Tientsin Incident
Encyclopedia
was an international incident
created by a blockade
by the Imperial Japanese Army
's Japanese Northern China Area Army
of the British
settlements in the north China
treaty port of Tianjin in June 1939. Originating as a minor administrative dispute, it escalated into a major diplomatic incident.
as part of a military operation in the Second Sino-Japanese War
, but was not entirely occupied, as the Japanese for the most part continued to respect the integrity and extraterritoriality
foreign concessions in Tianjin
until 1941.
In the summer of 1939, a major crisis in Anglo-Japanese relations
occurred with the Tientsin Incident. On April 9, 1939 the manager of the Japanese-owned Federal Reserve Bank of North China was assassinated by Chinese nationalists at Tienstsin's Grand Theatre. The Japanese accused six Chinese men living in the British concession of being involved in the assassination. The local British police force arrested four of the six, and handed them over to the Japanese with promises that they would not be tortured and be returned to British custody within the next five days. Under torture, two of the four confessed to being involved in the assassination. Although the confessions were obtained by torture, the local British police concluded that the accused were involved in the assassination. Once the four men returned to British custody, Madame Soong May-ling
, the wife of Chiang Kai-shek
admitted to the British Ambassador in Chongqing
, Sir Archibald Clark-Kerr that the accused assassins were Chinese operatives involved in resistance work, and lobbied Clark-Kerr to prevent the accused being returned and executed by the Japanese. The local British consul, Mr. Jamieson had not kept London well-informed on the details of the case, especially the fact that he had promised the Japanese that he would hand over the accused assassins. The British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax
hearing that the confessions had been obtained by torture ordered that the accused assassins should not be handed back to the Japanese. The commander of the Japanese North China Army, General Masaharu Homma
was regarded as friendly by the British, but his Chief of Staff General Tomoyuki Yamashita
was known to a believer in abolishing all the Western concessions in China. Since early 1939, General Yamashita had advocating ending the British concession in Tientsin, and he used the British refusal to turn over the alleged assassins to convince his superiors in Tokyo to order a blockade of the concession.
forces of the Japanese Northern China Area Army
surrounded and blockaded the foreign concessions over the refusal of the British authorities to hand over four Chinese who had assassinated a Japanese collaborator (a customs official), and had taken refuge within the British concession. Any one wishing to leave or enter the concession was publicly strip-searched by Japanese soldiers while food and fuel was not permitted to enter the concession. The Japanese government declared the issue of the accused killers was not the point of the blockade, and that handing over the four would not end the blockade. A Japanese spokesmen stated "The arrow is already off the bow and therefore the question cannot be settled by the mere transfer of the four suspect assassins". The Japanese demanded that the British government turn over all silver reserves belonging to the Chinese government within British banks over to them, forbid all anti-Japanese radio broadcasts from anywhere in the British Empire, ban school textbooks that the Japanese government considered offensive, and end the issuing of fapi currency.
For a time, it appeared likely that the situation would precipitate an Anglo-Japanese war, especially when inflammatory reports of insulting treatment by the Japanese of British subjects attempting to enter or leave the concession appeared in the British press. British public opinion was especially offended by reports of British women forced to strip in public at bayonet-point by Japanese soldiers, which led to a flood of "Yellow Peril" stereotypes being widely invoked in the British media. British Admiral of the Fleet
Sir Roger Keyes considered the situation to be tantamount to a declaration of war
. At the time, Tianjin had a population of approximately 1500 British subjects (half of whom were soldiers), and was a major center for British trade in northern China. The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
considered the crisis to be so important that he ordered the Royal Navy to give greater attention to a possible war with Japan than with a war with Germany.
and the Foreign Office reported to the British Cabinet that the only way of ending the blockade was to send the main British battle fleet to Far Eastern waters, and that given the current crisis vis-a-vis Nazi Germany
threatening Poland, this was militarily unadvisable. In addition, Chamberlain faced strong pressure from the French not to weaken British naval strength in the Mediterranean, given the danger that Benito Mussolini
might honor the Pact of Steel
should war break out in Europe. Following an unsuccessful effort to obtain a promise of American support (who told the British that the United States
would not risk war with Japan
for purely British interests), Chamberlain ordered Sir Robert Craigie
, the British Ambassador in Tokyo, to find any way of ending the crisis without too much loss to British prestige.
During the course of negotiations with the Japanese, Craigie took advantage of divisions within the Japanese leadership, especially between the Prime Minister, Baron Hiranuma Kiichirō who wished for a greater degree of control over the military and the military who wanted less civilian control. In addition, there were divisions within the Japanese government between one fraction that wanted to use the crisis to start a war with Britain while another other argued that given the war with China plus the border war with the Soviet Union, starting a third war at this time was unwise. At the same time, the British applied economic pressure on the Japanese by raising their tariffs on Japanese goods. Through Craigie knew that the dispatch of the British battle fleet had been ruled out, he often implied during his talks with the Japanese that Britain would go to war to end the blockade. Through his policy of bluff, plus divided counsel within different factions within the Japanese government (which Craigie exploited by playing off the various fractions), Craigie was able to persuade the Japanese to back down from their more extreme demands - such as the demand to turn over the Chinese silver in British banks - while agreeing to submit to the Japanese demand to hand over the Chinese suspects. On August 20, 1939 the British thus chose to turn over the four Chinese fugitives to end the standoff; the Chinese were later executed by the Japanese.
of Japan's civilian government, as expressed through Japanese ambassador to the Court of St. James, Mamoru Shigemitsu
, who attempted to defuse the situation through negotiation, and the Japanese Army under the War Minister, General Hajime Sugiyama, who was escalating the situation through demands for an end to the foreign concessions in Tientsin altogether. The British historian D.C. Watt argued that the partial diplomatic victory by the Japanese helped to keep Japan neutral during the first year of World War II
. It also highlighted the weakness of the United Kingdom's position in Asia, both militarily, and diplomatically with its failure to enlist the United States
to take a stronger position in its support.
International incident
An international incident is a seemingly relatively small or limited action or clash that results in a wider dispute between two or more nation-states...
created by a blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
by the Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
's Japanese Northern China Area Army
Japanese Northern China Area Army
The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.-History:The Japanese North China Area Army was formed on August 21, 1937 under the control of the Imperial General Headquarters. It was transferred to the newly formed China Expeditionary Army on September 23,...
of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
settlements in the north China
North China
thumb|250px|Northern [[People's Republic of China]] region.Northern China or North China is a geographical region of China. The heartland of North China is the North China Plain....
treaty port of Tianjin in June 1939. Originating as a minor administrative dispute, it escalated into a major diplomatic incident.
Background
On July 30, 1937, Tianjin fell to the Empire of JapanEmpire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
as part of a military operation in the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
, but was not entirely occupied, as the Japanese for the most part continued to respect the integrity and extraterritoriality
Extraterritoriality
Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations...
foreign concessions in Tianjin
Concessions in Tianjin
The Concessions in Tianjin were concession territories ceded by the Chinese imperial Qing Dynasty to the great powers in Tianjin, also known as Tientsin or Tien-Tsin.-General context:...
until 1941.
In the summer of 1939, a major crisis in Anglo-Japanese relations
Anglo-Japanese relations
The history of the relationship between Britain and Japan began in 1600 with the arrival of William Adams on the shores of Kyūshū at Usuki in Ōita Prefecture...
occurred with the Tientsin Incident. On April 9, 1939 the manager of the Japanese-owned Federal Reserve Bank of North China was assassinated by Chinese nationalists at Tienstsin's Grand Theatre. The Japanese accused six Chinese men living in the British concession of being involved in the assassination. The local British police force arrested four of the six, and handed them over to the Japanese with promises that they would not be tortured and be returned to British custody within the next five days. Under torture, two of the four confessed to being involved in the assassination. Although the confessions were obtained by torture, the local British police concluded that the accused were involved in the assassination. Once the four men returned to British custody, Madame Soong May-ling
Soong May-ling
Soong May-ling or Soong Mei-ling, also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang was a First Lady of the Republic of China , the wife of Generalissimo and President Chiang Kai-shek. She was a politician and painter...
, the wife of Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
admitted to the British Ambassador in Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
, Sir Archibald Clark-Kerr that the accused assassins were Chinese operatives involved in resistance work, and lobbied Clark-Kerr to prevent the accused being returned and executed by the Japanese. The local British consul, Mr. Jamieson had not kept London well-informed on the details of the case, especially the fact that he had promised the Japanese that he would hand over the accused assassins. The British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax
E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, , known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and as The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was one of the most senior British Conservative politicians of the 1930s, during which he held several senior ministerial posts, most notably as...
hearing that the confessions had been obtained by torture ordered that the accused assassins should not be handed back to the Japanese. The commander of the Japanese North China Army, General Masaharu Homma
Masaharu Homma
was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. He is noteworthy for his role in the invasion and occupation of the Philippines during World War II. Homma, who was an amateur painter and playwright, was also known as the Poet General.-Biography:...
was regarded as friendly by the British, but his Chief of Staff General Tomoyuki Yamashita
Tomoyuki Yamashita
General was a general of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. He was most famous for conquering the British colonies of Malaya and Singapore, earning the nickname "The Tiger of Malaya".- Biography :...
was known to a believer in abolishing all the Western concessions in China. Since early 1939, General Yamashita had advocating ending the British concession in Tientsin, and he used the British refusal to turn over the alleged assassins to convince his superiors in Tokyo to order a blockade of the concession.
The Blockade
On June 14, 1939, Imperial Japanese ArmyImperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
forces of the Japanese Northern China Area Army
Japanese Northern China Area Army
The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.-History:The Japanese North China Area Army was formed on August 21, 1937 under the control of the Imperial General Headquarters. It was transferred to the newly formed China Expeditionary Army on September 23,...
surrounded and blockaded the foreign concessions over the refusal of the British authorities to hand over four Chinese who had assassinated a Japanese collaborator (a customs official), and had taken refuge within the British concession. Any one wishing to leave or enter the concession was publicly strip-searched by Japanese soldiers while food and fuel was not permitted to enter the concession. The Japanese government declared the issue of the accused killers was not the point of the blockade, and that handing over the four would not end the blockade. A Japanese spokesmen stated "The arrow is already off the bow and therefore the question cannot be settled by the mere transfer of the four suspect assassins". The Japanese demanded that the British government turn over all silver reserves belonging to the Chinese government within British banks over to them, forbid all anti-Japanese radio broadcasts from anywhere in the British Empire, ban school textbooks that the Japanese government considered offensive, and end the issuing of fapi currency.
For a time, it appeared likely that the situation would precipitate an Anglo-Japanese war, especially when inflammatory reports of insulting treatment by the Japanese of British subjects attempting to enter or leave the concession appeared in the British press. British public opinion was especially offended by reports of British women forced to strip in public at bayonet-point by Japanese soldiers, which led to a flood of "Yellow Peril" stereotypes being widely invoked in the British media. British Admiral of the Fleet
Admiral of the Fleet
An admiral of the fleet is a military naval officer of the highest rank. In many nations the rank is reserved for wartime or ceremonial appointments...
Sir Roger Keyes considered the situation to be tantamount to a declaration of war
Declaration of war
A declaration of war is a formal act by which one nation goes to war against another. The declaration is a performative speech act by an authorized party of a national government in order to create a state of war between two or more states.The legality of who is competent to declare war varies...
. At the time, Tianjin had a population of approximately 1500 British subjects (half of whom were soldiers), and was a major center for British trade in northern China. The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
considered the crisis to be so important that he ordered the Royal Navy to give greater attention to a possible war with Japan than with a war with Germany.
Resolution
On June 26, 1939 the Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and the Foreign Office reported to the British Cabinet that the only way of ending the blockade was to send the main British battle fleet to Far Eastern waters, and that given the current crisis vis-a-vis Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
threatening Poland, this was militarily unadvisable. In addition, Chamberlain faced strong pressure from the French not to weaken British naval strength in the Mediterranean, given the danger that Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
might honor the Pact of Steel
Pact of Steel
The Pact of Steel , known formally as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy, was an agreement between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany signed on May 22, 1939, by the foreign ministers of each country and witnessed by Count Galeazzo Ciano for Italy and Joachim von Ribbentrop...
should war break out in Europe. Following an unsuccessful effort to obtain a promise of American support (who told the British that the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
would not risk war with Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
for purely British interests), Chamberlain ordered Sir Robert Craigie
Robert Craigie (diplomat)
Sir Robert Craigie GCMG, CB was the British ambassador in Japan from 1937 through 1941.-Career as Ambassador:In July 1939 took part in negotiations with Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Hachiro Arita, leading to the acceptance of the Craigie-Arita formula, by which the British government...
, the British Ambassador in Tokyo, to find any way of ending the crisis without too much loss to British prestige.
During the course of negotiations with the Japanese, Craigie took advantage of divisions within the Japanese leadership, especially between the Prime Minister, Baron Hiranuma Kiichirō who wished for a greater degree of control over the military and the military who wanted less civilian control. In addition, there were divisions within the Japanese government between one fraction that wanted to use the crisis to start a war with Britain while another other argued that given the war with China plus the border war with the Soviet Union, starting a third war at this time was unwise. At the same time, the British applied economic pressure on the Japanese by raising their tariffs on Japanese goods. Through Craigie knew that the dispatch of the British battle fleet had been ruled out, he often implied during his talks with the Japanese that Britain would go to war to end the blockade. Through his policy of bluff, plus divided counsel within different factions within the Japanese government (which Craigie exploited by playing off the various fractions), Craigie was able to persuade the Japanese to back down from their more extreme demands - such as the demand to turn over the Chinese silver in British banks - while agreeing to submit to the Japanese demand to hand over the Chinese suspects. On August 20, 1939 the British thus chose to turn over the four Chinese fugitives to end the standoff; the Chinese were later executed by the Japanese.
Consequences
The Tientsin Incident highlighted the gap between the foreign policyForeign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
of Japan's civilian government, as expressed through Japanese ambassador to the Court of St. James, Mamoru Shigemitsu
Mamoru Shigemitsu
was a Japanese diplomat and politician in the Empire of Japan, who served as the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs at the end of World War II.-Biography:...
, who attempted to defuse the situation through negotiation, and the Japanese Army under the War Minister, General Hajime Sugiyama, who was escalating the situation through demands for an end to the foreign concessions in Tientsin altogether. The British historian D.C. Watt argued that the partial diplomatic victory by the Japanese helped to keep Japan neutral during the first year of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It also highlighted the weakness of the United Kingdom's position in Asia, both militarily, and diplomatically with its failure to enlist the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to take a stronger position in its support.