22 Facts About Gao Zongwu

Gao Zongwu was a Chinese diplomat in the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Gao Zongwu was best known for playing a key role in negotiations between China and Japan from 1937 to 1940 that initially intended to bring about a peace agreement between them, but which led to the defection of prominent statesman Wang Jingwei and the establishment of the pro-Japanese collaborationist Reorganized National Government of China.

Gao Zongwu later returned to China to teach political science at Nanjing University and parts of his dissertation on Sino-Japanese diplomacy were published in Chinese magazines.

Wang met with Gao Zongwu, being impressed with the young man's work, and invited him to join the government.

Gao Zongwu rapidly rose through the ranks due to his abilities and became Chief of the Asia Bureau of the Foreign Ministry before he was thirty years old.

Gao Zongwu became one of the most prominent members of the group, along with Zhou Fohai.

Gao Zongwu had extensive contacts among the Chinese banking community, a member of which he knew well through a mutual acquaintance, which helped advance his career.

Gao Zongwu spoke fluent Japanese and had served as Wang Jingwei's translator while the latter had been foreign minister.

Gao Zongwu would go on to play a major role in negotiations between Japan and the Chinese government throughout the next two years.

Between the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in the summer of 1937 and the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai by fall of that year, Gao Zongwu met with both Wang and Chiang Kai-shek.

Gao Zongwu expressed his intent to establish a peace agreement with Japan and completely turn around Sino-Japanese relations.

On 31 July 1937, Gao Zongwu met with a banking contact and his acquaintance, Japanese businessman Nishi Yoshiaki, a protege of Matsuoka Yosuke, Japanese diplomat and former president of the South Manchurian Railway Company, who supported the peace movement.

Shortly after the fall of Nanjing Gao Zongwu resigned from his position in the Foreign Ministry and traveled to Hong Kong on what was ostensibly an intelligence gathering mission, but was really there at the behest of Zhou Fohai and the low-key club to make contacts with officials sympathetic to the peace movement.

In late 1937 Gao Zongwu took a break to recuperate from a tuberculosis attack, and a friend of his from the Foreign Ministry continued his work, meeting with Nishi in January 1938 in Shanghai.

Gao Zongwu had told Gao basic conditions for peace, including Japanese recognition of Chinese sovereignty, and later negotiations for the question of Manchukuo and Inner Mongolia.

Gao Zongwu returned from Japan with nothing more than vague assurances of support from some officers of the Army General Staff, which Gao reported to Chiang, much to the Chinese leader's outrage, who ordered Gao to cut off the talks.

In March 1938 Gao Zongwu met with Matsumoto, who encouraged him to undertake an unauthorized mission to Tokyo.

Gao Zongwu believed Wang was in danger of becoming a puppet.

Gao Zongwu had come close to being poisoned while there, which did not improve his opinion of the Japanese.

Gao Zongwu, who had translated the treaty to Chinese for Wang, stole a copy of it with him.

Wang's group responded that Gao Zongwu was upset over his position, and that the documents were fake.

Gao Zongwu's memoirs were later published and have been an important source of information for historians on the Wang Jingwei peace movement.