbol, guided by a Russian fascist "Duce")
• Bureau for Russian Emigrants in Manchuria (BREM) led by General Vladimir Kislitsin
• Monarquic Party (White Russian Tzarist Monarchic party with Japanese approval)
• Betarim Jew Zionist Movement (Jewish rights movement in Manchukuo)
• Far Eastern Jewish Council (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)
• Elizabeth Wan Rong (Empress and first wife of the Kangde Emperor)
• Prince Aisin Gioro Pu-Chieh (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)
• Wen Xiu (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)

• Zheng Xiaoxu (Prime Minister of Manchukuo)
• Zhang Jinghui, next Prime Minister until 1945
• Xi Xia (Xi Qia), cabinet minister,in manchukuo government
• Ma Zhanshan, former warlord, and cabinet minster
• Xie Jishi, cabinet minister in the manchukuo government
• Zang Shiyi, cabinet minister in the manchukuo government
• Zhang Yangqing, cabinet minister in the manchukuo government
• Yu Zhishan, cabinet minister in manchukuo government
• Yuan Jinkai, cabinet minister in manchukuo government
• Lü Ronghuan, cabinet minister in manchukuo government
• Ding Jianxiu, cabinet minister in manchukuo government
• Li Shaogeng, cabinet minister in manchukuo government
• Ruan Zhenduo, cabinet minister in manchukuo government
• Ling Sheng, cabinet minister in manchukuo government

Kwantung Army

(Commanders)

• Shigeru Honjo (1 August 1931 – 8 August 1932)
• Nobuyoshi Muto (8 August 1932 – 27 July 1933)
• Takashi Hishikari (29 July 1933 – 10 December 1934)
• Jiro Minami (10 December 1934 – 6 March 1936)
• Kenkichi Ueda (6 March 1936 – 7 September 1939)
• Yoshijiro Umezu (7 September 1939 – 18 July 1944)
• Otozo Yamada (18 July 1944 – 11 August 1945)

(Chief of Staff)

• Koji Miyake (10 August 1928 – 8 August 1932)
• Kuniaki Koiso (8 August 1932 – 5 March 1934)
• Juzo Nishio (5 March 1934 – 23 March 1936)
• Seishiro Itagaki (23 March 1936 – 1 March 1937)
• Hideki Tojo (1 March 1937 – 30 May 1938)
• Rensuke Isogai (18 June 1938 – 7 September 1939)
• Jo Iimura (7 September 1939 – 22 October 1940)
• Heitaro Kimura (22 October 1940 – 10 April 1941)
• Teiichi Yoshimoto (10 April 1941 – 1 August 1942)
• Yukio Kasahara (1 August 1942 – 7 April 1945)
• Hikosaburo Hata (7 April 1945 – 11 August 1945)

Others (Japanese)

• Chu Kudo, Chamberlain, aide-de-camp to Emperor Puyi
• 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
• Toranosuke Hashimoto, State Shinto head priest

Others

• Genrikh Lyushkov, ex-Soviet Far East NKVD defector, adviser to Kwantung Army
• Konstantin Vladimirovich Rodzaevsky, White Russian anticommunist leader
• General Kislistin, another White Russian anticommunist chief
• Abraham Kaufman, founder of Far Eastern Jewish Council and Betarim Jew Zionists Movement
• Trebitsch Lincoln, Hungarian pro-Japanese collaborator
• August Ponschab, German consul in Harbin, Manchuria
• Auguste Ernest Pierre Gaspais, Vatican representative in Harbin,Manchuria
• Charles Lemaire, Vatican diplomatic officer in Harbin,Manchuria

References

Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1996), The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, New York, pp. 282, doi:10.2277/052166991X, ISBN 0-521-66991-x