Page "Chiang Kai-shek" Paragraph 50

For over a year after the Japanese surrender, rumors circulated throughout China that the Japanese had entered into a secret agreement with Chiang, in which the Japanese would assist the Nationalists in fighting the Communists in exchange for the protection of Japanese persons and property there.

Many top nationalist generals, including Chiang, had studied and trained in Japan before the Nationalists had returned to the mainland in the 1920s, and maintained close personal friendships with top Japanese officers.

The Japanese general in charge of all forces in China, General Okamura, had personally trained officers who later became generals in Chiang's staff.

Reportedly, General Okamura, before surrendering command of all Japanese military forces in Nanjing, offered Chiang control of all 1. 5 million Japanese military and civilian support staff then present in China.

Reportedly, Chiang seriously considered accepting this offer, but declined only in the knowledge that the United States would certainly be outraged by the gesture.

Even so, armed Japanese troops remained in China well into 1947, with some noncommissioned officers finding their way into the Nationalist officer corps .< ref > Gillin, Donald G. and Etter, Charles.

" Staying On: Japanese Soldiers and Civilians in China, 1945 – 1949.

" The Journal of Asian Studies.

Vol.

42, No. 3, May, 1983. pp. 499 – 500.

Retrieved at: < http :// www. jstor. org / stable / 2055515 >.

February 23, 2011 .</ ref > That the Japanese in China came to regard Chiang as a magnanimous figure to whom many Japanese owed their lives and livelihoods was a fact attested by both Nationalist and Communist sources .< ref > Gillin, Donald G. and Etter, Charles.

" Staying On: Japanese Soldiers and Civilians in China, 1945 – 1949.

" The Journal of Asian Studies.

Vol.

42, No. 3, May, 1983. p. 505.

Retrieved at: < http :// www. jstor. org / stable / 2055515 >.

February 23, 2011 .</ ref >