The Xi’an incident was a politically driven kidnapping of the leader of the Chinese Republic, who at the time was Chiang Kai-Shek. This ‘incident’ occurred on December 12th, 1936 and was orchestrated by two of Kai-Shek’s subordinate generals in tandem with the Chinese Communist Party. The aim of this kidnapping was to convince Kai-Shek to form a truce with the communists, who he had been waging a civil war against, and create a united front against the encroaching Japanese empire. This kidnapping was a result of the frustration felt by many with Kai-Shek’s, and thus the Republic of China’s, focusing of their war efforts inwards towards the Chinese Communist population rather than the increasingly aggressive Japanese and their imperial army.
The civil war in China between the Republic of China, nationalists, and the Chinese Communist Party was one that concerned Chiang Kai-Shek a great deal. Although in the past these two parties had formed a united front to defeat the Qing empire, Kai-Shek now believed that to gain total control over China and its provinces he had to destroy and disband the Communist party. This unifying of China for Kai-Shek was a priority that he believed needed to be completed before China was able to then look outward and those threats beyond its borders. John Crossland hints at the fact that Chiang Kai-Shek’s ill-advised and unpopular tunnel vision may have resulted from his belief that the battle with the Communist Party for China was near its end after the Long March and the sizeable decrease in the number of members the party had. (Crossland) However, with the looming danger of the Japanese in Northern China the Chinese Communist Party tried tirelessly to convince Chiang Kai-Shek that such a conflict between the two parties had to be put on hold. Crossland discusses such efforts when points to the propaganda that was being played on the Chinese Communist Parties radio during this time, which repeatedly played the message, “Chinese must not fight Chinese but unite to fight Japan. All guns to be turned on the Japanese.” (Crossland) Despite the ‘peaceful’ urging of the Communist Party however Chiang Kai-Shek maintained his belief that Japan could be appeased until China was first unified.
The increasing tensions between China and Japan hit a ceiling in the 1930s as there were a number of conflicts throughout the decade between the two countries. The first of which was in 1931 and was Japan’s invasion and capturing of Manchuria. This was for many in China a worrying sign of further Japanese aggression that could result in more territory being lost to the Imperial Japanese army. Many in China believed that after this invasion of Manchuria that if something wasn’t done, and quickly, the rest of Northern China would also be captured by Japan. “In 1936 Chiang received a clear warning of the mood of the country with a mutiny of his southern troops, proclaiming themselves the ‘Chinese Revolutionary Anti-Japanese Salvation Army.” (Crossland) This frustration continued to materialize in parallel with the increasing tensions between Japan and China that suggested conflict between the two countries was imminent.
Chiang Kai-Shek was detained for 14 days until the 26th of December. Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, who had agreed to work with the Chinese Communist Party to try and convince Kai-Shek to align with Communists and fight of the impending threat of the Japanese. During his time in captivity a number of those in the Chinese Communist Party wanted to kill Chiang Kai-Shek but such an idea was rejected by Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng. The two generals who had agreed to work with the Chinese Communist Party in the capture, who perhaps recognized that this would be a step backwards in terms of the relationship between the two parties and counterproductive to the idea of a united force. Chiang Kai-Shek was held by the communists until December 26th when he was released after agreeing to the creation of a united Communist-Nationalist front. The terms of this truce were that the Chinese Communist Party’s forces would be lent to Chiang Kai-Shek who was accepted as the leader of the joint military force. This truce lasted four years until 1941.
Thus, it can be seen in reading this essay that the Xi’an incident played an important role in the creating of the United Nationalist and Communist Front. And although not initially supported by Chiang Kai-Shek the push that this ‘incident’ created to address the increasing threat of the Japanese Imperial army was one that benefitted China a great deal as conflicts with Japan continued during this period.
Sources:
Crossland, J. (n.d.). The Xi’an incident. The Xi’an Incident.
Xia, Z. (n.d.). Xi’an incident. Retrieved April 08, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/event/Xian-Incident
