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Jiang Jieshi and Sun
Yat-sen in 1924 when
Jiang Jieshi was
Commandant of the
Whampoa Military
Academy

One of the most popular research topics among scholars of modern Chinese history is the evaluation of Jiang Jieshi, who is the most representative political leader of China in the 20th century. He is also known as Chiang Kai-shek, and he kept personal journals almost every day throughout his life (1917-1973). His family donated the handwritten diaries to Stanford University's Hoover Institution in 2003, and they were made available to the public in 2005. The diaries have triggered further historical research on Jiang Jieshi in addition to ideological and political evaluation of his achievements.

Salt Merchant's Son Becomes President of Republic of China

Jiang Jieshi was born in October 1887 as a son of a salt merchant in a small town of Xikou, Penghua, Zhejiang Province. He was brought up in Confucian traditions and values, and received modern education in 1903 when he was 16. In 1908, he went to Japan to study at Tokyo Shinbu Gakko (東京振武學校), an Imperial Japanese Army Academy Preparatory School for Chinese students. In December 1910, he joined the Imperial Japanese Army in an artillery camp in Takada, Niigata.

While in Japan, he began participating in the revolution movement led by Sun Wen, or Sun Yat-sen. He returned to China with the outbreak of Xinhai Revolution in October 2011, and served in the revolutionary forces in Shanghai and Zhejiang Province. Afterwards, he earned the trust of Sun Yat-sen and became his aide. In 1924, he was appointed Commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy, which was established with financial support from the Soviet Union. In 1928, he completed nominal unification of China and became head of the Nationalist government in Nanjing.

In the initial phase of the First United Front between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party – or Kuomintang (KMT) – in 1924, Jiang Jieshi experienced conflicts with the Soviet Union and the CCP over military and political leadership. After occupying Shanghai and Nanjing, he ordered the Shanghai massacre of 1927, also known as the April 12 Incident. With this large-scale purge of Communists from KMT, he severed ties with the Soviet Union and CCP, and made it clear that he was an anti-communist leader.

Although CCP forces suffered greatly from large-scale suppressions after 1928, they had to agree to the Second United Front due to the Xi'an Incident in December 1936 and the need to suspend fighting and form a united front against Japan. He played a leading role in all-out war with Japan for 8 years from 1937, and he became a national hero thanks to the victory in the Pacific War with the support of the U.S. His political career demonstrates the situation in that era when military forces overwhelmed politics (democracy) or revolution (social revolution). In this regard, Jiang Jieshi is considered as a military politician or military dictator.

KMT government lost the civil war with the CCP after the end of the war against Japan, and moved to Taiwan in 1949. His rule over Taiwan was also based on military suppression, and it triggered democratic movements together with the February 28 Incident. On the other hand, people praise him for enabling Taiwan's economic growth with strong government-driven development policies.

Jiang Jieshi (left) and his wife,
Song Meiling with Franklin Roosevelt
and Winston Churchill at the Cairo
Conference in 1943

Similar to Policies for Joseon in Ming and Qing Dynasties

In 1953, Korean government awarded Jiang Jieshi a Republic of Korea Medal for his contribution to assisting Korean independence movement in China. However, the Republic of China's support for Korean independence movement has a number of negative aspects and it cannot be considered as a favor extended to a struggling neighboring nation.

In the midst of the Sino-Japanese War in 1940, Korean provisional government in Chongqing and Jiang Jieshi's Nationalist Government had discussions regarding the establishment of the Korean Liberation Army. The provisional government had to make significant efforts to secure the right to independent operation of the Korean Liberation Army, and China tried to keep Korea in check and control Korea. China attempted to subjugate the Korean Liberation Army to the Nationalist Government's military council with the establishment of "Nine Provisions for Actions of the Korean Liberation Army (韓國光復軍行動九個準繩)", and dispatched Chinese officers to take the ownership of the Korean Liberation Army.

In addition, Jiang Jieshi and his government maintained a passive position regarding the issue of diplomatic recognition of Korean provisional government, which emerged as a hot topic between Korea and China after the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941. China became a powerhouse at the Cairo Conference in 1942 according to the U.S.' diplomatic strategy, and it gave consent to U.S.-led movement to address issues regarding the Korean peninsula with the trusteeship of Korea. This means it almost withdrew support for Korean provisional government.

China was considering a plan to send its troops in case the Allied Forces advanced to Korea, and at the same time, it aimed to expand its influence on Korea with financial support and private investment. In addition, the Nationalist Government was eager to send advisors to Korea who would take care of diplomacy and national defense in the interim period prior to the independence of Korea. In short, Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalist Government's policies for the Korean peninsula during the Sino-Japanese War focused on ways to increase China's influence on neighboring regions as part of its ambitions to emerge as a powerhouse in post-war Asia. In this respect, China's support for Korea cannot be considered as an act of pure humanitarianism for a weak nation.

Such perception of Korea and China's policies for the Korean peninsula are not different from those of Chinese leaders from previous generation, including Sun Yat-sen or Yuan Shikai. In addition, they are also related to Ming and Qing Dynasties' tribute system and their perception of and policies for Joseon.

China has emerged as a global powerhouse since 2000 with its rapid economic growth and growing power. Against this backdrop, Jiang Jieshi's perception of Korea presents a serious issue in front of us regarding Korea-China relations and what our attitude toward China should be.