The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

In October 1934, the fifth counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" failed. The Red Army was forced to withdraw from the base area and began a vigorous 25,000-mile Long March.

Chang Kaishen was so proud that he finally summoned Japan's Minister to China Ariyoshiaki, and openly made remarks about "China-Japan friendship" to foreign reporters, which attracted a burst of outcry from all walks of life.

Japan believed that the time was ripe and sent an inspection delegation in mid-November. When visiting China, it even put forward suggestions for upgrading the embassy - hoping to upgrade the legations in the two countries to embassies.

Diplomatic missions are also divided into levels. The embassy is the highest level and the legation is the second level. Ministers can be appointed directly by their own country, while ambassadors must be appointed with the consent of the other country.

For a more detailed difference between the two, we can give an example: For example, Shi Zhaoji, the minister to the United States at this time, although he represented China in conducting diplomacy in the United States, he had no right to request a meeting with President Roosevelt, let alone negotiate directly with senior U.S. officials. , unless prior authorization has been obtained. Once the legation was upgraded to an embassy, ​​Shi Zhaoji could request to meet with Roosevelt and negotiate directly with the United States.

In the early 1930s, the Republic of China did not seem to have established an embassy in any country.

Japan obviously has great "sincerity" this time, and it can also be said that it can't wait. Upgrading the embassy can speed up the diplomatic negotiation process.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ economic support plan is also very “sincere” and includes:

1. Provide human and material assistance to China, as a “raw material supplier”;

Second, Japan has to buy China’s raw materials, and China has to buy Japan’s industrial products;

Third, China must suppress the anti-Japanese trend;

Fourth, if China needs to borrow money, Japan is willing to consider it.

In addition, Japan is also preparing to set up a 200 million yuan credit line in Shanghai to "smoothen" trade between the two countries.

When Chang Kaishen saw this plan for the first time, he almost flipped the table in anger. This is not "economic support" at all. It is obvious that it wants to turn China into a colony, and it wants to turn China into Japan's raw material base and commodity market.

But the show still has to go on, and Chang Kaishen's acting skills are at the level of an actor. Before the negotiations between the two countries officially started, he showed his sincerity in advance and began to frantically suppress the domestic anti-Japanese movement. Even Zhou Hexuan's "Fei Gong" magazine was forced to suspend publication.

Behind the scenes, Chang Kaishen sold the Japanese out and asked Finance Minister Kong Xiangxi to send a secret message to Shi Zhaoji, the minister in the United States, claiming that Japan was willing to pay a huge sum of money to help China deal with the silver crisis and would work together to deal with the United States. He sent the plan proposed by Japan intact and relayed Japan's attitude, "The Japanese believe that Western countries will never effectively assist China, and China will have to turn to Japan."

The Japanese side also pretended to be similar and even launched domestic propaganda. Osaka's Mainichi Shimbun published Foreign Minister Hirota's "new policy towards China": If China is willing to turn to Japan, Japan will provide China with all possible financial and economic assistance and liberate China from all international constraints. .

For a time, both China and Japan launched a political propaganda campaign on "China-Japan Friendship" in their respective countries.

There was no response from the United States. The United Kingdom was the first to sit still and proposed "international joint loans to China", hoping that Britain, the United States, France, and Japan would work together to help China survive the silver crisis.

Japanese Foreign Minister Hirota immediately objected fiercely, saying that the incident should be resolved by Asians themselves, and that European and American countries were not qualified to get involved.

While Britain and Japan were entangled, the attitude of the United States seemed very cold.

From August to November, Kong Xiangxi called Roosevelt five times in a row. For the first four times, Kong Xiangxi almost begged, hoping that the United States would stop acquiring Chinese silver. The fifth time was much tougher. Perhaps it was Japan and the United Kingdom that allowed Kong Xiangxi to find confidence and directly threatened Roosevelt with a phone call: "If the United States still does not modify its silver policy, there will be serious consequences."

The United States remains aloof, not even replying, and refusing to negotiate with China. In the end, I guess I got impatient and finally called Kong Xiangxi back. However, the content was all in official terms and was perfunctory.

Roosevelt was actually under great pressure. He held several meetings in a row and finally came up with a compromise plan. He was willing to lower the international silver price to below US$0.55 per ounce and hoped to start negotiations with Chinese representatives as soon as possible.

Chang Kaishen was overjoyed and immediately sent a telegram, appointing Song Ziwen as the plenipotentiary minister, and asked Shi Zhaoji and Fan Heyan to assist in the negotiations.

It was already Christmas at this time, and it had been delayed for two months.

United States Washington.

Chinese Embassy in the United States.

Song Ziwen specially customized a new suit. He stood in front of the mirror to tidy up his appearance, and even had a new hairstyle in a coquettish manner, preparing to show off his elegance at the negotiation table between the two countries.

Suddenly, Shi Zhaoji walked into the room quickly and said with a serious face: "Mr. Song, take a look at this!"

Song Ziwen didn't take it seriously and said, "Mr. Zhi, look at my tie, it's not bad."

"I don't have time to care about your tie," Shi Zhaoji said with an ugly face, "The Americans are going back on their word!"

"What's going on?" Song Ziwen was shocked.

Shi Zhaoji took the official diplomatic letter and said: "The negotiations have been cancelled. The US Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that if anything happens, we can communicate by telegram."

Song Ziwen was stunned for a moment, then he pulled off his tie and threw it on the floor, muttering repeatedly: "It's too much to bully others, it's too much to bully others, it's too much to bully others!"

It was indeed too much of a lie. The U.S. Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the initiative to invite China to send representatives for negotiations, and China appointed a minister plenipotentiary. The negotiations were cancelled, and they were told to contact us via telegraph if anything happened in the future.

"How could this happen?" Song Ziwen said depressedly.

Shi Zhaoji said: "It should be the Silver Group that put pressure on Roosevelt. The previous silver pricing of US$0.55 per ounce was also destroyed, and the Americans' promises turned into lies."

Song Ziwen said: "Is diplomacy such a child's play? How can we go back on our word and change our word?"

Shi Zhaoji smiled bitterly: "Weak countries have no diplomacy."

Shi Zhaoji had seen too much of this kind of thing. When he was in Europe, he was in trouble, and when he came to the United States, he was treated as nothing. It's pity that the dignified Chinese Minister to the United States has not been formally received by Roosevelt since he took office.

Not to mention Roosevelt, Shi Zhaoji couldn't even see the US Foreign Minister, but could only meet with the minions of the US Foreign Ministry.

"What to do now?" Song Ziwen was at a loss.

Shi Zhaoji said: "Go to Mr. Zhou. He is the one who caused the big mess. He should know how to end it."

Just when Song Ziwen went to New York to discuss with Zhou Hexuan, Kong Xiangxi suddenly acted out of common sense and urgently called the U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs: China was about to abandon the silver standard and peg its currency value to the U.S. dollar. China is willing to sell 200 million ounces of silver to the United States within one year in exchange for a US$100 million US loan to China and provide a standby credit of the same amount.

Well, Kong Xiangxi’s meaning is very clear – doesn’t the United States want to buy Chinese silver? Can. I exchanged silver for U.S. dollars, and then used the U.S. dollars as reserves for currency reform, and the problems for both of us were solved.

When Zhou Hexuan, who was making trouble in the United States, heard the news, he could only use three words to express his feelings: Mom sells batches!