During World War II, the Soviet Union remained neutral with Japan as the Allies fought to the death. In order to end the war against Japan as soon as possible and reduce the casualties of american troops in the war against Japan, the United States invited the Soviet Union to participate in the war against Japan after the end of the European war as it approached victory in the war against Germany.
One
At the Yalta Conference on the afternoon of February 8, 1945, Stalin negotiated with Roosevelt the political and economic conditions for the Soviet Union to send troops to fight against Japan. Stalin said that if these conditions could not be met, he and Molotov would have a hard time explaining to the Soviet people why Russia was taking part in the war against Japan. They clearly understood that the war against Germany was due to Germany's threat to the very existence of the Soviet Union itself, but they could not understand why Russia was fighting against a country with which it had no major disputes. He said that if these political conditions were met, the people would understand that it was in the national interest and that it would be very easy to explain the decision to the Supreme Soviet.
In August 1945, when Song Ziwen and Stalin were negotiating the second stage of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, Stalin raised the issue of war spoils to Song Ziwen, believing that some Japanese property in the soviet-occupied areas, including the shares of some Japanese companies, should be regarded as the "spoils of war" of Soviet Russia.
When the Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 8 and sent troops to the northeast the next day, Sino-Soviet negotiations continued, and it was not until the 14th that the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance was signed, which was nothing more than a derivative of the Yalta Agreement and was only An afterthought by China of the United States and the Soviet Union regarding the division of the Far East's sphere of influence.
Faced with Stalin's exorbitant demands and the political blackmail of the Soviet Union to support the Chinese Communist Party, the weak Nationalist government had no choice but to adopt a policy of concealment and negativity towards the issue of spoils of war.
The Soviet Union sent troops to the northeast
The Soviet army sent troops in northeast China for only a week, but the results were amazing. According to reports published by the Soviet Union, 925 aircraft, 269 combat vehicles, 35 armored vehicles, 1226 field guns, 113401 mortars, 4836 machine guns, 300,000 rifles, 17,497 horses, 2,300 cars, 594,000 captured soldiers, 148 generals, including 20,000 wounded and more than 80,000 dead.
The Soviet losses in contrast were 8,219 killed and 22,264 wounded. From the narrow concept of trophies, the Soviet Union's invasion of the northeast was also very fruitful. Moreover, according to the Sino-Soviet Financial Agreement signed in Chongqing in December 1945, the Chinese government was responsible for recovering the Red Army tickets issued by the Soviet army in the northeast. According to the estimation of Mr. Wang Wenwei, the Northeast Financial Commissioner, until the turn of the spring and summer of 35 years, until the Surface Retreat of the Soviet Army, the issuance of Red Army tickets was about 2 billion yuan.
In addition, the Soviet army also stole cash and reserves from public and private banks in the northeast, and after the Soviet army entered and occupied the northeast, in addition to issuing red army tickets that were not cashed, it also openly stole cash and reserves from public and private banks. According to the Japanese Gao Shushi's Manchurian Final Yan, his looting of paper money from the counterfeit Manchu Central Bank amounted to 7 billion yuan.
Japanese prisoners of war
Less than a week after the Soviet army was dispatched, in addition to completely restoring the territory and political rights and interests of imperial Russia in the Far East, it also received huge weapons and equipment and huge financial assets. Even so, the Soviet Union was not satisfied, and coveted the Japanese industrial and mining enterprises remaining in northeast China, intending to swallow them up in the name of "booty".
Two
During World War II, the Soviet Union and other allies had a huge disagreement over the spoils of war. The disposal of trophies by the United States, China, Britain and other allies is in accordance with international law, and on the basis of the Treaty of The Hague of 1907, equipment and munitions produced directly for the army and belonging to the army are considered as trophies of war, and the factories that produce such equipment or supplies are not included. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, extended the meaning of booty indefinitely, believing that all industrial facilities in the areas occupied by the Soviet army were trophies and should be demolished.
In the European theater, the Soviet army regarded everything on the land it occupied as "spoils of war" and took it for itself. When the Soviet Union handled Japan's assets in China, it not only followed its approach in Europe, but also went beyond that.
The Chinese government has long planned to include Japanese-funded industrial and mining enterprises in the northeast in the scope of post-war compensation to China. After Japan's surrender, the Nationalist government immediately began to take over tohoku. On August 30, the National Government promulgated the "Outline of Measures for the Recovery and Handling of The Northeastern Provinces", which set up the Northeast Camp of the Military Commission of the National Government in Changchun, under which two committees on government affairs and economy were set up, and a special office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was set up to assist in the reception.
When taking over the northeast, the Nationalist government had high hopes for compensation for the enemy and counterfeit assets in the northeast region, and at the same time worried that the enemy and counterfeit assets in the region would be demolished by the Soviet Union, so the Nationalist government sought the support of the allies and demanded that the Japanese and pseudo assets in the northeast be used as compensation for China by Japan.
Northeast under Soviet occupation
On September 2, the Nationalist government submitted a memorandum to the U.S. and Soviet ambassadors in Chongqing, formally announcing the confiscation of Japan's public and private property and all Japanese properties operated in China as compensation. The statement said:
"With regard to the japanese property in China, since the September 18 Incident, China has suffered heavy losses as a result of Japan's aggression, and in order to compensate for part of such losses, the Chinese Government has decided to confiscate the Japanese public and private property in China, as well as all the undertakings operated by the Japanese side in China, and intends to request your country's support, and until the Chinese Government takes over, to inflict the wounded army of your country in the reconquest of the region in China, and to protect the Japanese public and private property and the shops, factories, mines, transportation, telecommunications undertakings and other assets operated by the Japanese side, for the time being, In case the Destruction of the Japanese side is hidden or transported elsewhere. ”
At the meeting of the five foreign ministers in London that same month, China made three proposals, the most important of which was the need to prevent the damage, destruction, or transfer of Japanese property on Chinese territory or territory that would be recovered by China, especially Japanese industrial assets that the Soviet Union might demolish in the northeast. However, US Secretary of State Berners was not in favor of bringing the issue of Japanese compensation to the meeting for discussion, and China's request was not answered by Molotov and Bevin.
The question of the spoils, which had not been resolved at the negotiating table in Moscow, was once again presented to the Nationalist government as soviet troops invaded the northeast. After the Soviet army occupied all of northeast China, the negotiations between the Soviet Union and the Nationalist government were not limited to the spoils of war, but expanded to the issue of Sino-Soviet economic cooperation in the northeast.
On October 17, Xiong Shihui, Zhang Jiajiao, Chiang Ching-kuo, Dong Yanping held a second meeting with Soviet Marshal Malinowski, and on the issue of Japan's assets in northeast China, the Chinese side said:
“...... We first wanted to accept the puppet Manchukuo government and the Japanese-run workshops, Chinese jointly run with the Japanese. ”
Malinowski's reply to the Chinese demand was that the former should be regarded entirely as soviet trophies, and even the latter, since these Chinese were figures who collaborated with the enemy, should be regarded as enemy property. In this regard, Zhang Jiapa wrote in his diary:
“...... The intention of the Soviet Union was to seize the industry of the Northeast in the name of the booty in order to inherit the special power of Japan in the Manchurian economy. ”
After that, on the issue of Sino-Soviet economic cooperation in Northeast China, Zhang Jiajiao held many talks with Malinovsky and his economic adviser Strakovsky (October 1945 to February 1946). The Soviet side insisted that the heavy industry in the northeast was jointly organized by China and the Soviet Union, and in the meeting between Zhang Jiajiao and Slotkovsky on December 7, 1945, Si Shi threatened:
"The spoils of war are discussed together by states, nor can they be approved. It must be noted that this trophy is in the hands of the Red Army, and the Chinese side have only two options, one is to try to cooperate and continue to operate. One is to allow it to be destroyed. ......”
In the face of the unreasonable demands of the Soviet Union, the Nationalist government also tit-for-tat, insisting that Japanese-funded enterprises in the northeast should be confiscated by China for compensation, and refusing to recognize the Soviet Union's trophy explanation.
Factory after the equipment is dismantled
In addition to Zhang Jiajiao's negotiations with the Soviet occupation forces in Changchun, Chiang Ching-kuo went to Moscow to hold talks with Stalin from December 25 to January 1945, and from January to March 1946, Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Shijie, and Soviet Ambassador to China Petrov also held several talks in Chongqing, but none of them were successful.
Obviously, China and the Soviet Union have nothing in common on the issue of spoils of war, and in terms of economic cooperation, China's vague strategy and case-by-case approach are also very different from the Soviet Union's package solution of including all enterprises operated by Manchuria Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. and Manchuria Electric Power Co., Ltd. in the scope of economic cooperation during the Japanese and pseudo-Japanese periods.
In addition, the Nationalist government demanded that the Soviet Union withdraw its troops first and then negotiate, while the Soviet Union demanded that the troops be withdrawn after reaching an agreement.
Three
Because the gap between China and the Soviet Union on the issue of "spoils of war" was too great to reach an agreement, the Soviet Union accelerated the demolition work from the northeast. The Soviet Union's plundering of Japanese pseudo-assets in northeast China aroused the anger of the people of the whole country, and in late February 1946, anti-Soviet demonstrations broke out in Chongqing, Beiping, Taiyuan and other places. The procession chanted slogans such as "The Soviet Union must return the materials seized in the northeast" and "the Soviet Union should return all the materials it had transported to the northeast."
Under the pressure of domestic public opinion, the attitude of the National Government has gradually hardened. On March 5, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Shijie declared:
"All japanese public and private property, which is on Chinese territory, shall be treated as compensation and shall belong to China. The Chinese government did not agree to the Soviet Union's appropriation of any part of this property as a "spoil of war" in exchange for the withdrawal of troops from Manchuria. ”
Until the Soviet Union withdrew all its troops from the northeast on May 3, China and the Soviet Union still did not reach an agreement on the spoils of war and economic cooperation. Although the Nationalist government continued to investigate the materials and equipment dismantled by the Soviet Union and collect detailed data and evidence as a basis for future negotiations, it was not seen below, and the issue of war spoils was shelved. In the face of the Soviet Union's arbitrariness and unreasonableness, Chiang Ching-kuo had to sigh: "The country has no strength, and it has to be patient with all its heart." ”
In fact, from the beginning of the Soviet army's entry into Shenyang and other places on August 18, the Soviet army organized the confiscation of grain and other stocks. From early September, the Soviet army selectively demolished some important machinery and equipment from the industrial and mining enterprises in the northeast and transported them back to the Soviet Union, and the demolition work was basically completed before the scheduled withdrawal deadline of the Soviet army in December. The Soviet army demolished the latest factories and machinery, power generation and transmission and transformation equipment, electric motors, experimental equipment and so on.
The Resources Committee estimated that the value of equipment moved by soviet troops from the northeast was $482734053 and the value of raw materials was $792167771, for a total of $1274901825.
According to the report mission of U.S. presidential compensation commissioner Pauley, the Soviet Union's demolition of industrial equipment in northeast China would delay China's economic development for 30 years and hinder U.S. policy. The demolition and destruction of the Northeast industries and mines by the Soviet army during its stay estimated that the direct industrial losses amounted to $858 million, and if the cost of re-embedding and the deterioration of the quality of these industrial equipment were taken into account, the loss would be as high as $2 billion. In the face of accusations from allies, the Soviet Union only admitted to demolishing $95 million in equipment.