Chapter 03: The United States Allows Soviet Expansion in China, 1920s (Part I)

In 1921, the United States stepped onto the world stage, with the Washington Conference as the landmark event. The United States, Britain, Japan, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and China convened an international conference in Washington, D.C. The nine countries and the Republic of China signed the Treaty Relating to the Principles and Policies to Be Followed in Matters Concerning China, commonly known as the Nine-Power Treaty. The treaty respected China’s sovereignty and independence, as well as its territorial and administrative integrity, and established the principles of the “Open Door” and “equal opportunity” for all powers in China. The Washington Conference did not invite the Soviet Union, which caused Soviet dissatisfaction. The Soviet-controlled Far Eastern Republic was also excluded; it dispatched a delegation to Washington to engage in disruptive activities.

The Washington Conference sought to resolve conflicts of interest among the imperialist powers in the Far East and the Pacific—especially in China—that had not been settled by the Treaty of Versailles, and to improve the post–World War I peace system. The China question was one of the central issues of the conference. The Beiyang government of China sent Shi Zhaoji, Wellington Koo (Gu Weijun), and Wang Chonghui as plenipotentiary representatives; Yu Rizhang and Jiang Menglin as national representatives; and Wu Chaoshu, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, as the representative of the Guangzhou government. In total, the Chinese delegation comprised more than 130 people. Because Sun Yat-sen did not recognize the Beijing government and demanded to send his own delegation—a request that was not granted—Wu Chaoshu ultimately did not participate in the Washington Conference.

For the Republic of China, which had been founded only ten years earlier, the Washington Conference was also of great significance. The young republic signed two historically important documents there. On February 4, 1922, China and Japan concluded the Treaty for the Settlement of Outstanding Questions Relating to Shandong. Under this treaty, Japan returned the former German-leased territory to China, and China opened the area entirely as treaty ports; Japanese troops stationed in Qingdao and along the Jiaoji Railway and its branches withdrew immediately; Qingdao Customs was returned to China; and the Jiaoji Railway and its branches were restored to Chinese control. Japan returned the Jiaozhou leased territory to China, and China redeemed the Jiaoji Railway. Through this treaty, China recovered sovereignty over the Shandong Peninsula and its rights over the Jiaoji Railway.

On February 6, 1922, the United States, Britain, Japan, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and the Republic of China signed the Treaty Relating to the Principles and Policies to Be Followed in Matters Concerning China (the Nine-Power Treaty). The treaty respected China’s sovereignty and independence, as well as its territorial and administrative integrity, and affirmed the principles of the Open Door and equal opportunity in China. To ensure implementation, the treaty stipulated that the contracting powers “shall not, either individually or collectively, enter into any treaty, agreement, arrangement, or understanding with any one power or powers” that would undermine these principles, further reinforcing equal commercial opportunity for all nations in China.

Such an important treaty—especially the successful recovery of Shandong—represented a major achievement for the Republic of China in defending national rights through diplomacy rather than military force. Mao Zedong, however, evaluated it negatively. In his 1935 work On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism, he wrote: “The Washington Nine-Power Conference convened by the United States in 1922 signed a treaty that once again reduced China to a situation of joint domination by several imperialist powers.”

The Washington Conference lasted from November 12, 1921, to February 6, 1922. If readers pay attention to the timing, they may think of another meeting—one that took place just a few months earlier in Shanghai, Republic of China, and is today regarded as highly significant: the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, convened on July 23, 1921. The meeting was first held in a shikumen townhouse in the Shanghai concession and was later moved to a pleasure boat on South Lake, where it was completed.

The founding of the Chinese Communist Party and its First National Congress were both orchestrated by the Soviet Union. In addition to providing financial support, the Soviets sent advisers to intervene directly in the affairs of this “little brother” party. Of course, the Soviet Union had clear political objectives: to use the Chinese Communist Party as a “host” through which to spread the communist virus into China, turning China—like the Soviet Union—into a severely infected zone of the communist ideology invented by the German Karl Marx.

Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, and others established the Chinese Communist Party and later decided that it would become a branch of the Communist International under Lenin’s leadership. From that point onward began the father–son relationship between the Soviet Communist Party and the Chinese Communist Party.

In 1919 and 1920, Lenin issued statements declaring that all unequal treaties concluded between Russia and China should be abolished, that all Chinese territories occupied by Tsarist Russia should be returned unconditionally and permanently to China, and that all such treaties were null and void. At the time, both Sun Yat-sen and Chen Duxiu expressed gratitude to Lenin, praising him as “China’s best friend.” Chen Duxiu therefore accepted Lenin’s assistance in organizing the Chinese Communist Party. Sun Yat-sen also accepted Lenin’s support, adopting the policy of “allying with Russia, allying with the Communists, and supporting workers and peasants,” receiving Soviet military and financial aid, and organizing the Northern Expedition to attack the Beijing-based Republic of China government and seize power. Later, however, Soviet Russia not only failed to return the territories seized by Tsarist Russia, but also took advantage of China’s civil war to send troops to occupy Outer Mongolia, separating it from China and turning it into a Soviet satellite.

In 1922, the Soviet Union convened a Far Eastern Conference, in which the Chinese Communist Party participated, as a counter to the Washington Conference. The Soviet Union adopted an offensive posture toward the Western democratic world and, for the first time, raised the slogan “oppose American imperialism.” The West offered no counterattack, acquiescing and allowing the Soviet Communist Party to expand in China and permitting communist forces to expand across the world.

In 1921, the Soviet Union began supporting the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang). In 1923, the Communist International instructed the Chinese Communist Party to sign a military agreement with the Kuomintang. In January 1924, Lenin died, and Stalin became the supreme leader of the Soviet Union. On May 31, 1924, the Republic of China and the Soviet government signed an agreement establishing diplomatic relations. At the same time, Stalin strongly supported the growth and expansion of communist forces within the Republic of China.