Abstract
In the early period of the Anti-Japanese War, although the envoys of Denmark and Sweden in China, as almost all other foreign diplomats, did not move to the interior of China with the Nationalist government together, the two countries expected to maintain the status quo for their relations with China, and carried on "business as usual".However, Denmark was occupied by Germany in 1940.Under the pressure of the Axis powers, Denmark was forced to sever its diplomatic relations with the Nationalist government in Chongqing and turned to recognize the Wang Jingwei puppet regime. With the endeavors of the Chongqing government, former Danish ambassador to Washington Henrik Kauffmann was appointed to be representative of "Free Denmark" in Chongqing. Therefore, from 1942 to summer of 1945,there were two Danish envoys in China. Sweden had always kept independence during the War. Though Japan frequently asked Sweden to recognize the Wang Jingwei puppet regime and negotiated with it about the abolition of extraterritoriality, Sweden did not comply. On the contrary, Sweden sent a new ambassador to the Nationalist government in Chongqing while letting the former envoy remain in Japan-occupied area, so that Sweden had two senior diplomats at the same time in China. These two starkly different historical processes indicate that external pressure from the Axis powers such as Germany and Japan played key roles for recognition of the Chongqing government or the Wang Jingwei puppet government
| Translated title of the contribution | Not "Business as Usual": The China Policies of Denmark and Sweden 1937-1945: A Comparison |
|---|---|
| Original language | Chinese |
| Journal | The Journal of Studies of China's Resistance War against Japan (抗日战争研究) |
| Volume | 2015 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 82-93 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| ISSN | 1002-9575 |
| Publication status | Published - 15 Feb 2015 |