China observed the infamous “18 September incident”, which served as a prelude to Japan’s invasion of Manchuria more than 93 years ago. This year, the commemoration took place against the backdrop of renewed tensions between China and Japan.
As part of the remembrance, air raid sirens were sounded nationwide, and citizens offered a moment of silent tribute. Concurrently, Chinese social media platforms were inundated with posts urging individuals to “Never Forget the National Humiliation,” and previously unreleased historical documents about what the Chinese referred to as its “torturous past” were published.
The air raid sirens commemorating the day have been a regular occurrence for about three decades since a retired Shenyang tape plant worker wrote a letter to the Communist Party of China’s Shenyang municipal committee in 1995 proposing that air-raid sirens be sounded to remind people of the “national humiliation.”
As China commemorated the 93rd anniversary of the September 18 incident, it honored China’s “war of resistance” and made a clarion call for peace. In tribute to the slain heroes, a ceremony was held at the September 18 Incident History Museum in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province in Northeast China, Chinese state-owned publication Global Times reported.
At a major exhibition at the Memorial of Northeast China Revolutionary Martyrs, a 1939 map depicting the Japanese military’s organized immigration of settlers in Northeast China was displayed to mark the occasion. Yuji Miyamoto, president of the Japan-China Friendship Center and former Japanese ambassador to China, said in an interview: “The starting point for our reflection on history must be the September 18 Incident.”
September 18, 1931, known as the “Mukden Incident” or “September 18 Incident.” On this day, the Japanese Kwantung Army staged an explosion on the South Manchuria Railway near Mukden (now Shenyang) and blamed it on Chinese dissidents, using it as a pretext to invade Manchuria.… pic.twitter.com/a2QQxZg2Vb
— China Perspective (@China_Fact) September 18, 2024
In what could be a striking display of symbolism, a Chinese aircraft carrier approached waters close to Japan’s coastline on September 18. Along with two destroyers, the Chinese carrier Liaoning entered Japan’s so-called “contiguous zone” as it passed between the island nation’s westernmost point, Yonaguni, and the neighboring island of Iriomote.
Incidentally, this year’s commemoration comes at a time of fresh tensions that have fractured the Sino-Japanese relationship in recent years.
Recently, a Chinese naval survey vessel intruded into Japan’s territorial waters near its southwestern islands, just days after a Chinese Y-9 aircraft violated Japanese airspace. The recent deployment of an aircraft carrier suggests a trend of increased Chinese military activity in proximity to Japan.
The two historical rivals continue to disagree on matters of territory, specifically the Senkaku Islands, but Tokyo’s growing support of Taiwan and the US designs in the region have soured relations further.
Commemorating the September 18 incident, the Chinese state media said that even though the conflict ended long ago, recent events have caused anxiety among Chinese and peace enthusiasts worldwide.
The statement pertained to Japan’s unprecedented military budget, which coincides with the country’s extensive military modernization initiative. It also explicitly condemned China’s activities in the disputed South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
EurAsian Times revisits the events of September 18, 93 years ago, to examine the significance of the incident, which has come to symbolize China’s humiliation. It is part of the larger narrative that speaks of the injustices faced by the Chinese people at the hands of foreign powers.
The September 18 Saga
The September 18 incident, also popularly known as the Mukden Incident, was orchestrated by the Japanese as a pretext for their invasion of Manchuria, a province in China’s northeast.
The Japanese captured the Manchurian city of Mukden (now Shenyang, Liaoning province, China) on September 18, 1931. The event led to a full-scale Japanese invasion of Manchuria by the Kwantung Army of the Japanese Empire, culminating in the establishment of Manchukuo (Manzhouguo), a state under Japanese control in the region.
Since the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-1905, Japan’s engagement in Manchuria had expanded significantly in both political and economic dimensions.
As part of the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the war, Japan was given the lease of the China Far East Railway’s South Manchuria Railway branch. The Japanese Empire, however, insisted that the treaty should grant Japan all the rights China had granted to Russia in the area, including total and exclusive authority over the South Manchuria Railway Zone.
The South Manchurian Railway Company, or Mantetsu, owned and operated the trunk line that connected the major cities of the region and went through the middle of Manchuria. Its powers extended well beyond those of a simple railroad company, as it performed many of the duties of a government.
So, Japanese Railway Guards were stationed in the zone. However, there was one problem: while regular Japanese soldiers were assigned to the area to safeguard the trains and tracks, these guards frequently performed drills beyond the railway zones.
While the Japanese forces tightened their control, the newly formed Chinese government was making concerted efforts to reclaim authority over the nation following years of conflict with the warlords who had ravaged it.
The Japanese upheld Manchuria’s unique rights throughout the early 20th century, believing that the region’s neutrality was essential for the protection of their colony in Korea. So, they were concerned when Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek’s increasingly successful efforts to unite China in the late 1920s threatened their position in Manchuria. In fact, Russians also began putting pressure on Manchuria, leaving little time for Japan to tighten control.
So, officers of the Japanese Kwantung (Guandong) Army, stationed in Manchuria, responded to the pressure by staging an incident in Mukden, allegedly without the consent of the Japanese civil administration.
Lieutenant Suemori Kawamoto of the Independent Garrison Unit of the 29th Japanese Infantry Regiment set off a small amount of dynamite near a South Manchuria railway track at Mukden (now Shenyang) on September 18, 1931.
Only five feet or so of the track was damaged in the tiny explosion, but the train was able to traverse safely after the incident. However, the Japanese forces accused the Chinese of the explosion, and on September 19, the Japanese forces launched artillery attacks on a nearby Chinese garrison in retribution for this “Chinese attack.”
After Japanese reinforcements from Korea arrived on September 21, the Army started to advance into northern Manchuria.
The Japanese Army quickly consolidated the resource-rich area, which faced no resistance from the inexperienced Chinese Army. It is believed that since Chiang Kai-shek wanted to consolidate his rule over the rest of China, he instructed Zhang Xueliang, the commander of Chinese forces in Manchuria, to adopt a strategy of non-resistance and withdrawal. As a result, the Kwantung Army encountered little opposition.
Japanese forces quickly overran the region.
A majority of experts believe that the Japanese Army staged the incident — without the Japanese government’s consent— to justify their invasion and subsequent occupation.
The news that the Army was operating sans central government orders stunned Tokyo. This act of “gekokujō” insubordination threw the Japanese civilian administration into chaos. But as news of successive swift victories came in, it felt helpless to confront the Army and decided to send three more infantry divisions from Japan.
Nonetheless, the invasion is seen as a pivotal moment in the events leading up to the start of World War II. When the 1932 Lytton Report revealed Japanese deceit, the incident resulted in Japan’s isolation on the global scene.
Even so, the invasion of Manchuria was completed. In March 1932, the independent state of Manchukuo was proclaimed. Japan later invaded other regions during the Second World War.
China views this as a deception that resulted in its territory being ceded. The horrors that ensued as a form of national humiliation that it insists its citizens and the world must remember.
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