The Movement Of Anti-U.S.’s Support To Japan" And The Nationalist Government’s Policy On Japanese Reparations

During the spring and summer of 1948, the Chinese-student protests, initially triggered by the U.S. policy change on Japan’s reparations to China were quickly spreading out across the Nationalist-controlled cities in China and formed into "the Movement of Anti-U.S.’s Support to Japan (the Movement against the U.S effort in supporting Japan)". In this movement, the students’main criticism was directed toward the U.S. intention of significantly reducing the reparations. In addition, with the coordinated effort by the Chinese Communist Party, the protests eventually reached out to the Nationalist Government, which was then responsible for China’s diplomacy and reparation policy, for the target of criticism. The students claimed the U.S. in violation of the Potsdam Declaration while condemning the Nationalists for pursuing the so called "slave diplomacy" in compliance with the U.S. intension.In order to alleviate the anti-U.S. sentiment, the U.S. ambassador at that time made a statement to persuade the students of the legitimacy of the policy change. But contrary to his intention, the statement, which had no concern over the possibility of Japan’s re-militarization as a result of the reduction, further offended the students, and the tension escalated. Most of the students still had Japan’s aggression during WWII fresh in their memories, and their protests were thus reflective of their sentiments that would oppose any political trend toward the revival of the aggression. The U.S.’s intension of reducing the reparations, which was considered as the "reverse-course" policy, was intended to strengthen the post-war Japan and would eventually result in a great loss to China.On the contrary, the Nationalist Government’s policy on the reparations had been consistent from the early post-WWII years, and thus did not deserve to be called "slave diplomacy" as the students claimed in the movement. In fact, since the end of the war, the Nationalists had been actively dealing with the issue with some concrete plans, and continuously negotiated with the governments of the U.S. and of other allied countries with the aim of maximizing the reparations.Despite all these efforts, the Nationalists proved powerless in the face of the U.S. influence and had to yield to its demand whose contents fell short of China’s original expectation. However, this result does not suggest that the Nationalist Government was a mere slave to the U.S. policy. In fact, they had always put China’s national interest first on their priorities and continued their efforts to maximize the reparations.