893.00/10274
The Chargé in Japan ( Neville ) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 4.]
Sir: I have the honor to inform the Department that Japanese interest in the future of Japan’s relations with Manchuria is at the moment intense, due to the recent murder of General Yang Yu-ting and to the belief that the Opposition holds proof of responsibility of the Japanese military in the death of General Chang Tso-lin.
In my telegram No. 1 of January 9, 1929,8 I reported that, according to reliable authority, certain members of the Diet hold evidence tending to implicate Japanese army officers in the death of General Chang Tso-lin on June 4th of last year and intend to interpellate the Government regarding it when the Diet reopens on January 21st.
For some days reference to a “certain grave affair”, which is said to be perturbing all Government circles, has been the subject of frequent mention in the press. It is now common knowledge, although the ban on publication of the news has not been lifted, that the “affair” is in the main as already reported. Of what the “proof” [Page 127] consists and of how far the Government may be implicated, if at all, I am as yet unaware, nor have I felt it advisable to approach Government or Opposition officials with respect to this matter.
There have been, of course, elaborations on that which I have already reported. One report is that General Shirakawa, Minister of War, recently threatened to resign as a protest against the Premier’s attitude toward the affair, the implication being that he objected to the intention of the Premier to attach, if the Opposition’s proof is formidable, all responsibility to the army officers concerned and none to the Government. In this connection it was interesting to note the coincident departure on January 11th from Tokyo of General I. Matsui, Chief of the Second Division of the General Staff, who is supposed to have had considerable influence in the formation of Premier Tanaka’s policy in Manchuria, and of his brother, Major General Matsui, formerly “advisor” to General Chang Tso-lin. It was announced that they departed on a six month trip to Europe and America “to study military conditions”.
With the meagre information at hand, it is difficult to distinguish rumor from fact. The Diet will open within a few days, when reference to the “affair” is promised on a large scale.9
The murder of General Yang Yu-ting has also excited the nation and taxed the ingenuity of political writers. The receipt of the news was followed by a hasty meeting of officials of the Foreign Office, a meeting of these officials subsequently with representatives of the Army and Navy Departments, a meeting between the Premier and the President of the South Manchuria Railway, and of the Premier with the Chief of the Asiatic Bureau of the Foreign Office.
The conflict of opinion respecting this matter and the lack of knowledge of what may lie behind it have given rise in Japan only to unauthoritative speculation, as revealed in the press and in conversations which I have had with intelligent Japanese. All show deep concern respecting its possible effect upon Japanese interests but feel that the course of future events must be watched for some time yet before its significance, as it relates to this country, can be gauged with any accuracy.
The press has indulged in a number of conjectures as to the causes of the murder. The Tokyo Jiji suggested in an editorial that perhaps the atrocity was due to some connection Yang Yu-ting and Chin Yin-huai [Ch’ang Yin-huai] may have had with the death of General Chang Tso-lin, pointing out that at the time of Chang’s demise there was some suspicion of Yang’s complicity and that Chang Yin-huai was then Chief of the Peking-Mukden Railway Bureau. This theory now [Page 128] seems to have been generally rejected. The most plausible reasoning yet advanced in the local press is that of Mr. Washio, a political writer for the Japan Advertiser who is usually sound in his opinions. He sees the murders as possibly the result of the rivalry of General Chiang Kai-shek10 and Feng Yu-hsiang,11 in which Yang was secretly supporting Feng against the loose coalition of Chiang Kaishek, Yen Hsi-shan12 and Chang Hsueh-liang. In this role Yang opposed the raising of the Nationalist flag over Manchuria. He views the Shantung General, Sun Chuan-fang, who now belongs to the Mukden faction, as working for Chiang’s interests at the side of young Chang and as the principal influence behind the raising of the flag and the murder of Yang. If his explanation is correct, Dr. Washio feels, it reveals not only internal feud at Mukden but ramifications of the rivalry of Chiang and Feng. The Tokyo Chugai Shogyo, on the other hand, views the murders as the result only of a plot of Yang against Chang Hsüeh-liang. In this opinion the Osaka Asahi and the rest of the vernacular press in general concur.
The effect on japan’s relations with Manchuria and China is viewed by the entire press with pessimism. It foresees unfavorable developments and increasing complications for Japan. The Chugai Shogyo fears the murders will be regarded as a manifestation of antagonism against Japan’s policy in Manchuria viewing the raising of the flag as the first move and the murders as the second in Manchurian opposition to Japan. The press generally regards Yang Yu-ting as a friend of Japan whose loss will be greatly felt. This consideration makes especially interesting the comment in Consul Price’s report, transmitted by Minister MacMurray under cover of his Despatch No. 1805 of December 17, 1928,13 in which he writes that Yang Yu-ting was seeking an accord with the Nanking Government and hated Japan. The Chugai Shogyo places no confidence in Chang Hsüeh-liang’s statement to the Japanese Consul General at Mukden, following the murders, that they will in no way affect the relations of Japan and Manchuria. The Tokyo Hochi doubts, as does most of the rest of the press, the ability of Chang to control the Three Eastern Provinces and foresees penetration of Nationalist influence into Manchuria with serious jeopardy to Japan’s already acquired rights and interests. It fears the Tanaka Government will be unable to meet the situation. The Tokyo Asahi believes that Chang will become the puppet of Nanking and that Manchuria’s foreign relations will be transferred [Page 129] to the Nationalists with consequent disadvantage to Japan. The remainder of the press is a lugubrious echo of those opinions which I have mentioned above. A copy of Dr. Washio’s article is enclosed.14
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩
- The first week of the 56th session of the Japanese Diet brought no further revelations (despatch No, 1087, January 31, 1929, filed under 894.00/282).↩
- Chairman of the State Council of the Chinese National Government and Generalissimo of the Chinese armed forces.↩
- Marshal Feng Yü-hsiang, chief of the Kuominchün (National People’s Army) in north China.↩
- Marshal Yen Hsi-shan, chief of the Shansi armed forces and head of the provincial government of Shansi.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Not printed.↩