1942: Manchukuo. (Manchuria)

Known to the Chinese as 'The Three Eastern Provinces' (lying northeast of Peking), Manchuria, or Manchukuo, as the Japanese call it, constitutes Japan's main base not only in her invasion of north China but also in her plans for war against Russia in Siberia. The present area of Manchukuo is slightly less than 500,000 square miles, approximately twice the size of the state of Texas. Population is estimated variously but is probably about 40,000,000 or 42,000,000, the great bulk of this population being Chinese. Since the Japanese invasion of 1931, Manchukuo has been a puppet state controlled completely by Japan or more particularly by the Kwantung Army, the most influential and powerful force in the Japanese military machine.

The Kwantung Army, massed in Manchukuo, has been strengthened rather than weakened during Japan's warfare in China since 1937. Most of the troops used in China came from Japan, not from her veteran army in Manchukuo. Japan has reserved her toughest fighting force, her Kwantung Army, for the job, if and when it comes, of fighting Russia. The Kwantung Army is not only the best of Japan's land armies, it is the dominant political force in the present Japanese government. It governs Manchukuo and in a large measure also governs Tokyo. Gen. Hideki Tojo, Japanese premier, is a Kwantung Army man. The principal men of his staff are officers of the Kwantung Army. It was the Kwantung Army which launched Japan's attack on Manchuria in 1931 without waiting for the consent of the Tokyo Government. The Kwantung Army has been the force behind the industrial development of Manchukuo during the past ten years, a military industrialization in preparation for the 'inevitable' war with Russia.

Military Forces.

By the summer of 1942 the Soviet Far Eastern Army was estimated variously between 600,000 and 1,000,000 men, numerically superior to the full strength of the Kwantung Army. However, in Manchukuo, Japan can concentrate her forces and strike at Siberia cither to the east, the north or the west. For the moment the Trans-Baikal Railway, an alternate Russian route to the Pacific. is still waiting completion, and thus the Soviet Far Eastern Army is dependent on the single Trans-Siberian Railway, vulnerable to attack on the long Manchukuo border. Japan on the contrary has filled Manchukuo with a network of radiating strategic railroads. Supplementing these railroads are more than 26,000 km. of highways, of which 19,000 km. are national highways of the improved road type.

Japanese Colonization.

Plans fostered by the Kwantung Army have sought to concentrate Japanese colonization in the northeastern area for strategic reasons, the colonists being army reservists. The original Japanese plans for colonization contemplated migration of 100,000 farm families to Manchukuo in 5 years, and 1,000,000 farm families by the end of 20 years. At present it seems that Japanese migration to the land in Manchukuo is not much in excess of 100,000 persons. Even this has provided a substantial reservoir of recruits for military service in the event of war with Russia.

Industrialization.

Japanese capital in almost fantastic amounts has been poured into Manchukuo in recent years. Japanese investments totaled 4,200,000,000 yen at the end of 1940. Investment for 1941 was estimated at 1,200,000,000 yen. These figures, however, present a somewhat swollen picture due to a marked inflationary trend. Plans for an independent industrial base in Manchukuo were later merged with the scheme for the Japan-China-Manchukuo economic bloc, Manchukuo to concentrate on coal, iron, and electric power.

Pig iron and steel production has more than doubled since 1937, capacity now being estimated at close to 2,000,000 tons. In 1941 coal production was increased to 20,000,000 tons over the 1936 figure of 13,600,000 tons. Shale oil production was estimated for 1941 at 1,000,000 tons.

What is happening in Manchukuo oil shale industry is not known with certainty. The original plan was to relieve Japan's oil problem by intensive exploitation of Manchurian shale. Conquest of the Dutch Indies may have altered these plans materially. Oil from shale has been produced at Fushun in Manchukuo since 1930. Output had reached approximately 123,000 tons in 1936, and 350,000 tons in 1939. Estimated capacity according to blue print plans for 1941 was to be 500,000 tons.

Government and Politics.

Under the present régime Manchukuo technically is an empire, the sovereign being Pu Yi, the last of the Manchu Emperors of China, now known as the Emperor Kangtê. The organic law under which the present government operates provides for executive, legislative, judicial and supervisory yuans. The chiefs of all government departments are Manchus, Mongols, or Chinese who serve as the figureheads, but behind each of whom is the Japanese vice-minister or bureau chief who exercises the real control under the watchful eyes of the Kwantung Army. Manchukuo as a sovereign state has been accorded recognition by Japan, El Salvador, Germany, Italy, and in a qualified way by Soviet Russia.