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Japanese Interests in Central Asia Based on its Military Mission to Xinjiang: Intelligence, Economic and Propaganda Activities of Captain Nagamine and Others (1918–1921)

2020; Volume: 2020; Issue: 49 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5823/jarees.2020.26

1884-5347

Ryosuke Ono,

Philippine History and Culture

This paper focuses on the 1918-1921 Japanese military mission to Central Asia, stationed in Urumchi, Ili (Gulja), Tarbagatay and Kashgar.Japanese General Staffs dispatched several officers to Xinjiang to support the Siberia Intervention.This paper reviews the mission's activities and concerns on intelligence, economic interests and propaganda, especially those of the so-called 'Japanese consul in Gulja', Captain Nagamine.The Japanese mission had a keen interest in the developments of the Russian Civil War in the Semirech'e and Semipalatinsk Oblasts.In Ili, Nagamine built relationships with the White Russian consul, leaders of nomads and others.Japanese officers reported activities of White Russian Cossacks in detail.Meanwhile, the Governor Yang Zengxin, was suspicious about possible conspiracies among members of the Japanese mission, Russian consuls and the Cossacks.Yang reported to Beijing that Japanese officers had attempted to bring the Japanese army to Xinjiang on the pretext of a joint defence and to interfere in Ili by letting the Cossacks advance into Bolshevik's Vernyi, which would pass through Xinjiang's territory.In addition, a report from Kashgar hinted that the Japanese army supported the anti-Soviet guerrilla Basmachis in the Fergana Valley.In early 1920, the Cossacks were defeated by the Red Army and fled to Xinjiang.Nagamine witnessed the disarmament of Commander Annenkov, with whom the Japanese in Urumchi seemed to have maintained a relationship even after Nagamine's departure from Ili.The Japanese mission also attempted to promote economic interests in Xinjiang.According to Etherton, the British consul-general in Kashgar, Japanese products flowed into Xinjiang in 1919, and Japan was considered a possible rival of Britain